MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In front of his locker following the Miami Dolphins‘ playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey was asked to assess his just-ended season.
“Came back from injury and fought hard,” Ramsey said. “I did the best job that I could do with the role they were asking me to play.”
You don’t need progressive lenses to read between those lines: Ramsey believed then-defensive coordinator Vic Fangio misused him in their one and only year together.
Miami Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver’s Plan for Jalen Ramsey
A month later, in his first news conference since replacing Fangio as Dolphins DC, Anthony Weaver seemed determined not to make that same choice.
Weaver’s vision for Ramsey’s role in 2024?
“I mean, it’s Jalen Ramsey, come on now,” he said Thursday. “You talk about prototype corners; he is that. Size, length, speed, competitiveness. The thing about him is I think he is your ultimate chess piece. So to have him just sit outside and be a field corner or boundary corner or something like that is a detriment to him.
“We got to find ways to move him around where he can be most impactful. We’re committed to doing that.”
In that short answer, Weaver both (deftly) suggested Fangio’s cookie-cutter approach with the Dolphins’ secondary was ill-advised and sent a message to Ramsey that better days are ahead.
Ramsey’s greatest strength might be his versatility, and yet Fangio barely used him anywhere but the outside in 2023.
Per Player Profiler, Ramsey was in the slot on 0% of his snaps in six of his 11 games in 2023 (including the playoffs), and the only time he was in the slot on more than 5% of his snaps was when he shadowed Garrett Wilson in Week 15 (and that was just 6.8% of the time).
On the year, his shadow rate was 43.1%, which ranked just 44th in football.
Even still, he had a fabulous first year in Miami. He allowed just 21 completions on 39 targets (53.8%) for 259 yards (6.6 yards per target), one touchdown, and three interceptions.
And while those individual metrics might not necessarily improve in 2023, the defense as a whole absolutely will benefit from having Ramsey play everywhere.
And Ramsey will benefit from having a defensive coordinator who understands him in a way Fangio did not.
MORE: What To Expect From Miami Dolphins Defense Under Anthony Weaver
“I think of coaching as service work,” Weaver said Thursday. “I subscribe to the thought that if you work in service, you should never get nervous. When I got into this coaching profession in 2010, in my mind, I was like, I’m going to get in this because this game has been so good to me, and this is my opportunity to pay it forward.
“Whatever has happened as a result of that has truly been me trying to make sure that I can be a force multiplier with whoever that is around me. Every player, every coach, anybody, whether they are in the cafeteria, in communications, in PR. I want to be in service to them and make sure they get my absolute best every single day.”
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