Now that the dust has settled on a 2023 season that started with so much promise, fans can start to ask how this Miami Dolphins squad can get over the proverbial hump in 2024. Most fans have ideas on how the Dolphins can be better next season and we aim to investigate some of the more popular ones. We started with the most obvious position group to improve, the tight end room. Now let’s take a look at one that was a team strength in 2023, but could be undergoing a major overhaul over the next couple of seasons: Interior Defensive Line.
Why This Position Matters
Everything that you want to do on defense starts with the guys up front. They play a huge part in run defense, whether that’s eating blocks to keep second level defenders clean or knifing into the backfield to bring down ball carriers. If your defense can’t hold up at the point of attack, you’ll have a difficult time slowing down the best and most balanced offenses in the NFL.
While run defense has always been a big part of an interior players job, the best players at the position today can also get after the quarterback. Interior pressure is the best way to disrupt a quarterback and a team’s passing game. The best interior pass rushers force teams to double team them on passing plays which then opens things up for the rest of the defensive line. The best interior pass rushers today are guys like Aaron Donald (still), Chris Jones, Ed Oliver, Justin Madubuike, and Quinnen Williams… among several others.
Where Are They Now?
For a few years now one of the strengths of this defense has been the defensive interior. Since drafting Christian Wilkins number 13 overall in 2019, he’s been the corner stone of this group. The other main guys at that position have been Zach Sieler (who was added during the 2020 tank season) and Raekwon Davis who was a second round pick in 2020. Lets take a look at the snap counts from the defensive interior in 2023 and their pertinent stats:
Christian Wilkins: 895 def snaps / 65 tackles / 58 pressures / 9 sacks
Zach Sieler: 857 def snaps / 63 tackles / 56 pressures / 10 sacks
Raekwon Davis: 499 def snaps / 28 tackles / 23 pressures / 1 sack
Da’Shawn Hand: 199 def snaps / 17 tackles / 9 pressures / 1 sack
Brandon Pili: 29 def snaps / 2 tackles / 1 pressure / 0 sacks
Christian Wilkins’ immense value as a teammate and run defender is pretty much unquestioned. The hang up between him and Miami must come down to what he is (and can be) as a pass rusher.
Here are all of his sacks (both 1/2 and full) from 2023 with some of my thoughts ⏬ pic.twitter.com/IWcAO0HKmi
— George Forder (@GeorgeForder3) February 22, 2024
This was a productive group in 2023, but they are extremely top heavy. It all starts and ends with Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler. Raekwon Davis showed a ton of promise his rookie season, but never really developed past being a good/solid player on the defensive line. Hand is a journeyman and Pili is a UDFA with some potential upside but is largely an unknown.
Options This Offseason
The only players under contract for 2024 are Zach Sieler and Brandon Pili, so there is potential for this group to look significantly different this season. The most logical option at this point is to tag Wilkins (if you can’t get a deal done) and look for some second tier players that can provide depth for your two main workhorses. Lets look at what options they’ll have.
Free Agency
As stated before, the most logical thing to do is bring back Wilkins. If you can’t come to an agreement on a long term deal, you have the franchise tag at your disposal. If (for whatever reason) Wilkins doesn’t stay in Miami, there are some interesting players available in free agency. Chris Jones, Justin Madubuike, Christian Wilkins, Leonard Williams, and DJ Reader headline a fairly deep group this offseason.
Chris Jones is the best of this group and is likely to demand somewhere around $30 million a season-which makes him an unlikely option. Justin Madubuike is a notch below Wilkins as a run defenders but would be a pretty clear step forward as a pass rusher and could end up with a contract in the same neighborhood as Wilkins. Leonard Williams is a solid all around option that would cost less than Wilkins but could replicate his snap count and productivity. Grover Stewart and DJ Reader are both fantastic run defenders but probably can’t play as much as Wilkins or be as productive in the passing game. If you don’t bring back Wilkins, there are options there.
If you do bring back Wilkins there are also depth players that could make sense to add. You could bring back Raekwon Davis for familiarities sake, but you also have Javon Kinlaw, Maurice Hurst, DaQuan Jones, Teair Tart, and Sheldon Rankins that could potentially be added for a discount. Again, this is a top heavy group and they would benefit from adding someone who can be productive while spelling Wilkins and Sieler.
With some of the other needs on this roster, it would be surprising to see them add one of the top interior defenders from this draft. This becomes doubly true if/when the Dolphins find a way to bring back Christian Wilkins for this upcoming season. That means we are looking at potential day three/UDFA players if they choose to add to this position group. Maybe someone like a Tyler Davis (Clemson), Mekhi Wingo (LSU), or Khristian Boyd (UNI) could be interesting options, especially if Miami trades back and picks up some mid round picks. Following the NFL combine, we’ll have a much better idea about who could be available for them later on in the draft. I wouldn’t expect them to add to the defensive interior on day one/two though.
Final Thoughts
So much of this position group hinges on Christian Wilkins. He’s played a crazy amount of snaps (especially over the last two seasons) for a defensive lineman and has remained productive at that elevated snap count. I can tell you one thing for sure: that isn’t easy to replace. Even if Christian is maybe a notch below the top interior rushers, his availability, run defense, and leadership are going to make him one of the highest paid defensive players in the league. The good news is that they got Sieler locked up on a team friendly deal. So where do they go from here?
Find a way to bring back Christian Wilkins for the 2024 season, even if that means using the franchise tag. It could be a good idea to add one of the second or third tier of free agents to help even out this position group. As far as the draft is concerned, there is a good chance that some of the top level interior defenders will be there at 21 (Jer’Zhan Newton & Byron Murphy), but it wouldn’t make a ton of sense when you have other positions that desperately need an infusion of talent (looking at you interior offensive line). If a prospect you like slips to day three, maybe you pull the trigger, but that’s about as far as I would go.