Meet the trash-talking, ground-slamming corner who could upend Dolphins’ depth chart
A perfect throw, the trope goes, beats perfect coverage.
An addendum: A decent throw but a perfect adjustment by a NFL wide receiver does the same.
It’s one of many lessons learned on the fly by Noah Igbinoghene, the Miami Dolphins’ first-round cornerback and youngest player.
Igbinoghene seemed to have receiver Preston Williams contained during a team drill Wednesday, but Williams deftly used his body to box out Igbinoghene and pull in a pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick.
In the process, Igbinoghene ended up on the ground — and the ground probably regretted the exchange. After the completion, the defensive back pounded the turf in frustration.
“That’s not out of character,” Igbinoghene (pronounced IG-bin-OG-gah-nee) said after practice. “I’m a fiery guy. I like to win. I like to win a lot. I’m a competitor at heart. That’s just what I’ve been since I was a kid, and so him catching the ball on me, that’s just — I don’t like that no matter who it is against. So you all just saw a little reaction.”
Through three days of padded practice, those moments of anger have been few and far between for the 20-year-old defender out of Auburn. And that’s not just a good thing for the Dolphins — it’s a great thing. He has been matched up against the best the team has to offer and has held his own.
And when challenged physically by bigger receivers, he hasn’t backed down. He stood his ground after DeVante Parker popped him after a catch Tuesday and didn’t shy away from contact in 1-on-1 tackling drills.
But Igbinoghene, the son of a world class sprinter who’s listed at 5-11, 197, wasn’t drafted to thump. He was drafted to cover. And he’s done that quite well in place of star Xavien Howard, who’s out indefinitely with a knee issue and a presumed positive COVID-19 test. (The team is not allowed to disclose whether Howard has actually tested positive, but he has been on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list for more than a week — a telling sign.)
“I think he’s doing well,” Dolphins receiver Isaiah Ford said of Igbinoghene. “He’s going out there and he’s competing. You can tell he’s a really competitive guy. If he gets beat, he’s going to come back and try the next play. He’s not going to get down on himself or anything, which at that position, you have to have confidence in yourself. I think that the more reps he gets, he’ll continue to get better.”
And the better he gets, the better the odds he’s the Week 1 starter opposite Byron Jones, if Howard can’t go. Doubts are growing in league circles that Howard can pass the necessary medical tests and be in shape in time for the Patriots if he doesn’t improve quickly.
Howard has participated in remote meetings during his time away from the team, but conditioning will be a concern whenever he does return. He has not practiced in 10 months.
Igbinoghene, meanwhile, looks fit and feisty in his first NFL training camp.
Even with Howard and Jones on Miami’s roster, Igbinoghene’s agent Malki Kawa always had a hunch the Dolphins would draft him. Kawa even predicted his client would wear jersey No. 23. Both came to pass.
And it makes sense. The Dolphins had a ton of draft picks, and Igbinoghene looks to be an excellent fit in Brian Flores’ defensive back-heavy scheme.
But even Kawa couldn’t have envisioned how quickly Igbinoghene would play a prominent role — even if his confidence is as deep as the Atlantic.
“I feel like I’ve been doing pretty good,” Igbinoghene said. “I would like to do better. Of course I don’t want them to catch any balls on me at all. That’s just the type of dude I am; but it’s going to happen. I’m a few practices in in the league and so it’s going to happen. I’m just getting used to it, but eventually we’ll get there. We’ll get to a point where I’m shutting them down a little bit. We’ll get to that eventually.”
