Dolphins had to rebuild defense. Their solution? An unprecedented cornerback investment.

A smile crept across Byron Jones face the first time he mentioned his newest cornerback partner as a member of the Miami Dolphins.

Sitting in front of a Zoom Video Communications-generated Dolphins backdrop in March, Jones explained all the reasons why he signed with Miami as a free agent in the offseason. He wanted to be part of the building of a potential powerhouse. He wanted to be a leader and mentor on a defense full of young “ballers.”

When he finally came to mention Xavien Howard, his face lit up even more.

“I’m looking forward to playing with all my teammates, but especially to play across from another guy who’s a top-tier corner,” the cornerback said. “I think that’s going to be a cool little duo for us.”

As they tried to turn a promising finish to 2019 into a fully competitive 2020, the Dolphins made an unprecedented investment at the cornerback position. Heading into the offseason, Howard was already the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. Last year, Miami handed Howard a five-year, $76.5-million deal with $46 million guaranteed — an average annual value of potentially more than $15 million per year.

In the offseason, NFL teams topped the Howard contract twice. The Philadelphia Eagles signed cornerback Darius Slay to a contract potentially worth close to $17 million per year and the Dolphins signed Jones to a five-year, $82.5-million deal with $46 million guaranteed — the largest guarantee at the position in NFL history.

To try to win in a league more pass-happy than ever, Miami decided to hand out two of the three largest cornerback contracts in football history.

“It goes really back to situational football — third down, red area, two-minute. Those are, call it, ‘winning football,’ ” said defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, who was the cornerbacks coach last season. “You really need to have guys that can cover and you can never have too many of them, especially the way offenses are constructed. Sometimes it’s three receivers, one tight end and a receiving back, and all of them are skilled receivers. Or it could be two tight ends, two receivers and a receiving back, and they could run the ball at you or they could spread you out and throw it. And I think as many guys that you have on your team that can cover, it puts you in a more beneficial state as a defense.”

Last year, all but two teams ran passing plays more than 50 percent of the time and 14 teams threw at least 60 percent of the time. Jones, whom Pro Football Focus ranked as the No. 17 cornerback in the league last season, forced incomplete passes 15.1 percent of the time. In 2018, Howard was even better, holding opponents to a 50.9 percent catch rate and grabbing seven interceptions in 12 games to earn a trip to the 2019 Pro Bowl, where he logged another interception.

While the Dolphins actually faced the 11th fewest passing attempts in the league in 2019, opponents made them pay through the air. Miami had the sixth worst defense in the league in yards per play and the second worst in passing yards per attempt.

Part of this was due to a horrendous pass rush — the Dolphins hurried the quarterback on a league-worst 6.1 percent of snaps, pressured the quarterback on a league worst 16.4 percent, and finished last in sacks and tackles for loss despite blitzing the 11th most frequently — but the secondary was also to blame. The average depth of target against Miami was 10.6 yards down the field — highest in the league — and the Dolphins allowed the fourth most air yards. Miami was one of only five teams to allow an average quarterback rating better than 100.

The Dolphins did retool their front seven by signing defensive end Shaq Lawson and linebacker Kyle Van Noy, and drafting defensive tackle Raekwon Davis in the second round. It was nothing compared to their investment in the secondary, though.

“This is a passing league, as everyone says. You can never have enough corners,” general manager Chris Grier said in April. “[Coach] Brian [Flores] came from a really good defensive team when we hired him and they had a lot of corners. At the end of the day, the way this league is offensively, it’s a premium position and the more you have, the better.”

Miami has spent the last year or so largely modeling itself on the New England Patriots and Flores, who spent 15 years with the Patriots before joining the Dolphins last year, brought with him New England’s valuation of cornerbacks. Four of the Patriots’ eight highest paid defenders are corners and New England’s Stephon Gilmore last year became first cornerback in a decade — and the second in 25 years — to win The Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year Award.

It meant Miami wasn’t done just after it signed Jones. About a month later, the Dolphins had three picks in the first-round of the 2020 NFL Draft. With their last one, they took cornerback Noah Igbinoghene.

“We’ve always been on the same page,” Flores said in April, “as far as never having enough corners in this league.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 10:30 AM.

David Wilson

Miami Herald

305-376-3406

David Wilson, a Maryland native, is the Miami Herald’s utility man for sports coverage.