It’s low on their list of issues, but the Dolphins need more out of Christian Wilkins
We have spent much of the past two days going down the long list of things that contributed to the Dolphins’ loss to the Seahawks, but that list wasn’t exhaustive.
Here’s one we left out:
What’s up with Christian Wilkins?
He was supposed to take a leap forward in Year 2.
Instead, his playing time is down slightly from 2019 while his stats are down noticeably.
Wilkins, the Dolphins’ first-round pick last year, had just one assisted tackle in 44 snaps Sunday against the Seahawks with no sacks or quarterback hits.
“Just sometimes in a game you just play, and things come your way, things don’t come your way,” Wilkins said. “With those many snaps, I do got to make more plays. I’ll take ownership of that. I got to do more than just do my job. I’ll be first to say that when plays come my way, I’ve got to be more productive.”
In fairness, defensive tackle is a position that’s hard to evaluate solely by stats. Wilkins’ job on some plays is to create for others.
And it seems he’s doing that part of his job well. Pro Football Focus ranks Wilkins 27th among all interior defenders this season, up from 74th last year.
On Sunday, PFF ranked him sixth-best among all Dolphins defensive players who appeared in the game.
But as he acknowledged, it wasn’t nearly enough against Seattle.
Wilkins is averaging 44 snaps per game this year, down from 45.6 in 2019.
But he has had just six solo tackles through four games after 30 with two sacks a year ago.
The advanced stats are even more striking.
He has had just one hurry and one pressure hit this year after having eight and 12, respectively, as a rookie.
Compare that all to fellow defensive lineman Zach Sieler, who in 99 fewer snaps this year has a half sack, four solo tackles and a pressure.
Again, small sample size. But certainly worth monitoring as the season progresses.
