Dolphins coordinators address a Hilton perk, Waller and a message to Jack Jones
Some quick hits from Dolphins coordinators this week:
▪ Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver had cornerbacks rush the quarterback a combined 70 times all season in 2024, with Jalen Ramsey accounting for 47 of those blitzes and Kader Kohou 17.
Even with Ramsey traded to Pittsburgh and Kohou out for the year, we could see more cornerback blitzes with the arrival of slot cornerback Mike Hilton, who had five pressures in 55 pass-rushing chances for the Bengals last season and 11.5 sacks in eight seasons.
“I think if anybody knows Mike Hilton, they know that he can blitz, so I’m going to take advantage of that skill set, for sure,” Weaver said. “The thing I love about Mike is he’s a pro’s pro… He’s been a high-level player in this league for a long time, and [the Dolphins’ young defensive backs] can see the path and the things it takes to be able to do that. I love the fact that he’s here.”
▪ Weaver sees high upside with the team’s safeties: “You got him, Iffy [Melifonwu], Ashtyn Davis [who is out at least several weeks with a leg injury]. Elijah Campbell has played nickel here in the past. We’ve yet to see what exactly Dante Trader Jr. can do too [because of an injury].
“Those guys in the safety position that have that multiple skill set that can do a bunch of jobs, that’s going to create some angst in the offenses, because they’re not going to know who’s in, who’s doing what, particularly when we have three of them on the field at the same time. My brain starts immediately spinning about all the angst and hesitation you can cause an offense because they don’t know what they are going to do.”
He noted that Minkah Fitzpatrick defends Tyreek Hill “every day, which I haven’t had a lot of safeties that can do that.”
▪ Weaver on second-year edge player Chop Robinson: “The thing I love most about Chop is regardless of the success he’s had both in college, being a first-round pick and obviously how he finished the year a year ago with all of his success, he is incredibly humble and incredibly hungry. Usually when you have that combination and you have his skill set, success is on the horizon.”
▪ Weaver, on first-round pick Kenneth Grant: “Awesome, he’s everything we thought he’d be. I think his game particularly comes to life when the pads come on. You’ve seen the impact he can have both in the middle of the pocket as a run defender and as a pass rusher.”
▪ Weaver, on cornerback Jack Jones, who has four interception returns for touchdowns in his three-year career:
“I love Jack Jones. My only message to him was, ‘be yourself and go out there and be a great teammate.’ If you do that, the rest of the things will take care of themselves. Now in being a great teammate, that means you’ve got to handle your responsibilities off the field. Your life can’t be in chaos off of it and then expect to come in here and be in alignment with what we’re trying to do. Everything he’s promised he would do, he’s done to date.
“It’s undeniable that he has the skill set. I mean, how many pick sixes does the guy have?” The answer is four, in three NFL seasons.
▪ Offensive coordinator Frank Smith, on tight end Darren Waller, whom he coached in Las Vegas and remains on the physically unable to perform list: “Our version of the West Coast offense, there’s very many similarities to the one that we had with Jon [Gruden] because Kyle Shanahan was with Jon to start off as a quality control coach. So there’s certain terminology that he’s like ‘Oh, OK. Yeah, I got it.’
“He’s extremely intelligent and works his butt off. When I ask him questions, it’s amazing what he’s able to fire off really quickly. At the Raiders, he lined up everywhere. He lined up in the backfield, tight end, wide receiver.“ ▪ New special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman said the punting competition between Jake Bailey and Ryan Stonehouse is very close and both “are doing a great job right now.”
▪ Malik Washington remains the front-runner for the return jobs, from all indications.
“We’re trying out a bunch of guys,” Aukerman said. “Malik has done a really good job. I was really excited to come here, work with Malik.... We’ll have a bunch of other guys back there.
“I don’t know if we’ll see ‘Reek’ [Tyreek Hill] or Jaylen [Waddle],” Aukerman said. “But we’ll do anything for our team to win football games, and if we have to have those guys back there, I’m sure Mike McDaniel and I will have a good dialogue about that too.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM.
