Miami Dolphins’ Xavien Howard/Byron Jones, UM’s Rousseau and 3 Heat players crack list
South Florida sports fans have been reminded of greatness a lot this summer, with the passing of legendary coach Don Shula, vintage Hurricanes football games airing on ESPN and NBC-SN, and replays of the Big 3 Era Heat championship games popping up on ESPN.
For most of the past 50 years, we have had a player or coach who would qualify for any discussion of the greatest. Don Shula and Pat Riley would be in the conversation among greatest coaches; Dwyane Wade is in the debate (with Kobe Bryant and Jerry West) for second-best shooting guard ever behind Michael Jordan, as NBA legend Isiah Thomas asserted; LeBron James is in the discussion for greatest players of our era; Jason Taylor is among the top five pass-rushers of his era; Dan Marino is among the best pure passers ever; and several ‘72 Dolphins and more than a dozen championship-era Canes are among the best at their position.
Jose Fernandez ranked among Major League Baseball’s best starting pitchers before his tragic death in 2016.
But with Wade’s retirement, it’s becoming more difficult to find an active South Florida athlete who belongs in the discussion of greatest at his position.
That’s why it was refreshing for NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks to list the Dolphins’ Xavien Howard/Byron Jones cornerback combo among the NFL’s best.
Brooks ranked that duo third, ahead of Pittsburgh’s Joe Haden and Steven Nelson (Brooks ranked them fifth) and the Chargers’ Casey Hayward and Chris Harris (fourth), but behind New England’s Stephon Gilmore and Jason McCourty (second) and Baltimore’s Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters (first).
“Brian Flores wants to play man to man, and he has two man-to-man specialists,” Brooks said. “Byron Jones does a great job of getting tight with wide receivers, shadowing them down the field. Xavien Howard, he was a guy a couple years ago who has tremendous ball skills, got hands on everything. Terrific player.”
Jeremiah, on his weekly “Moving the Sticks” show, made the case that Howard/Jones should be higher on the list.
“I look at this Dolphins tandem; there might be a better tandem, but there’s not a more talented tandem,” Jeremiah said. “Xavien Howard, we’ve seen what he can do. Byron Jones, obviously, the money shows what the league thought of him. You talk about big, long, athletic guys that can play the ball.”
Jeremiah then told his co-host Brooks: I’ve got to know who you got ahead of that group!”
That discussion got us thinking. Besides Miami’s cornerbacks, what other South Florida player — or position — would rank among the best nationally?
Here’s what we came up with:
BEST COLLEGE PASS RUSHER
UM’s Greg Rousseau: With 15.5 sacks last season — and 15.5 in 14 college games — Rousseau enters the 2020 season (if there is a season) as arguably the best pass rusher in the nation. He was second in the FBS in sacks last season, behind only Ohio State’s Chase Young, who’s now with the Washington Redskins.
“It’s amazing that he’s so polished as a pass rusher at this early point in his career,” Jeremiah said.
“He can win in so many different ways. He has an effective push-pull move, he uses a swipe-rip move and he can generate speed to power. He’s also very comfortable and effective working inside against interior offensive linemen. He rarely gets bounced around and bullied by guys that outweigh him by 50-plus pounds. I was very impressed. He has the tools to emerge as a perennial All Pro player.”
BEST THREE-POINT SHOOTING SMALL FORWARD
The Heat’s Duncan Robinson has played 77 percent of his minutes at small forward this season (according to basketball reference), and no player at that position was better than Robinson this season in terms of three-point percentage (44.8) and makes (243). In fact, only shooting guards James Harden (271) and Buddy Hield (244) made more threes than Robinson in the entire league.
He’s not the best three-point shooter in the league (Steph Curry would be that), but he is the best three-point shooter among small forwards.
BEST BALL-HANDLING CENTER
A case could be made for the Heat’s Bam Adebayo, with his ability to get the Heat into its offense, dribble the ball downcourt in transition and find open teammates with the vision and skill that many bigs lack.
Though Adebayo played a lot of power forward this season, he was at center more often after Meyers Leonard’s ankle injury. And among centers, his 5.1 assist average trails only Nikola Jokic’s 6.9 this season.
This is essentially a Jokic/Adebayo debate.
BEST DEFENSIVE TEAMMATE TANDEM
Jimmy Butler — who was four times All-NBA second-team defense and three times All-NBA third-team defense — belongs in any NBA discussion of top wing defenders, and Adebayo’s ability to defend any position makes him incredibly valuable in today’s game.
At this point, as a defensive duo, they likely would rank behind Milwaukee’s pairing of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Eric Bledsoe (both first-team All-NBA defense last season), the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard and Patrick Beverly and possibly Golden State’s Klay Thompson and Draymond Green (both second team All-NBA defense last season), with Thompson missing this season with a torn ACL.
But Butler/Adebayo — at their best — belong in the top five of this group. Adebayo figures to get some second-team All-Defensive votes this season.
FASTEST RUNNING BACK
The Dolphins’ Matt Breida would need to be in any discussion. He hit 22.3 mph on an 83-yard run last season against Cleveland, the fastest by a ball carrier on any play since the start of the 2018 season.
Breida has two of the top three fastest times for a ball carrier in that time frame. He ran a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash for the Eagles before the 2017 draft, which is blazing for a running back.
BEST RUNNING COLLEGE QUARTERBACK
UM’s D’Eriq King must be in any conversation. Beyond the 1,421 yards rushing in his career (on 5.6 per carry), consider this: In 2018, he averaged 4.65 yards after contact on his running attempts, which was best in the country.
NOTEWORTHY
While the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov belongs in any discussion of top five NHL centers, most would place him behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. But Barkov warrants an acknowledgment, to be sure.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 4:23 PM.
