The Miami Dolphins ended with 11 selections in the 2020 NFL draft, and one of those players has just been recognized as one of the best NFL rookies in the just completed regular season.
The Miami Dolphins ended with 11 selections in the 2020 NFL draft, and one of those players has just been recognized as one of the best NFL rookies in the recently completed regular season.
Defensive download Raekwon Davis was selected as one of the internal defensive attackers of the Pro Football Focus’ 2020 All-Rookie team.
“Davis’ obvious strength from Alabama was his ability to impact the racing game, and he ended the regular season of 2020 as the top-ranked newcomer inside the race (66.8),” wrote PFF. “This result has added weight, as Davis spent more time in the nose tackle position in his first year in Miami than in Alabama. The only player to line up directly over the center as a coach 0 more than Davis (216 photos ) this season was Poona Ford.
“Davis also managed to take advantage of several of these fights against the pivots as a pass-rusher. He and Christian Wilkins gave the Dolphins a pair of young, highly elaborate pieces along the defensive line for Brian Flores to work on the forward move.”
Davis ended the 2020 season with 40 tackles, the second highest total among all NFL debuting defensive line players. The only one who had more was the second overall choice, Chase Young, of the Washington football team, 42.
The Dolphins took Davis with 56th overall choice with their fifth selection in the 2020 draft after choosing Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson, Noah Igbinoghene and Robert Hunt.
The other internal defensive striker on the PFF All-Rookie team was Carolina Derrick Brown, the sixth overall choice.
ANOTHER COACH WAS
The day after the Dolphins announced the resignation of offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, the team announced that they had parted ways with defensive line coach Marion Hobby.
He was among the coaches hired by Brian Flores after he became head coach in February 2019, after a two-year stint at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Hobby coached the seven defenders Christian Wilkins and Shaq Lawson of the Dolphins during his second spell at Clemson (2011-16).
Hobby becomes the 11th assistant coach to leave the Dolphins since Flores was hired, after Gailey, 2019 offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea, 2019 defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, Jerry Schuplinski, Tony Oden, Karl Dorrell, Pat Flaherty, Dave DeGuglielmo, Tiquan Underwood and Matt Lombardi.
PLAYER SIGNATURES
The Dolphins announced on Thursday that they had signed a future contract with wide receiver Kirk Merritt, making him the 13th player hired this week.
They all finished 2020 in the team’s training squad.
The complete list consists of:
QB Reid Sinnett
CB Javaris Davis
S Brian Cole
CB Tino Ellis
DE Tyshun Render
LB Kylan Johnson
LS Rex Sunahara
G Durval Queiroz
T Jonathan Hubbard
C Tyler Gauthier
TE Chris Myarick
DE Nick Coe
Sinnett, Render, Merritt and Myarick were elevated from the training team to a regular season game.
BIG-IMPACT PLAY
Sports analytics website EdjSports, whose topics include probability of victory, ranked its 10 most impactful plays of the 2020 season, and it should come as no surprise that the “Facemask Bomb” was ranked in the top three.
Ryan Fitzpatrick’s pass to Mack Hollins, while he was having his mask ripped from the side, was good for 34 yards plus 15 yards doubled for the mask penalty and led to the Dolphins’ unlikely comeback win against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The game changed the Dolphins’ chances of winning from 6.1 percent to 81 percent, according to EdjSports.
The 75 percent difference made this the third most striking move behind only the Raiders’ final pass for Derek Carr’s touchdown to Henry Ruggs III against the Jets, which produced a 93.9 GWC change, and Arizona’s victory Hail Mary against Buffalo, which produced a difference of 91.9 GWC.
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