The Dolphins are building a no-fly zone for a Tom Brady-less AFC East

The Dolphins’ rebuild went better than expected in 2019. A handful of smart moves this spring should mean better results in 2020.

This offseason, Miami saw a division no longer ruled by Tom Brady’s iron fist. Instead, the team’s rebound will come in an AFC East in which the only quarterback to start a playoff game was Buffalo’s Josh Allen.

The Dolphins moved quickly to fill the vacuum he left behind. The club handed Byron Jones the richest contract a cornerback has ever signed to lock down the sideline opposite incumbent Pro Bowler Xavien Howard. It spent the No. 30 pick in this year’s draft — the Dolphins’ third of the first round — to select the top slot corner in his class, Auburn’s Noah Igbinoghene. Just 40 picks later came Texas safety Brandon Jones, a lightning-quick defensive back well suited to take over for the recently released Reshad Jones.

The message is clear. Don’t throw on the Dolphins. Head coach Brian Flores, borrowing heavily from his days as a Patriots assistant in both philosophy and on the roster sheet, is relying on lockdown coverage to be the catalyst to an expedited turnaround.

The Dolphins paid big for a combination of experience and versatility this spring. That’s going to allow a defensive-minded head coach to throw diverse, high-concept coverage at a division whose quarterbacks have plenty to prove in 2020.

It starts with Howard, the 2018 NFL interception leader despite playing only 12 games that fall. Injuries limited him to five starts last year, but he should be recharged for 2020. He allowed only a 62.3 passer rating in coverage the past two seasons.

Then comes Byron Jones, whose play since 2018 — a 52.5 percent completion rate allowed, 22 passes defensed, 6.4 yards per target — stacks him as an above-average corner. He may not be everything an $82.5 million contract suggests, but he can make the leap from good to great in a Miami defense where he’ll have more support than he did in Dallas.

Those two should keep coverage tight along the sidelines. Igbinoghene and Brandon Jones, both elite athletes in need of seasoning, will bring value over the middle. Igbinoghene, who is the son of Nigerian Olympians, knocked down 19 passes as a slot corner his final two years at Auburn after starting his career at wideout. Jones isn’t quite as fast, but he’s an intelligent, rangy safety who made big plays throughout his Texas career. Each has the potential to develop into Pro Bowl attendees with the right guidance.

While questions remain at the other safety spot — Eric Rowe had a breakthrough 2019, but was inconsistent the four years preceding it — that’s a lot of pass rerouting talent. Those defensive backs will have a chance to feast in 2020 thanks to an AFC East lineup that features a pair of games against each of:

That’s an opportunity the Dolphins won’t let go to waste. Their offense will be a bit of a question mark under rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and incumbent Ryan Fitzpatrick (and possibly Josh Rosen) and a bunch of relatively raw skill players behind DeVante Parker. General manager Chris Grier has built the team such that whomever starts behind center won’t have to win shootouts to keep his team afloat next season. Rather than gamble on unknown offensive commodities, Miami made the offseason moves necessary to flatten the learning curve.

The Dolphins’ intentions for their return to the postseason were laid bare early in 2019. While the rest of the league trended toward young and occasionally unproven offensive minds for their head coaching hires, Miami landed on Flores. The latest branch pruned from Bill Belichick’s coaching tree built himself up from low-level assistant to command the Patriots’ defense over 15 seasons in New England.

Although he wasn’t the official defensive coordinator, he spent 2016-18 in a major role as linebackers coach and then, post-Matt Patricia, as the team’s de facto defensive playcaller. More importantly, he pushed several players to meet their potential in New England, ranging from low-cost veterans like Jason McCourty to undrafted free agents like Jonathan Jones and J.C. Jackson. That’s a trait that will be immensely valuable for a Miami team that’s heavily invested in young prospects at every position.

The biggest strength of New England’s top-ranked defense in 2019 was a lockdown secondary headed by an elite cornerback. With 2020’s moves, Flores’ Dolphins are working to replicate the Stephon Gilmore/Devin McCourty-led backline that bewildered opponents with an inexhaustible supply of capable coverage. Their ability to hold down the fort in the secondary allowed New England to be transparent with its blitzes on passing downs. As a result, a defensive front with few pass-rushing stars ranked sixth in the league in sack rate.

Flores will try to harness that power. He’s got support from new additions who are intimately familiar with the Patriot Way (tm). Kyle Van Noy was Miami’s other expensive free agent signee after leaving Foxborough for a four-year, $51 million contract in Florida. Elandon Roberts and Kamu Grugier-Hill each began their careers in New England, though Grugier-Hill was released on cut-down day as a rookie. Defensive end Shaq Lawson wasn’t a Patriot, but he comes from a potent AFC East defense after the Bills allowed him to walk in free agency.

The obvious plan is that a Jones-Howard-Rowe-Igbinoghene-Jones combination can unlock a similarly transparent, but devastating defense for the Dolphins. That’s the setting — and, for the most part, the positional coach — that turned Van Noy from a player the Lions didn’t want to one of the league’s most valuable interior linebackers. If it works in Florida, it could turn players like Lawson and 2019 first-round pick Christian Wilkins into stars.

That’s a lot of new moving pieces to incorporate, and the progress could be slow at first — especially given the potential for a disrupted training camp schedule due to (gestures wildly) you know. Even so, the Dolphins bought their way into the middle of the AFC East’s arms race by rebuilding their defense.

That, combined with a lack of immediate upper-echelon QB talent in the division (we’ll see about Allen, Darnold, Tagovailoa, and Stidham), gives Miami a light at the end of its tunnel. The Dolphins embraced their tank in 2019. In 2020, they’re embracing pass defense in a division short on proven quarterbacks. It’s a smart decision — one that should inspire hope for a formerly hopeless team.