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Should the Dolphins be willing to make a deadline trade?

Should the Dolphins be willing to make a deadline trade?

As the NFL trade deadline looms on November 2 at 1:00 p.m. ET, the Miami Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier are in need of action. The Dolphins have been riddled with injuries in arguably their strongest area collectively – the secondary.

Starting back with the Byron Jones PUP situation, then consecutive weeks of injuries to Kader Kohou, Nik Needham and Brandon Jones, the Miami defensive backfield has resembled a MASH unit. While undrafted rookie Kohou could return as early as Sunday against the Detroit Lions, Needham and Jones are out for the season with an Achilles and ACL respectively.

It’s this area of the field that when fully healthy is the straw that stirs the drink in the cocktail of what makes the Dolphins’ defense potentially potent. From 2021 to now there’s been a stark contrast in those corner and edge blitzes, and without the lockdown corners at full capacity, it’s understandable why a player like Jevon Holland has been called to handle more coverage duties. So far in 2022, Holland hasn’t given up a touchdown in coverage and has a pair of interceptions.

The Dolphins still have the luxury of Xavien Howard, who’s coming off of a stellar Sunday night performance, where he essentially had his assignment on an island. Howard was back to his vintage form after a tough start to the season. In primetime against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, he was targeted four times, and the average yard per target was merely 5.5 yards. The three receptions he gave up went for a combined 22 yards, and the quarterback rating against him was 87.5, his best mark since Week 1.

Regardless of Howard playing back to form, Miami’s second cornerback must handle their coverage duties similar to how Byron Jones played, or the other areas of this defense will continue to be called upon to help, thus hurting those exotic blitz packages.

The next man up now is Noah Igbinoghene, who despite being picked on all Sunday night by Steelers rookie Kenny Pickett, ended the game and sealed the victory for Miami with an endzone interception. At just 22 years old, Igbinoghene will try to stack successful games together in his development.

Regardless of the 2020 first-round pick improving, Miami still could benefit from adding depth, if not a prominent cornerback to their roster. Looking around the league, the cornerback market is alive with rumors circulating out of Cleveland that the Browns are listening to offers for a few players, namely Greedy…

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