Omar Kelly: Dolphins’ offseason additions may be able to help finally improve run defense

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Benardrick McKinney read the hand-off the minute the ball got to Tua Tagovailoa, sniffed out the seam the offensive line was trying to create between the left guard and left tackle and quickly filled it.

While Miami’s new inside linebacker didn’t make the tackle himself, the Myles Gaskin run during the team’s inside-run period of Wednesday’s practice — the Dolphins’ second in pads — was stuffed at the line of scrimmage.

“We can’t try to settle for one-on-one blocks,” said McKinney, who has averaged 88 tackles a game for the past six seasons. “We got to defeat blocks. We got to get off blocks. We got to be able to make plays.”

If this were a real football game, the Dolphins offense would have found themselves in a second-and-9, forced to make a tough decision on whether not to try the run game again, or take a more pass-happy approach.

That’s the type of impact the Dolphins hope McKinney, who Miami traded for this offseason, brings to the defense this season, helping to tighten the screws in an area that has been troublesome for nearly a decade.

The Dolphins have been soft against the run for quite some time now, and this offseason a handful of moves were made to address that shortcoming.

“It’s tough to be a good defense, or the defense you want to be, or great if you can’t stop the run. We have to do that first. If you take care of that it takes care of a lot,” said defensive lineman Christian Wilkins. “You need to run the ball to pass the ball. If you stop the run you know they’re going to have to pass. It takes away half their options, so you definitely have to make plays in the run game.”

While plenty has been made about the playmakers added to the offense, which will hopefully perk up the passing game, the alterations made to the defense is supposed to have a similar affect on Miami’s ability to defend the run.

Adding McKinney, and defensive linemen Adam Butler and John Jenkins in free agency, and the selection of Jaelan Phillips, one of the best edge setting defensive linemen in the 2021 NFL draft, should help Miami improve its run defense.

The Dolphins excelled in many important statistical categories last season — turnovers produced, third-down defense, red-zone efficiency — but stopping the run wasn’t one of them.

And it was the second consecutive season coach Brian Flores’ run defense was an issue.

(Actually, Miami’s run defense has been an issue since the 2013 season — but who’s counting.)

In 2019 the Dolphins allowed 2,166 rushing yards, or 135 rushing yards per game and 4.5 yards per carry.

Last season Miami allowed 1,862 rushing yards, or 116 rushing yards per game and again 4.5 yards per carry.

And those numbers started becoming respectable around midseason, when Raekwon Davis was inserted into the starting lineup and began to blossom.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Miami’s defensive front started playing better against the run when Davis replaced Davon Godchaux, who suffered a season-ending biceps injury in the fifth game of the season. With Davis in the starting lineup, the Dolphins trimmed their yards-per-carry average allowed from 4.9 yards to 4.5 yards.

Davis, who is 6 foot 7, 330 pounds, is an imposing presence who has the talent to clog running lanes. The Dolphins are hoping his game takes another step forward this season.

“I could be better.” Davis said, assessing his rookie season performance, which resulted in 40 tackles in 539 defensive snaps. “Just more mature. Way more mature than last year, and putting the team first.”

Put it all together and hope is that a weakness turns into a strength this season, and that Miami’s run defense is something that can be a source of pride, and not a cause for embarrassment.

“Run defense is important,” Flores said. “That’s always kind of a standard, ‘Hey, we want to be good against the run, force them to be one-dimensional and play defense that way.’

“I think every defense — high school, college, pros is saying the same thing from that standpoint. So yeah, there’s importance placed there. We’re working on that.”