Before I get into it, let me start with a disclaimer: this not a thread about Guidry's coaching, nor is it an excuse for him. Our defense has many issues that go beyond talent. But I wanted to focus on this specific problem, since it's plagued us for almost a decade now.
The last time Miami played great pass defense was from 2016-2018. We finished 12th, 20th and 4th nationally in pass efficiency defense over those three seasons. There are a lot of reasons why those groups played well, but one of them jumped off the page. Here are our starters from that era and the amount of games they played in the NFL:
Adrian Colbert- 41 games
Corn Elder- 35 games
Rayshawn Jenkins- 115 games (and counting)
Jamal Carter- 29 games
Jaquan Johnson- 60 games
Sheldrick Redwine- 34 games
Dee Delaney- 52 games
Mike Jackson- 48 games (and counting)
It's not complicated- we had some talent. Pretty much every DB starter from that period played multiple NFL seasons. It seems the sweet spot was Al Golden's recruits playing in Manny Diaz's scheme (two more Golden DBs, Artie Burns and Deon Bush, were drafted the previous year).
Now look at the drought that followed. From 2016-2022 (seven recruiting cycles), these are the only DBs we signed out of high school who were drafted as defensive backs:
DJ Ivey
Kam Kinchens
That's it. Two in seven years. If you include James Williams, who was drafted as a LB, it becomes three. And even though the problem goes well beyond local misses, this is an era where South Florida DBs got drafted in droves:
Patrick Surtain (1)
CJ Henderson (1)
Kaiir Elam (1)
Tyson Campbell (2)
Asante Samuel (2)
Trayvon Mullen (2)
Jordan Battle (3)
Marco Wilson (4)
Jarvis Brownlee (5)
Josh Metellus (6)
Rachad Wildgoose (6)
Faion Hicks (7)
James Wiggins (7)
When I look at the current group, OJ Frederique is the only guy that I feel good about as a future NFL talent. Maybe Damari Brown if he comes back strong. But this is a problem that has plagued us for a long time and has only gotten worse in past nine years. Mario's first full class (2023) was notably lacking in defensive backs, so it's not just a Manny issue.
We need to land multiple NFL defensive backs in the Class of 2025, and the Portal will have to make up for some misses. Miami is not Miami without a great secondary.
The last time Miami played great pass defense was from 2016-2018. We finished 12th, 20th and 4th nationally in pass efficiency defense over those three seasons. There are a lot of reasons why those groups played well, but one of them jumped off the page. Here are our starters from that era and the amount of games they played in the NFL:
Adrian Colbert- 41 games
Corn Elder- 35 games
Rayshawn Jenkins- 115 games (and counting)
Jamal Carter- 29 games
Jaquan Johnson- 60 games
Sheldrick Redwine- 34 games
Dee Delaney- 52 games
Mike Jackson- 48 games (and counting)
It's not complicated- we had some talent. Pretty much every DB starter from that period played multiple NFL seasons. It seems the sweet spot was Al Golden's recruits playing in Manny Diaz's scheme (two more Golden DBs, Artie Burns and Deon Bush, were drafted the previous year).
Now look at the drought that followed. From 2016-2022 (seven recruiting cycles), these are the only DBs we signed out of high school who were drafted as defensive backs:
DJ Ivey
Kam Kinchens
That's it. Two in seven years. If you include James Williams, who was drafted as a LB, it becomes three. And even though the problem goes well beyond local misses, this is an era where South Florida DBs got drafted in droves:
Patrick Surtain (1)
CJ Henderson (1)
Kaiir Elam (1)
Tyson Campbell (2)
Asante Samuel (2)
Trayvon Mullen (2)
Jordan Battle (3)
Marco Wilson (4)
Jarvis Brownlee (5)
Josh Metellus (6)
Rachad Wildgoose (6)
Faion Hicks (7)
James Wiggins (7)
When I look at the current group, OJ Frederique is the only guy that I feel good about as a future NFL talent. Maybe Damari Brown if he comes back strong. But this is a problem that has plagued us for a long time and has only gotten worse in past nine years. Mario's first full class (2023) was notably lacking in defensive backs, so it's not just a Manny issue.
We need to land multiple NFL defensive backs in the Class of 2025, and the Portal will have to make up for some misses. Miami is not Miami without a great secondary.
