Miami Dolphins: Ranking the team’s ‘Olympic medal’ players
By Tadhg Flynn
2. Silver Medal: Jerome Baker, LB
The 2020 season proved that the Miami Dolphins defense is ready to win now. They had the sixth-lowest points against total in the NFL and tied for the fifth-lowest points per game conceded with 21.1. The Dolphins defense consistently produced the goods and came up big in important moments of games. Amongst the key figures in that defense was linebacker Jerome Baker.
Baker was an immense figure in the backfield for Miami. He totaled seven sacks across the season, the team’s highest number in the category. Baker was so important to the defense in a leadership capacity that he played 84 percent of defensive snaps. When it was crunch time, Baker helped them to produce. They had the league’s best defensive third-down completion percentage allowed, suffocating opposing attempts with just 31.2 percent of downs successful.
Offenses that did not pay attention to Baker’s positioning on the field suffered for it. He controlled inside and outside the box behind his line and consistently targeted the opposition’s key rushing figures. He produced a team-leading 112 tackles across the season, 70 of those being unassisted.
The Dolphins could not ask for more from their crucial linebacker. He is the “silver medalist” for this team and their defense would be far less fearsome without him.