As expected, this week, the Miami Dolphins lost safety Jevon Holland in free agency as he signed a big contract with the New York Giants. This continues a bad trend by the Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier of not resigning his own draft picks.
Last year, the team lost Christian Wilkins, Robert Hunt, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Brandon Jones. This year, it’s Holland.
Holland is regarded as one of the better safeties in the league, but I’m seeing it as well as others. Holland is a talented player and was the first safety drafted in the 2021 draft in the 2nd. He played well for the Dolphins his first few years but always left you wanting to see more out of him.
He’s not the biggest playmaker at his position, as evidenced by his five interceptions in 4 years, but he can be used in various ways as a deep safety, working him in the nickel and blitzing him in the box. The highlight of his Dolphins career was the 99-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Fail Mary game on Black Friday against the New York Jets.
Unfortunately, things turned after that play. He ended up spraining both MCLs in his knees in that game and basically missed the rest of the season.
When the Dolphins parted ways with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio at the end of last year, Holland was one of the first players to basically say good riddance with his kicking rocks emoji on social media. Fangio wasn’t a fit with the players due to his old-school style, and he criticized his players for not wanting to put the time in. Frankly, I think Fangio was right about guys not putting the time in.
Holland, this year, in a contract year, looked like a player who was lost. Too many times this year, I saw him take poor angles and missed tackles. It’s one reason the Dolphins get a soft label on this defense.
There was even talk that Holland wasn’t giving his all because, at times, he was hurt but wasn’t going to risk things to hurt his chances of a new deal. I can see that point of view, but football players make millions of dollars to play football while we fans watch football and struggle to make ends meet. We would love the opportunity to play football and get paid millions of dollars.
Watching Holland last year was frustrating. The highlight that I remember was against the San Francisco 49ers. quarterback Brock Purdy hit Debo Samuels on a crossing route, and Holland and Jordan Poyer were both there to make the tackle, but instead, Samuels, not a big receiver, bounced off both players and scored a touchdown.
Poyer is done as a player, and that was evident last year, but Holland’s lack of effort last year rubbed me the wrong, and the Dolphins were right not to give him a big contract.
This might come back to bite the Dolphins, and maybe Holland reaches his potential, but it will be sad that it doesn’t happen with the Dolphins. The team has had many talented players come and go in recent years, and some have been frustrating to see go, but Holland, I’m not. Wilkins, Van Ginkel, Jones, and Hunt all gave their all even in contract years.
Giving it your all on the field and leaving it all on the line is what I like to see in players. The problem is I didn’t see it with Holland. The Dolphins need a change at safety and need a more physical presence with a player who gives his all.
I really hope he is able to reach his full potential, but it will be sad that it could bite the Dolphins in the ass.
