Jerome Baker was paying attention to the team’s game plan for the Baltimore Ravens game a couple weeks ago and the more he listened, the more he saw, the more he became confused.
The Miami Dolphins coaches have routinely carved out different, and creative roles for the team’s inside linebacker, its leading tackler for the past three seasons. But the plan Miami created that week to defend Pro Bowl quarterback Lamar Jackson, one of the NFL’s best athletes, was head-scratching to Baker.
“I looked and I’m looking at it and I’m like all right, I’m not inside at all,” Baker recalled.
The Dolphins decided to make Baker an edge player to defend Jackson, and the role created a new set of challenges and responsibilities for the fourth-year veteran. He needed someone who could make the game plan make sense to him, so he sought an explanation from head coach Brian Flores.
“‘Why?’ And it wasn’t why in a sense of I was upset that they were changing my position. It was like, ‘what exactly are you asking [of] me, so I can play it how you want me to play it?’” Baker said, recalling his conversation with Flores, who played his position at Boston College before joining the coaching ranks.
“Flo pulled me aside and he explained it to me. ‘You’re athletic and you can do things that other guys can’t do. You can do the zone read. You can stop them from getting the ball but also get back on the play,” said Baker, who is on pace to lead the Dolphins in tackles (63) for a third straight season. “Just to hear that, it meant a lot.”
It means Miami’s defense continues to be fueled by Baker’s flexibility, his versatility, his ability and willingness to handle numerous roles.
One game, or sometimes one series, he’s blitzing, which is one of his best skill sets because of his impeccable timing for the snap. Last year he recorded a career-high seven sacks.
The next he’s a coverage specialist, asked to lock down the tight end in the seam, or the scatback coming out the backfield.
Every linebacker is an integral part of their teams run-stuffing, so Baker has to be on top of his run fits as well.
As we saw in Miami’s 22-10 win over the Ravens, the Dolphins have added edge-setting, and pass rushing to Baker’s resume.
Miami’s coaches have downplayed Baker’s shift, noting that any player can be asked to fill any role on their multiple, hybrid defense. But that type of approach doesn’t work without a player with a diverse skill set such as Baker, who Miami signed to three-year extension this offseason that will potentially pay him $40.1 million over the course of the next four years, and guarantees him $20 million.
“His versatility gives us flexibility to move him around so we talk about that every week,” Flores said. “The Giants, they create a number of potential issues with the amount of skill players they have. So when you have somebody like Jerome who can play a few different spots, you have some choices that you can make defensively. That’s a conversation we have every week.”
This Sunday week he could be asked to contain running back Saquon Barkley, a Pro Bowl talent who will be playing his third game back from a ankle injury that sidelined him for a month. Or he might have the responsibility of covering tight end Evan Engram, a flex weapon like Mike Gesicki, who has caught 247 passes in his 59 games, contributing 2,693 yards with 15 touchdowns.
Baker is appreciative that Flores, defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and linebackers coach Anthony Campanile routinely asked him his opinion on what he thought might lead to improvements for him, and the team. That approach started during Miami’s seven-game losing streak, and it appears to be paying off.
“If you don’t listen to your players it’s going to be pretty hard to play well in this league because at the end of the day we’re the players on the field,” Baker said. “We’re doing it. You can draw up different plays and draw up different schemes but if your players don’t respond well to it, those plays and schemes are useless. This organization does a great job of taking care of us physically, and also helping us understand why we’re doing certain things.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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