Very Good “Juju” from Dolphins’ Brents
Juju is playing his best football as a Miami Dolphin
The Miami Dolphins lost their fifth straight to the Cincinnati Bengals to head into the bye week on a dour note. While there’s nothing positive about this loss in regard to the season, Juju Brents had his best game of the season and was a major factor in limiting Joe Burrow to only 190 yards on the day.
Juju is a second-round pick with a load of talent. He’s tall, fast, and has excellent burst, but he’s been plagued by injuries. I was excited about the acquisition of Juju last season until he was injured again.
There were flashes of talent, and I had hope for him again this season. Injuries came again this offseason, and his play was subpar in the zone defense Hafley runs.
And my hope for him waned.
Until Week 5.
Juju Had an Excellent Week 5
After a rough start to the season, Juju has grown, and in Week 5, he pulled it all together for an excellent day.
Can he stay healthy? We’ll see. But if he plays like he did in Week 5 and proves to finally have found durability, then the Dolphins will have two talented defensive backs in Juju and Chris Johnson.
You can see in the film below that he was one-on-one with superstar receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Notice his shade to the inside to force Chase outside. He bursts out of his stance, shadows him with his eyes on Chase’s hands, and gets the breakup with those long arms of his.
A big defensive play that could have easily been a touchdown if his technique had broken down at any point during the play.
In the film below, you can see the difference in the burst and decisiveness that Juju has compared to #4, Jason Marshall Jr. Two tall men, but completely different abilities to change direction. On the last play, you can see how Juju uses this skill set to play off and still come down to make the tackle.
In the first play below, Juju makes contact and moves his feet to stay with the receivers, turning as he moves backward. That’s balance!
In the second play, Chase is attacking the top of the defense, and Juju is playing off. He shades the inside in case it’s a 9 route and then pivots for the out. Even if the out had been thrown, Juju spins and gets over the top of Chase and would have had a chance to tackle him.
While it’s not Deion Sanders-level play, it’s still very high-level. But watch him fight through Chase and make the tackle.
In this last play, Juju runs stride for stride with Tee Higgins, right in his pocket, and Burrow has to throw it away. I really like how Juju had his eyes on Burrow, turned, and didn’t get handsy. It would have been very easy to give the Bengals a cheap first down with a penalty. This is excellent coverage.
Juju Brents has all the talent to be a real factor in the Dolphins’ defense. He is finding his way and has been healthy.
Will it continue? I don’t know.
But if it does, the Dolphins will have another big piece for this team solved on the cheap—at least until it’s time to get paid. The good news is he’s under contract until 2030. But if he keeps playing like this, he’ll want more money…and he’ll have earned it!
Hafley is doing a great job with Juju, and he’s running with it.
Go Phins!!!
