MIAMI GARDENS — New Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver offered a first glimpse at the enthusiasm, energy and personality that had to catch coach Mike McDaniel’s eye in hiring him while dishing out some tidbits on what to expect from him running the Dolphins defense in his introductory news conference Thursday afternoon at team facilities.
The 43-year-old former NFL defensive lineman, who was hired from his defensive line coach role with the Baltimore Ravens two weeks ago to replace ex-defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, smiled through 20-plus minutes of answering questions from South Florida media.
Weaver revealed his general philosophy on coaching, which has certainly made him a formidable candidate this hiring cycle who participated in interviews for head coaching vacancies before ultimately taking his second stab at the coordinator rank.
“I think of coaching as service work,” Weaver said. “Every player, every coach, anybody, I want to be in service to them and make sure they get my absolute best every single day.”
Some things McDaniel mentioned in his initial statement released following the hire was Weaver’s investment in players, his belief in player development and who he is, beyond coaching, as a teacher and leader of men. Weaver, who played for the Ravens and Houston Texans from 2002 through 2008, could stand to connect better with today’s players than the 65-year-old Fangio, who appeared to rub some of his defenders the wrong way in his lone season in Miami.
“They want to be coached hard, and they want to be loved up,” Weaver said of his view of the players in this day and age. “And that’s what I believe in. I believe in coach them hard and love them up, and when you do that, they tend to respond.”
Weaver answered the question as to what his defense will look like with the defense. It was up in the air after he played an aggressive style in his one previous season as a defensive coordinator with the 2020 Houston Texans but was then under more traditional two-high safety looks in Baltimore under defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who is now head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
“The scheme that we used in Baltimore was extremely multiple and flexible,” Weaver said. “The foundation of what we do here will be from that.”
This should allow Dolphins defenders some continuity with similar principles to what Fangio did last season that were successful but with greater flexibility.
“Your scheme better be flexible enough to adapt to the players and adapt to whatever scheme you may be in,” he said.
The Ravens defense last season had a comparable blitz rate to the Dolphins in 2023, with Macdonald utilizing it 21.9 percent of the time while Fangio sent an extra rusher at a 21.5 percent rate. Weaver deployed the blitz much more frequently when he led the 2020 Texans defense, 35.9 percent that season.
“Blitzing, it’s got to be calculated and not reckless,” said Weaver, who added he has been around both styles of coordinators when it comes to the blitz. “Whenever we do blitz, it’ll be with intent.”
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Dolphins fans alike may rejoice when they hear Weaver’s ideas on using the seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback who often complained last season of not being allowed to shadow opponents’ top receivers under Fangio.
“He is your ultimate chess piece,” Weaver said. “To have him just sit outside and be a field corner or boundary corner or something like that, I think is a detriment to him. We got to find ways to move him around where he can be most impactful, and we’re committed to doing that.
“It’s Jalen Ramsey. Come on now. You talk about prototype corners, he is that. Size, length, speed, competitiveness.”
Weaver was complimentary of many of the Dolphins defensive pieces already in place. He primarily stuck to listing players already under contract for 2024 — or without a questionable status of returning to the team, like cornerback Xavien Howard — but he did name defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who is lined up for free agency this offseason. The Dolphins can place him on the franchise tag, though.
“I love coaching good players, and obviously, he is one of them,” Weaver said. “So, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, know that he’s positioned himself for a huge payday, and as an ex-player, I completely understand the business of the league. Love Christian, would love to have him, but man, we’ll see.”
Another difference from Fangio, Weaver said he will coach from the sideline instead of up in the booth.
“I need to feel what’s going on in the game,” he said, “feel how the players are reacting to the situation, and hopefully, be a positive influence in whatever reaction that is. I don’t think you can have that same effect from up in the booth.”
Weaver also said he is in tune with tracking analytics in decision making, saying coaches “would be a fool” not to use it, while adding some of it needs to be filtered.
Weaver named Romeo Crennel, whom he had in Houston, and Ravens coach John Harbaugh as some of his greater coaching influences.
He mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic as a challenge he faced in his one previous stint as a coordinator as that year with the Texans went awry. Weaver also said he learned that year “problems are gifts,” something similar to what McDaniel often says of “adversity is opportunity.”
“With all the adversity we dealt with on the field that season,” Weaver said, “although we didn’t get the results on the field we wanted, I felt like that unit, as a whole, always stayed together and fought their butts off.”
Weaver has actually owned a home in Fort Lauderdale since 2009. His now-wife, then his girlfriend, helped him pick it out, but he said Thursday it’s not large enough to fit his family as a primary residence now with two kids. So he will be selling the house and finding a new home in South Florida as he makes this latest career transition.
