MIAMI — Denial isn’t just a river found in northeastern Africa.

It’s an actual state of mind where coaches, players — if not entire organizations — dwell in for far too long, whether because of pride or lack of awareness And it often leads to stagnation.

Anthony Weaver seemingly doesn’t live in that space, therefore he hasn’t shied away from acknowledging that his Miami Dolphins defense spent most of last season covering up for “deficiencies,” masking the warts caused by injuries and misfitting talent.

“That’s why we have the coach tag on our chest. A lot of guys can get up here and complain about personnel. I promise you we will never do that,” the Dolphins’ second-year defensive coordinator said last week. “Ultimately, we’re going to find a way with a bunch of guys that are volunteers and not hostages, [players] that want to get better. And if we do that, and we can find a way to play as one collective unit, which is what we’re always chasing, we’re going to play good defense.”

Unfortunately for Weaver, the Dolphins clearly haven’t addressed most of defense’s deficiencies from last season.

In fact, the 2025 defensive personnel falls short of what Miami had in many areas in 2024 because of the changes made to the defensive line and the secondary.

It’s super early, and as general manager Chris Grier pointed out during the NFL draft weekend, the roster isn’t finalized just yet because there’s another round of free agency to come. But before that comes this dance we do in the spring called OTAs.

While football players aren’t wearing pads, can sparingly touch one another, and the action looks more like flag football than it does actual football, the media will finally have a chance to see offensive and defensive players line up against one another this week.

It’s challenging to gauge anything about any team in May, before pads come on (August), and the collisions with people that truly matter are real (September). But the Dolphins need Weaver to at least do what he did last year with Miami’s defense, which is take some undesirable pieces and make it delectable.

Weaver performed a magic trick last season, turning an aging and injury-decimated defense into a top-10 unit despite having very little sack production (35, which ranked 27th), and even fewer turnovers (16, ranked 27th).

That means the Dolphins were a bottom-six unit in both of those major defensive categories, but managed to deliver the NFL’s ninth-best defense.

How? The Dolphins were one of the NFL’s best third-down defense (35.9% conversion rate), finishing sixth in 2024, and was the fourth best red-zone defense, and ranked second in goal-to-go defense.

That means the Dolphins excelled at situational football, tightening the screws in critical moments.

That’s how Weaver and his crew kept the season alive, especially during the stretch of the year where the Dolphins were forced to play 6.5 games without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa because of his early concussion and his hip issues.

Without that unit Miami would have probably won five games. However, the defense did cost Miami victories (Indianapolis, Arizona and the second Buffalo game) last season.

Weaver seems confident that his unit will be able to turn up the volume in its second season in his defense, where coaches are more familiar with the talent base, and calls and assignments are less foreign.

We will soon learn if he’s right, but it doesn’t hurt that Miami will get its pass rushing duo of Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips back from season-ending knee injuries.

Both have the potential to be double-digit sack producers if they can stay healthy (which is their lingering issues). Then pair that with Chop Robinson’s second season, and Miami has the potential to possess a dangerous trio of pass rushers.

Behind them is a linebacker unit led by Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson, who on paper fill the stat box. They collectively each delivered career seasons for the Dolphins last year, but must learn how to play together as a linebacker tandem, which takes time and chemistry.

“In this league success is wins and losses, but I think there is such a thing as individual success,” linebackers coach Joe Barry said. “Jordyn Brooks had a phenomenal season last year, so I’m going to look at him specifically and say [he has] the opportunity to improve upon a pretty damn good year.”

The same is needed for Ashtyn Davis and Ifeatu Melifornwu to make their marriage as Miami’s starting safety tandem work. Both have teased at times throughout their first four or five NFL seasons, but they have never cemented themselves as NFL starters for their previous teams.

This is their change, their moment to cement themselves and their careers.

Zach Sieler was once presented that moment and he seized it, proving he’s a legit NFL playmaker, delivering double-digit sack seasons. It doesn’t get more impressive than that for a defensive linemen.

This year Sieler must prove he can be the lead dog on a defensive line that will feature three rookies.

At least that unit has a leader, which is more than what can be said about Miami’s secondary, especially once Jalen Ramsey is moved, on or after June 1.

Artie Burns is the most established player in the secondary, and he’s a former disappointing first-round pick who has hung around the NFL as a practice squad player the past couple of seasons.

Burns has started one more game (39) than Kohou, an undrafted player from Texas A&M-Commerce, who has thrived as Miami’s starting nickel cornerback the past three seasons.

Kohou’s success proves that the Dolphins can take raw ability and turn it into something productive.

Those two are the veterans in a room that’s filled with unproven talents such as Cam Smith, Storm Duck, Ethan Bonner, Isaiah Johnson and rookies Jason Marshall Jr and BJ Adams.

Kohou, and Nik Needham before him, came out of nowhere and established himself as a respectable starter in 2022, so who is to say that can’t happen for any of these unknown?

“They all have a chip and they want to prove themselves,” Weaver said about his unproven defenders. “There’s no greater motivator than that as a coach, because you know every time they attack that field, they’re going to attack it with purpose and intention.”

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