Jerome Baker

Coming off a lackluster 2021 season, in which Baker's stats declined in terms of both tackles (92) and sacks (5.5) despite appearing in 16 games for a fourth straight season. Baker should once again float around 900 defensive snaps in 2022, but if he fails to bounce back in terms of production it wouldn't be surprising for the Dolphins to consider a potential 'out' in his contract.

Although he was more of a 2.5-down player than a true three-down starter last year, Baker made a big impact in the box score, especially as a blitzer. When paired with seven sacks, Baker's 112 tackles more than did the trick for IDP investors last year, but it'd be nice to see him log 1,000-plus snaps and breeze past 120 tackles again like he did in 2019. The trade acquisition of Benardrick McKinney could keep Baker's snap count contained below the 1,000-snap mark for the second year in a row, however, which could leave him dependent on sack production for IDP upside.

It's tough to tell how good Baker is or how good he might be in the future, which makes things complicated when attempting to project the playing time and production between himself, Raekwon McMillan and free-agent signing Kyle Van Noy. The Dolphins are expected to use a four-linebacker base most of the time, and both the inside and outside positions are crowded. Van Noy can play inside or out, so his split might tilt toward the position that needs more help. In other words, if Baker and McMillan struggle more than Emmanuel Ogbah, Shaq Lawson and Vince Biegel, then Van Noy might play more inside snaps and encroach on the previous workload of Baker and McMillan. These things make it difficult to project another 1,093 snaps for Baker after playing that many in 2019, totaling 126 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one interception. McMillan is the better run defender of the two, but he's had issues in coverage to this point. For Baker to remain a viable starting IDP option, he needs to play well enough to keep Van Noy from stealing his snaps. It's a fluid situation, and as much as it might turn in Baker's favor, a year of drastic regression is a real possibility with a couple wrong turns.