Why Eli Apple Is Beneficial To The Miami Dolphins

Thursday afternoon, during Day Two of Miami Dolphins training camp Cornerback Jalen Ramsey suffered an injury to his meniscus. It would require a full meniscus repair which would take him out until at least December. Because of this, the Miami Dolphins organization took action, and Saturday Night signed former Cincinnati Bengals Cornerback Eli Apple. Apple was drafted 10th overall in the 2016 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Throughout his career, Apple has played in 88 NFL games, 78 of them he started five interceptions and 335 career tackles. However, last season with Cincinnati, he was targeted 72 times which was tied for 34th in the NFL and allowed 41 receptions which were tied for 43rd in the NFL last season.

The Dolphins’ Cornerback room is a solid yet really young group of cornerbacks outside of Xavien Howard. The second-year undrafted Cornerback Kader Kohou was coming off a very good first season for Miami with 72 tackles and one interception and was third in pass coverage in 2022. But more than likely, Vic Fangio will start Kohou as a slot Cornerback, which he was very good at last season, and also Nick Needham is still on the PUP list.

The Dolphins drafted Cornerback Cam Smith from South Carolina in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Dolphins fans, including myself, have high hopes that the first-year corner will succeed in Vic Fangio’s scheme. Although it would be pretty cool to see Smith rise up to the occasion and go take the starting corner opposite of Xavien Howard, we, as Dolphins fans, have to be realistic about this and not get our hopes up as high as we want to for Cam Smith to get the starting job.