Dolphins Pro Football Focus Player Rankings Give Fans Reason to Celebrate

The Miami Dolphins beat the Cincinnati Bengals this past weekend, giving Dolphins fans plenty of reasons to celebrate this week. However, I decided to do our look at the Pro Football Focus rankings of the Dolphins players as our weekly reasons to celebrate post this week, as more and more Miami players move higher up the positional rankings.

The Miami wide receivers fell a little this week, but still have a respectable showing, at least for the top two wide outs:

Anthony Fasano saw his ranking fall a little, but he remains a top ten tight end on the season.

The running back position saw both players move up a little this week. Last week saw Reggie Bush fall drastically, after he had to sit out the entire second half of the New York Jets contest, but he seems to be getting healthy again, and should see his rankings start to climb again. Daniel Thomas, meanwhile, is likely going to miss the game this week with his second concussion of the season. If Thomas does miss the game, look for Lamar Miller to get enough carries to qualify for the rankings.

Fullback Jorvorskie Lane fell dramatically this week, with his running and blocking both taking a big hit.

John Jerry continues to be impressive at right guard, given most people expected him to be among the first cuts of the preseason. Both Jerry and Richie Incognito both need to step up their play and start climbing the rankings.

Mike Pouncey fell out of the top spot this week, but he should be able to remain in the top three throughout the rest of the season.

Nothing surprising about Cameron Wake's ranking, as he remains the top pass rusher in the league. Olivier Vernon and Jared Odrick both need to help out Wake more to get the pressure coming from both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Randy Starks was the second ranked defensive tackle two weeks ago, but feel to seventh last week. He starts climbing back up after his AFC Defensive Player of the Week performance. Soliai fell one position, but remains in the top 20 defensive tackles in the league.

The linebackers all continue to be impressive, with Karlos Dansby simply falling from second to third among inside linebackers, while Kevin Burnett continues his top ten performance among 4-3 outside linebackers, while Koa Misi moves up to just outside the top ten.

Sean Smith continues to be the top cornerback for the Dolphins, and continues to climb the league rankings. Surprisingly, Jimmy Wilson jumps into the rankings this week about mid-pack in the NFL. Richard Marshall moves up 12 position, despite not playing this past week, while Nolan Carroll continues to struggle in the bottom 25% of the league. His play has actually be surpassed by Vontae Davis, who throughout the year, as we have pointed out, has been one of, if not the, worst corners in the league. However, this week saw him jump nearly twenty position, landing as the 80th ranked cornerback.

This is the position I most wanted to see this week. Safety Reshad Jones, who was ranked second last week, officially moved up into the top spot this week, coming off a great week against the Bengals, including the game sealing interception. Chris Clemons remains the 14th ranked safety, giving the Dolphins the top ranked duo in the league.

Despite missing another long field goal, Dan Carpenter moved up five positions this week. Eventually, Carpenter is going to work his way out of the long field goal funk he is in, and when he does, look for him to quickly climb the charts.

Ouch. Despite a 49.6 yards per kick average on five punts this week, Brandon Fields fell from the third position down nine spots this week.

Marcus Thigpen continues to float with that tenth placed position on the season, this time coming in on the good side of number ten. Davone Bess is getting some punt returns each week, but really nothing to see his rankings move that much from week to week.

What do you think of the Dolphins' rankings so far this year? Any one really surprise you? Anyone you thought was playing better than they are ranked? Let us know in the comments below.