Bucky Brooks believes the Dolphins have a top-5 cornerback tandem

The 2020 NFL offseason has been anything but uneventful for the Miami Dolphins.

Not only did they get their franchise quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa, but they rebuilt both sides of the trenches. And then, of course, they added one of the league’s best press-coverage corners in Byron Jones.

Yes, the Dolphins have had an impressive offseason.

So, when NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks broke down his top-5 cornerback tandems in the NFL, it was no surprise that Xavien Howard and Byron Jones made his prolific list.

Here is what Bucky Brooks had to say.

“Brian Flores wants to play man to man, and he has two man-to-man specialists. Byron Jones does a great job of getting tight with wide receivers, shadowing them down the field. And Xavien Howard, a couple of years ago he was a guy that had tremendous ball skills. He got his hands on everything. Terrific players.”

Daniel Jeremiah then goes on to say that he doesn’t see a more talented tandem in the league.

This isn’t necessarily a surprise.

After all, when healthy, Xavien Howard has proven to be one of the league’s true ball-hawks. And since making the switch to cornerback, very few in the league have shadowed the NFL’s top wide receivers in the same way as Byron Jones.

Heck, you could probably go one step further and say that the Dolphins have one of the better trios in all of football. Nik Needham proved he could play in the league last season, and Miami invested a first-round pick in Noah Igbinoghene. Many have projected Iggy will start at nickel, but that is no certainty.

Time will tell how the two players compliment each other in Brian Flores defense. But the Dolphins have not had a tandem like this since the days of Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison. And that should give fans plenty of hope in 2020 and beyond.