After seven years with the Buffalo Bills, Jordan Poyer relocated to an AFC East rival in the Miami Dolphins this offseason. Now, kicking off his first training camp in Miami, the veteran safety has admitted he and Buffalo used to expect the Dolphins to "fold," all but questioning the club's crunch-time fortitude.
"Playing against this team over the past few years, you know, you kind of ... get a sense of, okay, if you get on top of this team, they might fold," Poyer told reporters Tuesday, per The Palm Beach Post. "I'm just being honest, you know, so what is that? What is it that happens in those moments?"
Poyer proceeded to suggest the Bills were typically resilient to in-game hardships: "We're like, hey, [we're] good. Let's bounce back. We're good. The game, it's a 60-minute game. It's a long game."
Now, as a veteran presence for a revamped Dolphins defense, the former Pro Bowler is looking to bring some of that thick-skinned nature to Miami, where Mike McDaniel's squad has started hot only to go one-and-done in the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
"I mean, I've been in games and we've been down 21 points and ended up winning," Poyer said. "So it's just continuing to just play the game. The game is gonna come down to the last series, the last play, so just keep playing, don't get stuck in that play that you didn't make or don't get stuck into X, Y, or Z of the past. You know, let's just keep playing, keep staying together."
The Dolphins' highest-profile defender and one of Poyer's new defensive backfield teammates, seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey, downplayed Poyer's comments. Ramsey's main reaction was that it is nearly impossible to carry the same sentiment about the 2024 Miami squad considering how different it is from the 2023 iteration.
"I don't really have a reaction to it. I only played him one time, and I was on the Dolphins," Ramsey said, via Pro Football Network, on Wednesday. "He was on the other team, so it doesn't really do anything for me or move me any type of way. Also, last year's team is different than this year's team in a lot of different ways, including having him on the team now. So, I don't event think you can really compare it in that way. I guess on paper, which y'all do, you could, but I don't look at it that way. This is Day 1, so we have to build our identity. We have to go through a lot things during this camp. A lot of growing pains. Hopefully some adversity, maybe even a couple fights. Good things like that to bring us closer. We'll see."
On the defensive side of the ball, Ramsey has a point when taking a look at the immense roster turnover on his side of the ball. The unit even has a new coordinator going from Vic Fangio to former Baltimore Ravens associate head coach/defensive line coach Anthony Weaver.
Dolphins defensive roster turnover
Key additions/re-signings
- LB Jordyn Brooks (FA - SEA)
- CB Kendall Fuller (FA - WSH)
- S Jordan Poyer (FA - BUF)
- DE Calais Campbell (FA - ATL)
- LB Anthony Walker (FA - CLE)
- CB Nik Needham (re-signed)
- DC Anthony Weaver (BAL Ast HC/D-Line)
- DE Chop Robinson (1st round, Penn State)
Key departures
- DT Christian Wilkins (FA - LV)
- LB Andrew Van Ginkel (FA - MIN)
- DT Raekwon Davis (FA - IND)
- S Brandon Jones (FA - DEN)
- LB Jerome Baker (FA - SEA)
- CB Xavien Howard (FA)
- DC Vic Fangio (PHI DC)
McDaniel, for what it's worth, has publicly acknowledged the pressure on his team to deliver on postseason expectations, owning up to the fact the Dolphins' explosive results haven't translated late in the year.
"When I got hired, I said it in my first team meeting -- it was 22 years [the Dolphins had gone without a playoff win] at the time," the coach told reporters in June. "You don't hire someone for moderate success or failure or anything. You hire them to win. And I know we have to do that. ... [Nothing's] really changed."
