MIAMI -- Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa lofted a pass to running back De'Von Achane toward the end of the team's training camp practice Tuesday, nearly completing the downfield wheel route over cornerback Kader Kohou .
Nearly.
The third-year cornerback stayed with the play to separate the ball from Achane as they fell out of bounds. Incomplete.
Kohou dapped Achane up before posing to celebrate with his teammates in the secondary. It's a scene that's played out several times for the Dolphins during their first week of training camp -- a standout play followed by an accommodating celebration. That energy, players say, is a byproduct of the freedom new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has brought to this defense.
"It's a blast out there," safety Jevon Holland said. "I don't know if you guys got to see, but I'm having a bunch of fun. He's a fun coach to play under. He really established an exciting culture and allows us a lot of room to just grow within it, so I'm enjoying myself a lot."
Weaver took over this offseason after the Dolphins parted ways with Vic Fangio after one season. He had spent the past three seasons as the Baltimore Ravens ' defensive line coach and was the Houston Texans ' defensive coordinator in 2020.
He was hired, in part, for his ability to connect with people -- not just players. He's relatable, as a former second-round pick of the Ravens in 2002, but it's not necessarily his experience as a player that has had Dolphins players raving about him throughout the offseason.
It's his genuine nature and personality; Holland went as far as to call it "a complete 180" from a season ago.
"Weaver is super dope, man, as a person, as an ex-player, as a coach -- you could just feel it," Holland said. "He understands where we're coming from, wants to hear us and our input on the defense, and then is able to put that into how the defense is called and how the defense is taught. ... He's really a solid dude."
That ability to connect with players helps extract the best out of them, coach Mike McDaniel said, and the early returns from Weaver's style have been "gratifying."
"It's very important that there's connectivity there," McDaniel said. "It's also not a surprise, but I think there's an important part in football that is sometimes overlooked. But I think it's a very, very valuable and instrumental part of the whole thing, and that's the emotional connectivity of coaches to players. And if you're trying to get someone to be their very best, you have to be able to reach them. And you have to be able to reach them in ways that are constructive, empowering; but overall, they have to choose to listen.
"I've been as happy with our intent and how we attack practice as I've ever been as a head coach, and I think that's exactly what the team would have hoped for and so we're moving in the right direction as one unit. Offense, defense, special teams aside, it is one team moving in a direction. That's what I feel every day, and 'Weave' has been a big part of that."
The cohesion isn't limited to players; McDaniel said he heard several players mention during the beginning of their offseason program how they could tell how much the Dolphins' defensive staff liked being around each other.
One reason why is the twice weekly pickup basketball games the defensive staff played during the offseason. Weaver joked that the coaches' wives weren't too happy with them because "we all come home with injuries," but the pickup games established a culture that coaches wanted to be around.
The players, Weaver said, feed off their chemistry.
"I love this staff," he said. "The teams I've been a part of that actually care for one another, where they hung out outside of the building and they cared about their families, their wives, their girlfriends, their kids -- like, that's transcending. So now when you're out there playing next to somebody, you're not just playing for him but you're playing for him and his family and everybody he cares about too.
"I think as a staff defensively, I'm always trying to feed into that and making sure that we're as close as we could possibly be, because when adversity does inevitably hit, those are the types of guys you want to be in the foxhole with."
The Dolphins must replace four starters from last year's defense that ranked 10th in yards allowed per game. They've largely done so via free agency, with players such as Kendall Fuller , Jordan Poyer and Jordyn Brooks .
Brooks, who spent his first four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks , said Miami's defense has prided itself on the chemistry it built over the offseason, getting to know each other on a personal level.
Consider it a trickle-down effect of Weaver's coaching style.
"I think it's just a thing that happens naturally over time," Brooks said. "What I like about Weaver, he doesn't force it. You can tell when somebody is kind of forcing a relationship or trying to just do things. He's kind of really natural and organic, just literally, you might be standing off and he might tap you on the shoulder and talk about whatever. Little moments, like I said, they go a long way. It's like, 'Oh, I thought you were going to talk to me about ball,' and he asked me something personal.
"That just goes a long way, and I think he does a great job of just doing that, just being who he is, and I don't think its forced at all. So I think in the long run, you'll see a lot of guys playing hard for him just because he's able to reach guys on a personal level."
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