Bryan Cox was working on hand-to-hand moves with the linebackers recently, and the way he handled Pro Bowlers like Jason Taylor and Cameron Wake suggested Miami’s new pass rushing coach could still get to the quarterback.
It may be a coincidence, but the fact that Cox’s second season in the NFL almost mirrors Wake’s in terms of production can only add to the credence that comes with his words. During his playing days, Cox stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 250 pounds and Wake is 6-3, 250. Both players recorded 14 sacks to earn their first Pro Bowl berths, Cox in 1992 and Wake in 2010, so Wake feels fortunate to have him and Taylor on his side.
“I think it’s great to have a guy like that helping out,” he said. “He’s a guy who obviously has been between the white lines. He’s played the game, he knows what it’s like, he knows what works and what doesn’t work. He can give you both perspectives, the coach’s perspective where he’s telling you what to do, but at the same time he knows things that worked better when he was playing. He has that wisdom and that respect and expertise that helps.”
Cox towered above the group of reporters speaking to him for the first time today after practice and looked just as comfortable in his coaching skin as he did as a player. His last season in a uniform was in 2002 with the New Orleans Saints, and after a four-year radio career he was lured into coaching by Eric Mangini in 2006, who was head coach of the New York Jets at the time.
After three seasons with the Jets as their assistant defensive line coach (2006-08), Cox followed Mangini to the Browns where he was their defensive line coach the last two years. It was during a chance meeting with Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano at the Senior Bowl in January where his road back to Miami was paved.
“He and I just kind of sat and we talked a little bit and there was a point where he was obviously out of a job and that’s where it started,” said Sparano, who got to know Cox a little bit through Bill Parcells and knew how much of a straight shooter he was. “There was no position at that point and this was kind of an idea that I just had and I thought it would be something that worked out good and I went to Jeff (Ireland) with it and Jeff (approved).”
Since he arrived in camp Cox has made an immediate difference and allowed Miami’s pass rushers to get extra work outside of the regular defensive drills. He seems to have completed his transition from a high-energy player with a penchant for wearing his emotions on his sleeve to a respected teacher still capable of intimidation.
This is now Cox’s sixth season being a coach and he is aware of how differently specific players perceive him based on their age. A 15-year veteran like Taylor, whose NFL career began two years after Cox left Miami for the Chicago Bears, has a different rapport with Cox than someone like Wake or second-year players Jared Odrick and Koa Misi have.
“I teach everybody the same, but having said that, with somebody that has the experience that (Taylor) has, he can teach you,” Cox said. “So when we’re working there’s give and take. I’ll say, ‘This is in concrete and this is how we want to do this, but this JT, how do you feel about this and how do you want to do this?’ I think any coach that is worth anything usually is going to be in a position where he’s not dominating a player and saying this is the way we’re going to do it and this is written in stone. That’s not a coach, that’s a dictator.”
Taylor has 132.5 career sacks, which is tied for eighth all-time in NFL history, and has six Pro Bowls to his credit. Wake is 113 sacks shy of Taylor’s total and had 5.5 sacks the one year he played behind JT in 2009. He pointed out that Cox’s treatment of the linebackers is fair but not always equal when it comes to Taylor, which is fine with him because of Taylor’s resume.
Meanwhile, Cox already has formed a high opinion of Wake and his potential as a top-flight pass rusher in the league. He also is a fan of Wake’s work ethic.
“The beautiful thing is he’s a hard worker. He’s asking questions and I get to spend a lot of quality time with him,” said Cox, who also played with the Jets (1998-2000) and New England Patriots (2001). “I’m teaching him through my eyes of the success I may have had when I played as a rusher and then not really wanting to change a whole lot about him but just trying to help in some areas where I think maybe we can get some improvement in.
“He has great hips. I haven’t seen as many as five or six players with the hips that he has, and when you have hips like that you’re made to be a pass rusher.”
For Taylor, he’ll take direction from anyone willing to give it to him, especially an accomplished pass rusher and ex-Dolphin like Cox.
“His reputation precedes him, and I like that,” Taylor said. “He’s still the same way. He’ll still cuss you out. He still has an edge to him. He’s still Bryan Cox. He’s a brutally honest guy. You never stop learning. He played differently than I do. But he had heavy hands and a hard head. There are things he can teach and point out on tape. None of us ever stop learning.”
Odrick was working with Taylor after today’s practice trying to grab some pointers and see what aspects of Taylor’s game he can incorporate into his own. Taylor’s someone he used to watch highlight tape of in college at Penn State and he actually worked with the same martial arts coaches Taylor worked with at Akron.
But when it comes to Cox, who Odrick concurs still uses choice words to get his point across, he is an added bonus for the 2010 first-round draft pick. Unlike Misi, who apparently needed to look up Cox on Google to learn more about his playing days, Odrick was very familiar with him.
“I used to have tons of his playing cards,” said Odrick, who missed 15 games last year with a leg injury. “I used to trade his cards when I was in elementary school so yeah, you know who Bryan Cox is and what he’s done in the National Football League and what type of player he was. You definitely want to take as much as you can from him and learn and incorporate it into your game. There’s definitely a lot of mutual respect there.”
Chemistry between Cox and the young players is just as important to Sparano as the connection Cox and Taylor have, which is why he felt it was important to bring someone in like Cox. Sparano even revealed that Cox’s former coach with the Dolphins, Hall-of-Famer Don Shula, told him it was a smart move.
“A guy like JT hearing from Bryan, he knows Bryan has done it and I think the two of those guys bounce ideas off of each other a little bit,” Sparano said. “And then the young guys, they’re looking at Bryan with big guys and understanding that he’s been out there and this guy’s been a really good player in this league. I think that’s done nothing but help us.”
Time will tell how much, beginning on September 12th when the Dolphins open up the 2011 regular season on Monday Night Football against the New England Patriots. Tom Brady will be in the pass rushers’ sites.
DOLPHINS TIDBITS: Misi and rookie punt returner and wide receiver Phillip Livas returned to practice today after sitting out Monday with minor injuries. Left tackle Jake Long, tight end Mickey Shuler, linebacker Mickey Shuler and guard Garrett Chisolm continued to work on the side with the training staff. … Former Dolphins wide receiver Mark Duper was at camp today checking out the action on the field. He was catching up with another ex-Dolphin, linebacker Kim Bokamper, in the media work area.
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