The Miami Dolphins finally made a real investment at cornerback when they took San Diego State’s Chris Johnson with the 27th overall pick in this year’s draft, but the bigger swing for this defense might come from a player who wasn’t supposed to be the headline.
That player is JuJu Brents.
Miami’s cornerback room still has plenty of questions beyond the rookie, and Jason Marshall Jr. is the name most people point to as the potential starter on the boundary opposite Johnson. Marshall got some run as a rookie last season, mostly at nickelback, and the results weren’t especially convincing. So while Marshall is shifting back to his preferred spot, Brents is the one who could end up changing the feel of the whole group.
Brents arrives with a reputation that’s easy to understand and hard to ignore. He’s 6-foot-3, long, physical, and built to bother receivers at the line and at the catch point.
He also comes with the kind of injury history that has followed him everywhere. Through three seasons, he has appeared in only 18 games, and that reality helped derail his time with the Indianapolis Colts after they made him a second-round pick in 2023.
The Colts expected Brents to be part of the answer at corner, but availability kept getting in the way. Miami gave him another chance, and for a stretch he started showing why he was such a well-regarded prospect out of Kansas State. Then another setback hit: a season-ending foot injury in Week 11 cut short what had been a promising sample.
Even with that limited runway, Brents made an impression. Per PFF, he played 66 coverage snaps, was targeted just seven times, and allowed four catches for 29 yards.
That’s the kind of efficiency that jumps off the page, especially for a defender who was tested only sparingly. His busiest day came against the Bills and Josh Allen, when Miami won 30-13 at Hard Rock Stadium and Brents held up well in a game that stood out as one of the few bright spots for the Dolphins as the Tua Tagovailoa-Mike McDaniel era came to a crashing halt.
That’s why Brents feels like the wild card in this camp. Nobody really knows how high his ceiling goes, but the flashes he’s shown in Miami have been more convincing than what anyone else in that cornerback mix has put on tape. If he stays healthy, and if Johnson settles in quickly in his first pro season, the Dolphins could suddenly be looking at a young cornerback duo worth building around.
For a team that hasn’t treated the position like a priority in recent years, that would be a major shift. And Brents is the one with the chance to make it happen.
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