Phinsider Question Of The Day: Who Needs To Step Up Now Edition

This past week was a crazy one for us Miami Dolphins fans. It started by seeing some of our more essential players leaving South Florida for bigger paychecks elsewhere. Among those to go was the great Christian Wilkins. In the five seasons that Wilkins spent with the Dolphins, he not only developed into one of the best DTs in the NFL but also emerged as the heart of the team. Not only did he play full-out in every play, but he was also one of the first players to cheer on any other player on the field. I was always amazed at how he would sprint well over 50 yards from the sideline to be one of the first players in the endzone to celebrate a touchdown with the offense. There’s something about seeing a dude that huge in a full sprint to celebrate and then go right back out on the field and play full out from the first snap. That’s all outside of how just flat-out funny that guy was. How could any fan not love that dude?

So now he’s moved west for a payday that I can’t blame him for taking. With the wear and tear that playing in the NFL puts on your body, you might only get one shot at a massive contract, as the Las Vegas Raiders gave Wilkins. As much as it killed us to see him leave, it’s really hard to say that most of us would not have done the same if we had been in his shoes, so good for him. But that leaves us with a hole in the roster that goes beyond his level of play. That’s the intangibles of a guy like that. He was the biggest cheerleader of his fellow teammates. He brought something extra that gets guys fired up, gets them going, and gets them to play their best or even, at times, above their heads. A level of leadership that people naturally gravitate towards.

So tonight’s question is, who should be the player to step up now and take that position that Wilkins held as a leader on the team? It can be a guy previously on the roster or one of the new guys we brought to town this past week. This is your post, so give us your answers and thoughts in the comments section below-