Igbinoghene prepping for starting role with Miami

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Noah Igbinoghene prepping for starting role with Miami

By Mark Inabinett | minabinett@al.com

6-7 minutes

With one cornerback already owning a $75.25 million contract, the Miami Dolphins signed another in free agency to an $82.5 million deal in March.

But when the Dolphins kick off their 2020 schedule, rookie Noah Igbinoghene could be one of their starting cornerbacks, even though he’ll be beginning only his third season at the position and likely will be the NFL’s only 20-year-old.

Miami used the 30th choice in the NFL Draft on April 23 on Igbinoghene despite having Xavier Howard and Byron Jones at cornerback. He seemed headed for duty as a slot corner in his rookie season.

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But Howard played in only five games in 2019 because of a knee injury, and he’s been on the reserve/COVID-19 list since Aug. 11. With Howard recovering from two ailments, Dolphins coach Brian Flores said Miami needed to prepare for its season-opening game on Sept. 13 against the New England Patriots as though Howard would not be ready to play.

When Flores listed the players in line to fill Howard’s spot, Igbinoghene’s name was the first he mentioned.

After coming to Auburn from Hewitt-Trussville High School as a wide receiver, Igbinoghene made the switch to the secondary during spring practice in 2018 after one season as a pass-catcher. Despite his inexperience at cornerback, Igbinoghene thinks covering fellow 2020 first-round draft picks Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy of Alabama and Justin Jefferson of LSU in the SEC helped hasten his development, with his work at training camp continuing the process.

“I really feel like that’s how I learned -- going against receivers like that,” Igbinoghene said. “Getting a feel of receivers like that -- (Miami’s) Preston (Williams) and DeVante (Parker) and Jakeem (Grant) and all of those guys, they’re highly touted receivers as well -- and so me being used to going against receivers every single week in the SEC and stuff like that I really feel like it gave me an advantage coming into the NFL a little bit.

“It’s still an adjustment. It’s still something I’m still working on because it’s the game, the speed of the game is different. Just offenses are smarter and stuff like that, and so it’s just something I’ve got to get used to, and I’m doing that every single day.”

Igbinoghene will have to get ready for the season-opener without the benefit of any preseason experience. The NFL canceled its entire preseason schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m sure I would have been good with having a preseason,” Igbinoghene said. “I feel like any rookie in the past, that’s some of the games where they make most of their mistakes at, and now it’s just practice for me.

“And that’s just how it is. It’s the reality, and I have to adjust. I have to be able just to make it and just – what’s the word – just be able to get better every single day. That’s really what it is. Preseason, no preseason, no matter what, I have to do my job out there on the field. I make mistakes on the field every single day, so I’m just getting better in that and putting those mistakes out.”

Miami’s Eric Rowe, a former cornerback who now plays safety, said Igbinoghene is showing during practice that he’ll be able to handle the assignment if he needs to start for Howard.

“He has a lot of potential,” Rowe said. “He’s explosive, strong, quick and, obviously, he works hard as hell. He doesn’t care that he’s first round or whatever round he went -- I can tell. You can see in his eye that he wants to be great from the start, so what I’ve seen from him in camp -- he still makes rookie mistakes like everybody does -- but I can tell from his learning progression, he’s going to be a good guy in the league.”

With Howard missing most of the season after earning Pro Bowl recognition and leading the NFL with seven interceptions in 2018, the Dolphins gave up more passing yards and more touchdown passes than any other team in the NFL in 2019. That prompted the Dolphins to sign Jones, who also earned a Pro Bowl invitation in 2018 in his first season at cornerback after three years as a safety for the Dallas Cowboys, and use a first-round pick on Igbinoghene.

“I feel like I’ve been doing pretty good,” Igbinoghene said of his training-camp work. “Of course, I would like to do better. Of course, I don’t want them to catch any balls on me at all. That’s just the type of dude I am. But it’s going to happen. I’m a few practices in in the league and so it’s going to happen. I’m just getting used to it, but eventually we’ll get there. We’ll get to a point where I’m shutting them down a little bit. We’ll get to that eventually.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.