Dolphins LB Making the Most of Opportunity By Playing New Position

Zeke Vandenburgh is grateful the Miami Dolphins didn’t simply waive him injure when he was a rookie free agent, and one year later he’s rewarding the team’s decision to keep him around.

Whether that leads to a spot of the 53-man roster is debatable, maybe even doubtful, but Vandenburgh certainly has shown he’s not out of place at this level.

After spending all of the 2023 season on injured reserve with a knee injury, Vandenburgh has been among the young defenders who have made themselves noticeable so far in training, and he’s done it at a different position — inside linebacker.

But the former college edge defender is thankful for this opportunity regardless, fully aware that most players in his situation last year simply would have been waived-injured.

“At that point I had never put on shoulder pads. I had not done anything for the team or earned anything from the organization,” Vandenburgh said after practice Friday. “So for them to do that, that was huge. Like looking back, who knows where I would be right now in my career if they chose to go another route. So every day I’m here it’s a huge blessing walking in this facility.”

Vandenburgh, who played collegiately at Illnois State, said the new position is not “completely foreign.” He played Mike (middle linebacker) in high school and during his early days at Illinois State.

“But in terms of learning how to move like an inside linebacker again, all the lateral movement, change of direction,” Vandenburgh said. “It’s not all setting the edge, downhill, rushing the passer. So there’s definitely a learning curve for that, but like I said, I’m trying to learn from the guys in the room and just get better each day.”

Vandenburgh’s natural pass rushing skill-set on the inside will likely be on display as his biggest strength when he is sent on a blitz. He said that learning the playbook and doing his job will be another.

“I take a lot of pride in my teammates being able to say that they trust me. That when I’m out there, they know I’m going to know the call,” Vandenburgh said. “I’m going to know where guys should line up, know what checks to make. So that can be the hardest part sometimes, playing inside with all the communication. In the NFL playbook, there’s so much to it, so many different calls, so many different checks. So, I would say just studying, watching film, that would probably be a good attribute.”

Dolphins linebacker coach Joe Barry has plenty of talent to work with in the linebacker room. David Long Jr. is an established veteran and free agent acquisition Jordyn Brooks will most likely start alongside Long in the middle. Duke Riley and Anthony Walker Jr. are both capable linebackers, too.

Vandenburgh sees the rest of the room as educators.

“They’ve been huge. Jordyn Brooks, he’s a good friend at this point. … Anthony Walker, I’ve been watching his film all summer from OTAs and his feet are just so clean and his reads,” Vandenburgh said. “A lot of the split safety stuff that we do, watching his tape, really helped me make some progressions from the spring. I feel like I’m doing better than I was in OTAs, just learning from those guys. And, I mean, Duke, David Long, all these guys are just experienced players that every day I’m just trying to pick up something from them, whether it’s a walkthrough, practice, meetings. There’s just a lot to learn. I’m learning so much every day, so it’s a lot of fun.”

While making plays certainly would help Vandenburgh’s chances of making the active roster — he still has to be considered a long shot at this point — he said head coach Mike McDaniel has preached to the players about not trying to do too much, to “lock in and do your job.”

“So that’s all I’m worried about. Whatever the call is, I’m gonna lock in, do my job to the best of my ability, sprint to the ball, try to get a shot on the ball, and then good things happen from there,” Vandenburgh said.

Vandenburgh suffered a knee injury last season after OTAs that could have easily spelled an end to his time in South Florida. Vandenburgh called it a “freak injury.”

“I was just warming up, getting down on the floor, and my knee buckled and I ended up tearing my meniscus,” Vandenburgh said. “So it just goes to show like God’s in control; you can’t really control anything like so you might as well go out there and play with this reckless abandon for your body because you can take one wrong step walking down the street and get hurt, so it gives you good perspective and like I said I’m just really grateful to be here today.”