MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Sam Madison hasn’t played since 2008 and is in his second season as the Miami Dolphins‘ cornerbacks coach. But even if he wins a ring this year, an entire generation of fans will still reflexively remember him better as Patrick Surtain’s other half.
Madison and Surtain were as good as any cornerback tandem during their seven seasons together, going to a combined seven Pro Bowls and making six All-Pro Teams between 1999 and 2004.
So you can forgive Madison if he’s not yet ready to crown the latest hyped Dolphins cornerback duo — Xavien Howard and Jalen Ramsey — at their level. That sort of praise is earned on Sundays in the fall, not rainy Thursdays in June.
Sam Madison on Miami Dolphins CBs Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard
Asked last week on the Dolphins’ final day of spring ball how Ramsey (the six-time Pro Bowler acquired in a March trade) and Howard (the Dolphins’ single-season interception leader) compare at this point to Madison and Surtain, Madison’s reply was telling:
“What about them?”
The reporter then followed up:
You know what I mean.
Madison’s reply:
“I mean, it is what it is, you know what I’m saying? You can go around the league, past, present, future. You’ve always had very good tandems at cornerback. But, when it comes down to it, they’ve got to go out there and they have to play, just like we did. We demanded a lot from each other. When we played, we respected one another. We still respect one another. I just talked to him two days ago. So they just have to build that camaraderie.
“They have to build that fire amongst one another. They have to go out there and they have to compete and that’s what we did on a consistent basis. They really have a great opportunity to do some really good things and I’m just happy to be a part of it and watch these guys do it. The energy is there.”
The friendship seems to be as well. They set the tone on Ramsey’s first official day with the Dolphins, wearing matching Nike Air Force 1 x Tiffany & Co. sneakers at a Miami Heat game just hours after his trade from the Rams to the Dolphins was finalized.
Jalen Ramsey Weighs In
The next day, the Dolphins introduced Ramsey to South Florida reporters. One inevitably asked Ramsey how he would compare the new Dolphins CB tandem to their best of all time.
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“We’re trying to be the best,” Ramsey replied. “We aren’t trying to really worry about comparing ourselves with anybody else. We’re trying to be ourselves. Like I said, we’ve had some success in our individual careers up until this point. We’re planning to have more success now together in the same secondary as a duo. I’m not really looking to compare at all. One of the guys is our coach anyway, so we’re not going to really say nothing.
“We’ll probably have some debates in the meeting room,” he continued. “We’re just going to get after it and then when it’s all said and done, then we can go over all of that and we can go over all about what people say that my man over there was talking about. We’ll keep the receipts and we’ll go back over all of that when it’s all said and done after the fact.
“That’s what I’ve been doing in my career. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) has been doing that in his career. Somehow, we are stacking up All-Pros and Pro Bowls and interceptions and PFF rankings and all of that. We’ll talk about all of that after the fact.”
In other words, the relationship started strong and has apparently only gotten stronger in the three months that have followed.
“When they got here they’ve been hanging out together and that’s what it really takes and what it boils down to,” Madison said. “Pat and I, we were hanging out together off the field and we were always communicating football. So that is what it’s going to take and they seem like they’re on the right path.
“They can be whatever they want to be, but it’s going to take work,” he added. “It’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take dedication and they’ve got to go out there and perform the best way they know how. Then go out there and impose their will each and every week.
“There can’t be any letdowns. There’s a lot of people looking for big things from them and they know that. Just like any of these other players, even if neither one of those guys is on the field, they’re expected to go out there and be just like them. Because we always say the next man up. So, we’ll see what happens.”
