Former Auburn linebacker brings run-stopper ‘pedigree’ to Miami Dolphins

Linebacker K.J. Britt comes to the Miami Dolphins in NFL free agency with the reputation as a run-stopper after four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Monday, the former Auburn standout told reporters that he was carrying that responsibility long before he reached the NFL.

“I guess it comes from I’ve been playing linebacker since I was 5 years old, throughout high school, college and now the NFL,” Britt said. “I’m from Alabama. Alabama was a really heavy run high school league that we were in, so just stopping the run is something that my head coach always used to instill in us linebackers.

“Just playing ball, loving ball and just using all of my resources. There’s so many other great linebackers out there who play their game. Whatever you’re good at, there is always room for improvement in each and everything that we do. If you’re good at something, it helps you. Like I said, I guess my pedigree.”

Oxford High School coach Ryan Herring had something to work with in Britt thanks to the linebacker’s father, Kenney Britt.

“Want to -- that’s how you play the game physical,” Britt said. “That’s really not something you talk about; you got to want to. Coming from my background and looking at how we play ball in little league, it doesn’t change. My dad was my little-league coach. He preached physicality because the one thing about this game is if you hit somebody in the mouth, everybody has got a plan until they get hit. You can kill a lot of noise with the tone that you set, and it’s something that we’re looking forward to.”

An All-SEC selection as a junior, Britt played only two games as a senior because of a hand injury and entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2021.

Tampa Bay had Lavonte David and Devin White entrenched at their inside-linebacker spots, and Britt spent his first three seasons mainly on special teams. Through the 11th game of his third NFL season, Britt had been on the field for 815 special-teams plays – 148 more than any other Tampa Bay player during that time. But he had played more than 13 defensive snaps in a game only once, and before Britt made his first NFL start on Dec. 3, 2023, he had played 17 defensive snaps in the 2023 season.

But David and White had injury issues down the stretch in 2023, and despite getting hurt twice, including badly enough to be carted off the field once, Britt started six of the Buccaneers’ final eight games, including both playoff contests – a 32-9 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 15 and a 31-23 loss to the Detroit Lions on Jan. 21.

After 2023, White left for the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency, putting Britt in the lineup beside David. Britt started the first 11 games of the 2024 season, but he sustained an ankle injury in a 30-7 victory over the New York Giants on Nov. 24. Britt played 66 defensive snaps in Tampa Bay’s seven remaining games and finished the season with 72 tackles.

Britt has appeared in the playoffs every season of his NFL career, giving him as many postseason trips as the Dolphins made in the previous 17 years.

“Playoff-caliber teams, it’s a player-led teams,” Britt said. “Coaches can put everybody in the right spot, but if the players don’t want to play, it’s going to be all on us. Everybody has got to come together as one and get the job done week-in and week-out. We always got to come ready to work. It’s a lot to go into it because it’s a sacrifice. There’s no cool-guy status, everybody has just got to play ball. That’s one thing that just being in the playoffs the last four years and playing in a lot of playoff games – everybody in the league has that formula and it works. Everybody has just got to come together and be as one and play ball.”