The mission for newly signed Dolphins edge rusher Joshua Uche is simple: be the most productive player that you can be, and that might or might not be the guy who recorded a career-best 11.5 sacks in 2022 with New England.

After all, no one should expect Uche to repeat his 11.5-sack season with Miami. Aside from that season, he’s never had more than 3.0 sacks in a year. That’s why Uche doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying about the sack total. He looks more at productivity analytics, the ones that rank him as one of the most consistent pass rushers of the last few years.

“It’s not unreasonable to say I need to get back to that point in time,” Uche said of the 2022 season. “Sack-wise, the numbers haven’t been the same, but pressure-wise … all these different specific analytics are still at that high rate, which shows I’m getting to the quarterback efficiently.

“I think I just need to close off those home runs by getting there and getting there a step quicker.”

Uche (pronounced oo-Shay), a 2020 second-round pick by New England out of Michigan, signed with the Dolphins to aid their depleted pass-rushing corps, not be the star.

Realistically, Uche, who is a bit undersized at 6-foot-3, 226 pounds, will be a rotational player, which is how he’s spent his six-year career, starting just four of 76 games.

Right now, Chop Robinson, the 2024 first-round pick who has a disappointing 10 sacks in two seasons, leads Miami’s pass rushers. He’s accompanied mainly by little-used Derrick McLendon and unproven Cameron Goode.

That means Uche, a South Florida local who attended Miami’s Christopher Columbus High School, has an opportunity to earn playing time, which Uche thinks will be a big advantage.

“More opportunities equals a higher conversion rate for me,” he said. “If you look at the snaps that I did that (11.5 sacks) in, it was crazy. I was playing maybe 15 (snaps a game). It was a crazy number. I don’t know how sustainable it was, but it was a crazy number for that year. But I just know more reps equals more production for me.”

Most likely the Dolphins, who are expected to mainly utilize a 4-3 defensive scheme under coach Jeff Hafley and defensive coordinator Sean Duggan, will draft a starting-caliber pass rusher in the first three rounds. And they might even sign another pass rusher after June 2, when money from cuts (edge rusher Bradley Chubb and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa) becomes available.

Regardless, Uche, who has 21.5 career sacks, could be a key pass rusher with rebuilding Miami. But for the most part he’ll have to do it without being surrounded by high-level talent.

In Uche’s four full seasons in New England, a span when the Patriots averaged about seven wins per season, he recorded a mediocre 34 quarterback hits in 58 games. At times he was accompanied by edge rushers Matthew Judon (15.5 sacks in 2022) and Deatrich Wise Jr. (7.5 sacks in 2022) and defensive tackle Christian Barmore (8.5 sacks in 2023).

Uche was traded to Kansas City midway through the 2024 season, where he joined the NFL’s No. 9 defense overall and No. 4 defense in points allowed. Uche signed with Philadelphia last season, which was No. 13 in total defense and No. 5 in points allowed.

In Kansas City and Philadelphia, Uche’s pass rush win rate increased. Last year with the Eagles, he had an 83.2 pass rush grade, according to Pro Football Focus, and a 17.4 percent win rate (23 pressures on 142 pass-rush snaps), which would have placed him among the league’s best if he had enough snaps to qualify.

Between 2022 and 2024, Uche’s 16.7 pass rush win rate ranked sixth among edge defenders, according to PFF.

It’ll likely be different with the 2026 Dolphins, however.

Defensive tackle Zach Sieler is the only proven pass rusher so far, and he’s coming off a down year with 5.5 sacks.

Still, the analytics suggest, as Uche says, if he gets more playing time he could get more sacks. Uche holds tighter to the analytics than the sack totals.

“It means I’m winning the hard part, which is those matchup — getting to the quarterback, getting off the ball, all those different intricacies,” he said of his pass rush win rate.

“It’s just the timing. Sometimes it’s just like luck of the draw, you know what I mean? … I think those statistics show that I’m doing the hard part, the things that you want to see out of your pass rushers. It’s just sometimes I get there, and sometimes you’ve just got to keep being patient, keep swinging.”