Training Camp Preview: Will the Offensive Line Be Good Enough?

Training Camp Preview: Will the Offensive Line Be Good Enough?

and here we go welcome gang we are conducting our extensive comprehensive all-encompassing any other word that means the same thing training camp preview going position by position today Dante Colinelli deputy editor of Miami Dolphins on SI will join me Alan Pupar publisher of Miami Dolphins on SI to discuss the Miami Dolphins offensive line a unit that is universally adored by the team’s fans always right they they never take any of the blame those guys are you know we never hear about them honestly I can’t remember the last time I heard anything bad about the Dolphins offensive line it’s truly amazing how well they’ve managed to to fly under the radar no complaints they do their job you don’t hear obviously we kid this is the most malign unit on the team for the past what Dante three four five six seven eight years maybe at least yeah at a minimum they’ve had like some small bright spots in that time period but like generally as a group if I think if you pulled a Miami Dolphins fan off the street and you were like “What’s the biggest problem with the team?” I think they’d answer the offensive line almost instantly whether they’re right or wrong is what we’re going to talk about today but that’s the perception of that group which is not what you want okay then that leads me to what I first want to discuss and that’s a question of whether the Miami Dolphins offensive line has been particularly last year as bad as the perception is in certain circles you see certain stats I know a number of like stuffs on or losses for no gain or or lost yardage on on short yardage situations those numbers they’re always going to you know they’re going to come out very poorly for the defensive offensive line how bottom line has the Dolphin offensive line or was it last year as bad as the perception or some of the stats would suggest i think um I have a hard time saying it was bad as perception just because perception is so bad but I don’t want people to mistake that in me saying I think the offensive line was good uh because it wasn’t it just was it wasn’t good enough right is like where it was at now I think um you know Terron Armstead being out with injury and also gutting his way through some injuries like you could tell watching some of those late season games that like Armstead just I mean he’s playing on like one leg with one arm tied behind his back i felt bad for the guy i appreciate him gutting it out that’s he’s incredibly tough um but he was not up to his caliber of play towards the end of the year um I think you know Austin Jackson going down that was a huge deal i think Kendall Lamb is actually a better pass protector than Austin Jackson but I think you saw the impact that that had in the run game and how that overall impacted the rest of the line and then you know look Liam Mikeberg and Robert Jones they’re not NFL starters at guard they’re just not i think if they’re your seventh eighth offensive lineman you can deal with that but they’re not starting caliber players they’re just they’re just not and so you got to a point in the season last year where like you had three players on the line who were either hampered by injury or not up to the task or had major weaknesses um and then you know your only like stalwart player your only above average starter consistently who isn’t injured is the center Aaron Brewer and he’s just got like you know a bunch of backups around him and Terron Armstead playing on one leg and one arm so no they weren’t very good last year they just they were not and I think the other thing that makes the offensive line difficult to evaluate is that the ball just comes out so quickly how often are these guys actually blocking you know when two is in I mean the ball just flies out of there in you know under two seconds how long are they actually blocking on an island they’re not blocking on an island that long and so that makes it difficult you know as somebody who watches a lot of tape to sit there and be like “Yeah I think this guy’s good at pass protection because he’s just not pass protecting long enough for me to feel great about it.” So it’s a tricky evaluation were they as bad as everybody thinks they were probably not uh but were they good also no and so you saw the Dolphins make some changes in the offseason yeah and you made you make a good point that I want to address and that’s still getting rid of the ball quickly and there are certain certain Dolphin fans who will tell you well he had they have no choice otherwise he’s going to get sacked well part of the design of the offense is to try to get rid of the ball quickly to take advantage if you if you can throw six yards down the field on a quick slant to Tyreek you do it i don’t care if you could have the great wall of China in front of two although you have to pass over it but you get you catch my drift it doesn’t matter that’s a quick you know easy play easy completion you want to get that i I think it’s massively overblown and and I’m trying to think like not that they’re end all be all as I always say I use them when they back up my point but Pro Football Focus had the Dolphins offensive line ranked as get ready for this folks this might blow some minds 15th in the NFL i think Dolphins fans would tell you “What do you mean there weren’t 20 28 29th?” No they were 15 and I would say the short yardage run blocking was really poor and part of that again it’s an offensive line that’s built on mobility getting to the second level and all that creating spacing laterally not moving guys off the ball which is great when it works like in 2023 and the rushing average per carry was really really good it’s not great when it’s a third and one and everybody knows you’re running and you have to basically move guys off the ball and we the aforementioned Aaron Brewer again great at the second level great mobility but he’s not somebody who’s generally he’s because he’s really really small for a center so that was a problem the pass protection I think was a zillion times better than perception might be and to me because I recall off the top of my of of my head and it’s almost like if two was pressured three times in a game oh my god pass protection was awful no that’s going to happen but it wasn’t like horrible um like the one game that was very noticeable and part of the reasons because both tackles were out was the Houston game um and the offense was brutal and Tua didn’t play well and Tua didn’t have much help because in that game pressure was getting to him pretty quickly um so to be fair but that was last year and Chris Greer recognized it says I’m going to address the offensive line this year he did not use I’m a you guys are a lot more concerned about the offensive line than I am um having said that it’s not like he hasn’t tried to address the offensive line because he has there have been draft pickicss up the wazu the past six seven years signed Terron Arms as a free agent 2022 signed Connor Williams a free agent in 2022 signed Isaiah Win then this year it was James Daniels coming over as a free agent and Jonas of getting drafted in the second round now where I sit with this offensive line personally is it’s got really good potential but with also an awful lot of ifs if Patrick Paul is ready to become an NFL started left tackle if Jonas of can make an impact quickly if James Daniels can be back to the player he was before the Achilles injury if Austin Jackson can be back to his pre-injjury form because now we talk about Terron Armstead getting a lot of shots for being injuryprone look at Austin Jackson the past three years it’s one injury after another so it’s an awful lot of ifs it is um and I think we’re going to be using the word if a lot during these positional previews you can pretty much go down the the Dolphins depth chart and be like if this guy’s healthy if this guy plays like he did two years ago right like it’s it’s almost really the theme of the team in a lot of ways and I don’t I mean you could literally ask one of those questions about every single player who’s going to start on the offensive line this year i think you know I really like Aaron Brewer i think I’m probably higher on Aaron Brewer than most people but my question for Aaron Brewer would be like hey like if he can get a little bit stronger right like if he can get a little bit better can he i don’t know i I don’t and we’re we’ll find out and you know but like Patrick Paul’s a big one at left tackle I think um you know we’ve written about this on the site before limited snaps last year you watch the limited snaps there’s some high highs there are some plays where he looks like a really really high you know upside athletic big long like you know if he puts it all together he’s not going to have any disadvantages there’s not going to be any type of rusher who’s going to overwhelm him with size no type of rusher is going to be able to overwhelm him with speed really but like you know you watch some other games you know like uh that week 18 game against the Jets they have him at right tackle doesn’t look great is that fair to him you know he’s not used to playing right tackle he’s pretty much almost exclusively played on the left side that obviously won’t be a problem this year but like the tape itself a lot of up and downs lot you know it’s a bit of a roller coaster ride right like he gets thrust into the lineup at left tackle against the Browns miles Garrett took his lunch money i think Lyles Miles Garrett’s going to take anybody’s lunch money how much do I hold that against him honestly not a ton i like Miles Garrett first ballot hall of famer already and so like but Paul that’s a big one right like it’s not like none of this like ah blindside stuff like obviously he doesn’t technically protect his blind side but it’s just like you bet a lot on this player he was a second round pick um Terron Armstead retired you got to sit Patrick Paul for basically an entire year i think he played like 300ish snaps off the top of my head if I remember correctly um so like you’ve invested a lot in this player you have foregone the opportunity to continue drafting offensive tackles because you believe in Patrick Paul so like he’s probably the biggest if question that I have on this offensive line um but you could ask it going down the rest of the group but I think Paul if Paul’s good I think it just raises the floor of this group like so much and and it’s so good for the future of this group because I think you have him and you have Brewer and then you kind of try to piece together the other three and if those guys work out you know I think you’re in a really good spot honestly like there’s a version of history where like this is the Dolphins starting group at the start of next season and everyone feels okay with that now I don’t know if I’m confident in that but there’s chance like it could they could work out right like no I mean obviously best case scenario is we have 2016 all over again when the Dolphins had a really good offensive line when they had Brandon Albert Larry Mansonel Mike Pouncy Jamon Bushrod and Jawan James certainly to me the best case scenario is not that ceiling is not that high immediately right could it be next year the year after who knows i’m not There’s a lot of There’s a lot of runway with these guys they’re all young right like the oldest player up front’s James Daniels i think I don’t even think he’s 30 years old yet off the top of my head so you I know he’s only on a two-year deal if I remember correctly but like you can extend him and still expect to get three-year deal even better so you just you’re good right so like if these guys work out I mean you have a ton of runway to see them improve and get better as they get older you know you don’t have to worry about um you know going out and replacing them immediately so you know huge ceiling you know just into the future if it works out but big if no without question okay so now that’s So you’re projecting starting offensive line will be from left to right patrick Paul Jonah Sinaya Aaron Brewer James Daniels Austin Jackson um if we’re looking at the roster logically keep eight or nine probably more than nine because you can have guys on the practice squad i’ll give you I’ll give you the backups and you tell me which three stand out to you as guys are going to be on the 53 you ready let’s do it larry Borum Braden Daniels Liam Iikenberg no nasty comments Teddy Cushy Andrew Meyer Josh PBY Addison West Jackson Carman Ryan Hayes Baron Moss and Keon Smith um so there’s probably four names that I would pick out so Moss I believe he has the exception right so they can just keep him yes he does yeah so he’ll probably be there but I don’t think he’s going to factor into on the field stuff so the four names that would stick out to me uh would be Borum Iikenberg Keon Smith and Andrew Meyer those would be the four that I would probably push to the top borum I think the team signed he has tackle and guard experience i think you’ve got a lot of flexibility there um he played like really limited guard snaps a like two or three years ago um I like the guard tape i think the guard tape’s not bad i I don’t like his tackle tape i’m not particularly interested in seeing him at tackle frankly um but he can do that for you in a pinch if you get to that spot that’s a valuable backup to have um Liam Iikenberg has played all five spots on the line he knows the scheme i don’t want to see him on the field preferably like I said at the top he’s not a starting caliber player i think you can do a lot worse as your eighth offensive lineman i do like offensive line depth ultimately in my opinion is a myth i I don’t think it exists there are so few teams that have actually good offensive lineman depth they really like so many so many few teams have five good players in the first place let alone six seven eight like Iber knows the scheme you can plug him in at any spot you can try to scheme around him a little bit i I think you could do worse there um Smith and Meer are really interesting i really like Smith’s upside as like the last guy that you keep i think he has the um the good physical traits that you want in an NFL tackle and I would want to keep him around to continue developing him and hopefully you get to a point where he’s your backup swing tackle like he’s your sixth guy he can play on the right side he can play on the left side i like the trades meer I feel very similarly on the interior i think he could do center for you i think he can do guard for you they kept him on the practice squad for a while so I or he was on he was on the 53 on the 53 the whole year yeah so like they like him clearly right like they kept him around um I’d be pretty surprised if he didn’t make the team and I think he can do a lot for you as a backup so like to me those would be if they keep nine those would be the nine that I would guess and then we’ll see how many they want to keep on the practice squad yeah the thing that’s problematic to me uh is as I don’t see a pure tackle backup like Larry Barm right now probably would be the guy i think so but as you mentioned and and as I’ve heard from folks in Chicago who’s much better at guarding was a tackle that’s problematic on the interior of the off the offense i’d be shocked if they take at nine to be honest with you because again I don’t know the difference in in caliber between your ninth offensive tackle if he’s on the 53 as opposed on the practice squad I don’t think is very significant enough to use up a roster spot there so my guess is going to keep going up keeping eight i do think Liam because of the versatility he has and the starting experience he’s not going to get overwhelmed the moment’s not going to be too big for him here come the jokes in three two one go ahead fans in the comments um you would think Meyer they’re going to keep based on the fact that they they they saved a roster spot for him last year i’ll be honest with you it’s not like I studied his statement from the preseason that doesn’t mean anything in the preseason is different in the regular season and he he didn’t play on offense in the regular season so we don’t know he’s still an unknown quantity um yeah right now it be Borum Iikenberg and then take your pick of Meer Smith that would be my guess and then the other one ideally winds up on the practice squad after clearing waiverss uh then the final question regarding dolphins and we’re going to do going to do very quickly as we as we’re doing with all of these is comparing it to the rest of the AFC East um as a companion audio video audio video piece to the series that ran on Miami Dolphinsite.com check that out content out for free um better or worse than last year oh man you know the answer you know the answer as a whole i’m gonna say better i I I do think it’s better i think it’ll be better yeah I do as the whole if you assume that every spot on the offensive line holds equal value which like I don’t really know that that’s true but like as a whole I like this five better than last year’s five to me you had two players on last year’s roster who or starting offensive line who were not starting caliber NFL players um I think you have five starting caliber NFL players this year now whether or not they live up to that is the question that’s the if that we talked about that’s um you know Jonah and Patrick Paul do they live up to that but they can be that i don’t think Robert Jones and Liam Iikenberg ever had a shot at being that iikenberg maybe did when he left college but it was very clear very quickly that he was not going to be that player um so I don’t know i I think it’s piece for piece I think it’s a little bit better but like yeah obviously Patrick Paul’s not going to be better than Terron Armstead this year so like you could make the argument it’s worse just because that is such a downgrade but like I think piece for piece I think it’s a better unit i really do you know what as after I ask ask you and made my my smart ass face as I as I usually do as I can’t help myself apologies everyone um yeah you there’s a valid point to be made that there I think they’re they’re potentially so much better on the interior that it can offset the left tackle logical drop off we’re going to have from Armstead to Patrick Paul and this is where if Patrick Paul because Terron Armstead when healthy is like a top five NFL left tackle of course so if Patrick Paul can be serviceable I think the the potential upgrade in the interior of the offensive line could make this group better i think the depth was better last year though um because I I I think I have more I had more confidence at this time last year in Kendall Lamb if called upon than I do in Larry Borne and that’s where all the That’s fair that’s fair yeah but we shall see okay okay and then we were going to wrap up this seg episode of the training camp preview with a look around the AFC East and we’re going to detect a theme here when it comes to what team has the best unit here and it’s not close by the way uh I mentioned the Dolphins being 15th in the Pro Football Focus rankings for the offensive line the team that was 32nd was New England and if you saw any Patriots games last year you want to see a quarterback who was under siege and just about every time you drop back the pass holy crap that offensive line was bad and they this is why they’re with their first pick in the draft number four overall pick they took Will Campbell the tackle from LSU they added Morgan Moses the veteran longtime veteran to play right tackle how good he’ll be who knows u there are two guards two former pretty high picks Cole Strange and City So who have yet to justify their draft status and they have a new center whose name escapes me right now how’s that garrett Bradberry there you No actually you know what yes they they signed him and they also drafted Jared Wilson from Georgia in the third round and I reached out to my buddy who covers the Patriots and he’s telling me don’t be surprised if Jared Wilson winds up winning that that starting job but the team with the best offensive line and by the way the Jets also use their first round pick on on an offensive line and that being Arman Mimu from Missouri to play right tackle after they used their first round pick last year on Olaf Ashanu from Penn State logically they have their book ends they have Ali Elijah Vera Tucker at guard who’s a good player they have Joe Tipman returning at center so the Jets offensive line has possibilities but of course it’s the Buffalo Bills from where I sit unless you disagree with me they returned all five starters and they have they use six quite a bit with Alec Anderson he’s also back yeah I think I agree with you completely my hot take is that I think if we do this show again next year the Jets might have the best offensive line oh okay that would be my hot take not right now but that’s a really young group and they have like four top 50 picks on that line and like Fanu was really good when he played last year joe Titman looks like a a pretty good center elijah Vera Tucker’s already a really good player uh if Meu hits it’s just like four dudes who are less than or younger than 25 who are just very good at football so like that that’s really appealing as a line for me um I think the only team right now that I feel confident the Dolphins are better than is New England um but the New England line is a lot better like Will Campbell’s a good player they still have Michael Awenahoo if he can stay healthy he’s a good player um Garrett Bradberry is better than what they had last year i really liked Jared Wilson coming out of Georgia so that’s interesting to hear that he’s like in play for that spot i thought he was one of the most athletic offensive linemen in the class actually reminds me a lot of Aaron Brewer um just stylistically and like Moses was good last year like he was probably the Jets best offensive lineman at time or he was their best tackle before Fanu came in and kind of played really well down the stretch so like that group is better i still I’d still rather have the Dolphins group than that Patriots group but like I don’t know that the gap between New England and Miami is as big as Dolphins fans would probably want it to be especially after last year when New England’s line was so bad um I just think you have so many question marks with the Dolphins whether it’s James Daniels coming off the Achilles um the knee injury for Austin Jackson you have uh two unproven players and Jonah and Patrick Paul i think there’s a big gap between the Dolphins and the Jets and the Bills if I’m being completely honest I think those groups are much much better and I think the Jets are closer to Buffalo than they are to Miami absolutely fair okay that’s going to wrap it up for this segment of the training cramp taming cramp no the training cramp i’m going to have cramp if you don’t hydrate if you go to camp to watch your practices if you don’t hydrate you’re going to have training cramp right now this is the training camp preview please like subscribe check out the written content on md dolphins onsi.com he is Dante i am Allen till we meet again

Miami Dolphins On SI Publisher Alain Poupart and Deputy Editor Dante Collinelli break down the Dolphins offensive line and its question marks but also possibilities, assess whether it’s better or worse than last year and where it ranks among the AFC East teams. Check out the written content of both Alain and Dante on miamidolphinsonsi.com.