{"id":124684,"date":"2025-06-12T18:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T18:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/124684\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T18:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T18:55:10","slug":"dolphins-james-daniels-talks-achilles-process-physicality-on-o-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/124684\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins’ James Daniels talks Achilles process, physicality on O-line"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 In what was an underwhelming free agency haul for the Miami Dolphins<\/a> this offseason, the top addition is largely considered to be guard James Daniels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins signed Daniels after he played the last three of his seven NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers for three years and $24 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It strengthened an immense need to improve the team\u2019s guard play on the offensive line, as Miami needed better pass protection and run-blocking from the position, but the Dolphins also got Daniels at a discount because he was returning from a torn Achilles that occurred four weeks into the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

Over the first two days of mandatory minicamp<\/a>, Daniels, 27, took the step of participating in limited individual drills with the rest of the offensive linemen as he continues to ramp up within two months of training camp opening in late July.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s going well. It was a good two days of practice,\u201d said Daniels, who noted he had done some individual drills on his own but finally got to get out there with the team. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be outside and work, like actually working with the guys, work with the tempo practice, speed of practice and all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is understandably excited to see the Daniels addition come to fruition on the field, with the hope Daniels can line up in a team setting early in training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a great day on the field (Tuesday) working on individual,\u201d McDaniel said before Wednesday\u2019s drills, \u201cand I could see what he\u2019s done in the last month on the field for the first time with my own eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDaniel added his first practice wasn\u2019t perfect, but the session highlighted specifics in Daniels\u2019 blocking style he will need to alter in McDaniel\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

Daniels did not short-change the process to get to this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a guy who has understood what his opportunity is here, understood how much we\u2019re counting on him and understood that he was starting the process recovering from an injury,\u201d McDaniel said. \u201cHe has done an absolutely fantastic job in Phase 1 and Phase 2, which we absolutely needed. He couldn\u2019t have just go through the motions when working through the process of offseason program, tape and meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding Daniels to the offensive line on either side of center Aaron Brewer should work wonders in maintaining a clean middle of the pocket for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa<\/a>, but maybe just as important as the Dolphins seek to add a greater element of physicality this year, is the effect it could have on the ground game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we run the ball a lot,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cYou can\u2019t not be physical and run. You can\u2019t just toss the ball every play and just circle defenses. It\u2019s not college. So, there is a time where we\u2019re going to have to block defensive line. We\u2019re going to have to block linebackers every play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I thought I was brought here. So that\u2019s why it\u2019s something I\u2019m excited for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the Dolphins aren\u2019t yet fully clashing in the trenches, practicing without pads at this point in the offseason, Daniels can still bring a level of veteran leadership and help others in identifying techniques in practice that won\u2019t be effective once pads do come on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t played in this offense, but I can say like, \u2018Hey, this is how I think, how it should be done or this is what we need to do for it to be successful,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dolphins Deep Dive: Perkins, Furones on what has stood out during minicamp | VIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Daniels will start at one guard spot and fellow veterans in Brewer and right tackle Austin Jackson have their roles. Elsewhere, first-year starters in second-year left tackle Patrick Paul and rookie guard Jonah Savaiinaea can stand to learn from Daniels\u2019 presence.<\/p>\n

Daniels played right guard rather exclusively with the Steelers, but he has also played some left guard during his first four seasons with the Chicago Bears. Which side he plays in Miami, opposite Savaiinaea, is still not completely solidified.<\/p>\n

McDaniel said comfort level in how they use their hands, feet and body mechanics, along with athletic needs the offense requires from one more than the other, factor into a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith James, he\u2019s very capable of doing either side,\u201d McDaniel said, \u201cbut when you have a rookie in the mix, you kind of have to settle that first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniels has already had some messages for Paul and Savaiinaea in their early interactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re really never graded on a curve,\u201d he said, \u201cso it\u2019s like when you\u2019re out there \u2014 doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a rookie or Year 10 \u2014 the defense isn\u2019t (going to let up), like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s just a rookie.\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018No, you have to make the block.\u2019 Once you\u2019re out there, no one\u2019s going to feel sorry for you if you\u2019re not doing your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniels noted opponents will try to attack inexperienced blockers with blitzes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that happens, when the defenses do try to go at them, they block it up,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cAnd then they try to go after someone like me who has the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 In what was an underwhelming free agency haul for the Miami Dolphins this offseason, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,5855,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-124684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-james-daniels","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114671919138545753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}