The Miami Dolphins entered last offseason with little to no money to make any significant moves due to money being tied up in key players. This put a lot of pressure on the Dolphins to hit on their selections in the draft and hope they can make an impact right away. Miami selected defensive tackle Kenneth Grant with their first pick, and followed that up by trading up to acquire guard Jonah Savaiinaea in the second round. Both were positions of need after the Dolphins lost key defensive tackle depth with Calais Campbell leaving in the offseason, and the offensive line needed a big improvement at the guard spot.<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s early in the season, both Grant and Savaiinaea are experiencing major growing pains, which are hurting the team. On paper, it appeared that Miami\u2019s defensive front was a position of strength. That has turned out to be anything but true, as in Week Five, Rico Dowdle and the Carolina Panthers resembled peak Emmitt Smith and the Dallas Cowboys\u2019 stout offensive line in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
On the flipside, Savaiinea has given up multiple pressures and, on too many occasions, is solely responsible for Tua Tagovailoa being sacked and killing drives. There wasn\u2019t an expectation for both players to be stars coming out of the gate, but being the worst rookies at their position through five weeks is very stunning.<\/p>\n
Grant Is Being Bullied At The Line Of ScrimmageOct 5, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) scrambles as Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) and defensive tackle Kenneth Grant (90) defend in the third quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Grant has a massive frame, being 6\u20194 and 335 pounds, and he takes up a lot of space. That being said, he can\u2019t just use his strength and power to go through the offensive line. Having a strong technique with good leverage and being able to use your hands to get by people is key to being a good defensive tackle. Rookies are going to have their learning lessons, but the learning process needs to be sped up with Grant. Amongst all defensive tackles, Pro Football Focus currently has him rated as the worst defensive tackle in the league.<\/p>\n
Grant has been part of a defensive front that is getting no pressure on the quarterback and is the worst team in the league at stopping the run<\/a>. A crucial clip that summarizes his struggles is being pushed back to almost the first down marker after being double-teamed.<\/p>\n In Grant\u2019s defense, the entire defensive line has been a no-show. It\u2019s not as if he\u2019s solely sabotaging the defensive line on his own, but there\u2019s no denying that this has been a tough start to Grant\u2019s career, and a turnaround is needed sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n Savaiinaea Is Looking Lost In Pass Protection Jonah Savaiinaea entered the NFL draft with versatility. During his time at Arizona, he lined up at right guard, right tackle, and left tackle. The position he\u2019s in now though, is currently left guard, where he\u2019s been nothing short of a disaster.<\/p>\n Similar to Grant, Savaiinaea ranks dead last in his position. The worst part of it all is that Miami does not have a backup to replace him as a majority of their lineman are either hurt or are not ready to play yet.<\/p>\n Savaiinaea has been given up brutal sacks, and there are multiple plays where little to no resistance is being put on the defensive lineman in their pursuit of Tagovailoa. In a rep against Derrick Brown, he gave up a sack in which all Brown did was make a run right at Tagovailoa with little to no move being made.<\/p>\n Even though this is a new world for Savaiinaea playing a position he\u2019s never taken a snap at, he took accountability for his play and made it known these issues can be fixed. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no excuses of what\u2019s been happening on the field\u2026 and like I said, it\u2019s fixable. That\u2019s why we have these days to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s great to hear Savaiinaea recognize his struggles, but the Dolphins need actions to speak louder than words at this point.<\/p>\n End Of My Miami Dolphins Rant<\/p>\n Miami fans have seen their rookies grow over the years, with prime examples being Christian Wilkins and now see it with Patrick Paul. The difference is, Grant and Savaiinaea are being asked to be contributors on a team that envisioned itself as being in the playoff mix. It\u2019s clear as day that both players are nowhere near ready, but being benched isn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n The Dolphins\u2019 incompetence to sign viable backup options shows how bad their roster-building is. On top of that, seeing players such as Lions rookie guard Tate Ratledge and Colts tight end Tyler Warren<\/a> shine for their teams in positions Miami needed to fill hurts even more.<\/p>\n Fans need to ease up on the bust label for these two, as it\u2019s too soon to determine if they won\u2019t pan out. With that being said, it\u2019s understandable to be disappointed that the Dolphins\u2019 first two draft selections in 2025 have been hurting the team more than helping.<\/p>\n The post These Miami Dolphins Rookies Have Been A Disaster Early On<\/a> appeared first on Stadium Rant<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Miami Dolphins entered last offseason with little to no money to make any significant moves due to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[787,217,7,4247,216,251,2087,9666,6,56329,73333],"class_list":{"0":"post-432860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-miami","13":"tag-miami-dolphins","14":"tag-miamidolphins","15":"tag-newsbreak","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-stadium-rant","18":"tag-these-miami-dolphins-rookies-have-been-a-disaster-early-on"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115344759160822232","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432860","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=432860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Oct 5, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) gets tackled during the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images<\/p>\n