{"id":905074,"date":"2026-05-30T06:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/905074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:54:19","slug":"second-year-dolphins-lineman-seems-grateful-to-move-spots-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/905074\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-year Dolphins lineman seems grateful to move spots in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

After landing Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, the Miami Dolphins<\/a> are making two big changes to their starting offensive line in their first year under new head coach Jeff Hafley.<\/p>\n

With Patrick Paul<\/a> and Austin Jackson<\/a> already slated to start at left and right tackle, respectively, Proctor is set to kick inside to left guard, which will also force Jonah Savaiinaea<\/a> to flip to the right side.<\/p>\n

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Savaiinaea played right guard in college before the Dolphins<\/a> took him in the 2025 NFL draft, and seems excited to be moving back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always good to move back to your original spot,\u201d Savaiinaea said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been kicking off that left leg, but I feel good being back on the right side. But at the end of the day, I\u2019m more happy that we\u2019re back out here working and excited to kick off Year 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savaiinaea acknowledged the challenge that came with flipping to the left side for the first time in his career, which led to him grading as the worst guard in the NFL last year by Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit, because I\u2019ve never really focused on playing left side until I got here, obviously,\u201d he said, \u201cbut that wasn\u2019t a reason why or an excuse in my play. Wherever I am on the line, is to contribute to this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Miami’s head coach has even seen a difference early in organized team activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u00a0seems\u00a0more\u00a0comfortable\u00a0there,\u00a0talking\u00a0to\u00a0(offensive\u00a0line\u00a0coaches)\u00a0Zach\u00a0(Yenser)\u00a0and\u00a0Matt\u00a0(Applebaum).\u00a0They\u00a0seemto\u00a0believe\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0more\u00a0comfortable\u00a0there,\u201d\u00a0Hafley said.\u00a0\u201cBut\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0also\u00a0Year\u00a02\u00a0for\u00a0him,\u00a0so\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0going\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0more\u00a0comfortable,\u00a0period,\u00a0whether\u00a0he\u00a0played\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0left\u00a0side\u00a0or\u00a0whether\u00a0he\u00a0played\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0right\u00a0side.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0got\u00a0more\u00a0cumulative\u00a0reps\u00a0and\u00a0muscle\u00a0memory\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0one\u00a0side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs\u00a0it\u00a0a\u00a0mental\u00a0thing?\u00a0Is\u00a0it\u00a0a\u00a0physical\u00a0thing?\u00a0If\u00a0you\u00a0ask\u00a0Jonah,\u00a0he\u00a0feels\u00a0good\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0right\u00a0side.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Savaiinaea has to focus on what he can control and trust that he knows the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDon\u2019t second-guess yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t second-guess good decisions on the field. So, my mentality is that for this year. When we break out of the huddle, go.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Dolphins: De’Von Achane reveals blunt opinion on Dolphins rebuild<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Second-year Dolphins lineman seems grateful to move spots in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After landing Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":905075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[10084,217,7,576,19341,216,251,2087,6,7564],"class_list":["post-905074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-dolphins","tag-austin-jackson","tag-dolphins","tag-football","tag-jonah-savaiinaea","tag-kadyn-proctor","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miamidolphins","tag-nfl","tag-patrick-paul"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116662217207690840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905074","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=905074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}