The Lowdown on the O-Line Injury Issues

The Dolphins' string of injuries may have hit a low point in the Monday night game against Tennessee

If it's true, as we often hear, that you never have enough quality cornerbacks, the Miami Dolphins are finding out in a painful way you can never enough quality offensive linemen, either.

The Dolphins are in line to start their 10th different offensive line combinations in 14 games when they face the New York Jets on Sunday after watching their top center Connor Williams go down with a season-ending knee injury in the Monday night loss against Tennessee and backup Liam Eichenberg subsequently sustain a calf injury that has left his playing status very much in doubt.

That, of course, followed both guard Robert Hunt and tackle Terron Armstead leaving the previous game against the Washington Commanders when Hunt aggravated a hamstring injury and Armstead was kicked by a falling player on a Raheem Mostert touchdown run.

It almost would be funny if it weren't so sad.

But how unusual is the Dolphins' run of offensive line injuries and what could the Dolphins have done better to prepare themselves for all possible scenarios instead of potentially having to start a free agent at center who didn't join the team until a few days ago (either Jonotthan Harrison or Matt Skura).

IS THE DOLPHINS INJURY LUCK ON THE O-LINE WORSE THAN USUAL?

If either Harrison or Skura end up starting against the Jets, as expected, it will give the Dolphins not only a 10th different combination but also a 10th different offensive line starter.

We tracked the Dolphins starting offensive line since 2016 — an arbitrary starting point, to be sure — and the 10 different starters will match the highest total from the past eight seasons, but it's also not out of whack with the past three seasons when Miami had nine different starting offensive linemen each time.

But the Dolphins also have had their projected starting five less than at any time in that span except for 2019 when there was a lot of roster turnover everywhere. The Dolphins' starting five of Armstead, Isaiah Wynn, Williams, Hunt and Austin Jackson have combined to make 43 starts out of a possible 65 for a 66.2 percent.

That's down from the 69.4 percent from last year. The starting offensive lines of 2018, 2020 and 2021 all were at 80 percent or higher, with the "Unicorn" starting five of 2016 just under at 78.9 percent.

The Dolphins have been hit harder than most when it comes to offensive line injuries, but there are other examples around the league.

The Jets, for example, have opening-day starters Alijah Vera-Tucker and Connor McGovern on injured reserve and veteran tackle Duane Brown has missed most of the season with a hip injury.

The Cleveland Browns placed starting tackles Jedrick Wills Jr. and Dawand Jones on IR this week, where they joined opening-day starter Jack Conklin.

DID THE DOLPHINS DO ENOUGH?

Addressing the offensive line seemingly is an annual issue for the Dolphins, and they did make some moves in the offseason to build a solid unit, but the current situation at center has left them open to fair criticism.

After the injuries to Williams and Eichenberg this week, the Dolphins went out and signed Skura and Harrison and deserve credit for adding experience. But they also released rookie center Alama Uluave off the practice squad and it's safe to question keeping a player on the practice squad if there wasn't enough trust in him to elevate him and have him play in case of an emergency, which the Dolphins clearly are facing.

Could or should the Dolphins have signed Harrison and/or Skura to the practice squad before this week to have an option ready to go instead of now having to rely on somebody with, yes, experience but also practically zero familiarity with the way the Dolphins do things.

In a bigger picture, though, the Dolphins did put together a decent group for the 2023 but simply have been overwhelmed by the amount of injuries.

Too rosy? Think about it: When the season began, the Dolphins' top backup at tackle was a player with 87 games and 29 starts on his resume (Kendall Lamm). One of the backup interior linemen was a recent second-round pick with starting experience (Liam Eichenberg).

And the starting five was pretty solid all season, except it's been together in a regular season game exactly one time in 2023: The home opener against the Denver Broncos in Week 3 — and we all know how that turned out.

The Dolphins did try to get a veteran backup center in the offseason when they signed Dan Feeney as an unrestricted free agent, but the move didn't pan out and they ended up trading him to the Chicago Bears for a late-round draft pick. So that move was a flop and clearly the front office can be dinged for not coming up somebody better, somebody good enough to have convinced the coaches to keep Eichenberg strictly at guard.

But overall, the Dolphins did put together a decent offensive line. But, at some point, the Dolphins also needed some kind of injury luck. And that just hasn't been there.

The DOLPHINS STARTING OFFENSIVE LINEMEN THROUGH THE YEARS

2023 — 9

Austin Jackson 13, Connor Williams 9, Robert Hunt 9, *Liam Eichenberg 8, Kendall Lamm 7, Isaiah Wynn 7, Terron Armstead 6, *Lester Cotton 5, Robert Jones 1

2022 — 9

Connor Williams 17, Robert Hunt 17, Terron Armstead 13, Brandon Shell 11, Liam Eichenberg 10, Robert Jones 7,* Greg Little 7, Austin Jackson 2, Kendall Lamm 1

2021 — 9

Robert Hunt 17, *Austin Jackson 16,* Jesse Davis 16, *Liam Eichenberg 16, Michael Deiter 8, Austin Reiter 5, Greg Mancz 4, Solomon Kindley 2, Robert Jones 1

2020 — 6

Ted Karras 16, Ereck Flowers 14, Austin Jackson 12, *Solomon Kindley 12, Robert Hunt 11,* Jesse Davis 15

2019 — 10

Michael Deiter 15, Jesse Davis 15, Daniel Kilgore 13, *Julien Davenport 8, *J’Marcus Webb 8, *Evan Boehm 8, Shaq Calhoun 7, Danny Isidora 3, *Keaton Sutherland 2, Isaiah Prince 1

2018 — 10

Jesse Davis 16, Ja’Wuan James 15, Laremy Tunsil 15, Ted Larsen 14, Travis Swanson 11, Daniel Kilgore 4, *Jake Brendel 2, Zach Sterup 1, Josh Sitton 1, Sam Young 1

2017 — 9

Mike Pouncey 16, Laremy Tunsil 15, Jermon Bushrod 10, *Jesse Davis 10, Ted Larsen 8, Ja’Wuan James 8, Anthony Steen 6, Sam Young 6, Zach Sterup 1

2016 — 10

Jermon Bushrod 16, Ja’Wuan James 16, *Laremy Tunsil 14, Branden Albert 12, Anthony Steen 7, *Kraig Urbik 6, Mike Pouncey 5, *Billy Turner 2, Sam Young 1, Dallas Thomas 1

Armstead Expected to Return to Dolphins Starting Lineup