Kelly: Dolphins Still Need to Fix Troublesome Offensive Line
This can’t be it?!
This can’t be Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel's final answer?!
The Miami Dolphins entered this offseason with improving the offensive line as one of the team’s top priorities, and wouldn’t you know they exited the 2023 NFL draft just about where they started.
It’s not the exact same spot considering Miami added backup interior lineman Dan Feeney in free agency, and used its very last draft pick, selection No. 238 in the seventh round, to add Michigan offensive tackle Ryan Hayes, a two-year starter at owner Steve Ross’ favorite college program.
Miami also didn’t re-sign the most productive starting right tackle (Brandon Shell) from last season, supposedly fearing injury issues.
Shell is still looking for work, as are about a dozen decent-but-aged and maybe injured veteran offensive linemen.
But the fact South Florida’s NFL franchise, the one with a fragile starting quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa), has gone through free agency and now the NFL draft without clearly, and properly, addressing one of the team’s major areas of concern has to be concerning.
Maybe there’s some master plan the Dolphins haven’t fully disclosed, like last year’s decision to move Connor Williams, who had played guard his entire NFL career, to center.
That worked out pretty well for the Dolphins.
EXAMINING THE POSSIBLE ADDITIONS
Maybe Miami is banking on Robert Jones blossoming into an NFL starter in year three, or watched Kendall Lamm or Geron Christian, two journeymen who were re-signed this offseason, destroy the first-team defense during last year’s practices.
Maybe there’s some super-secret contract offer that has been made to Cam Fleming, George Fant, or Cameron Erving that hasn’t been finalized yet, and won’t until June 1 when cornerback Byron Jones’ release clears $13.6 million from the team’s books.
Hell, maybe we could be hosting a reunion with Ja’Wuan James, Billy Turner or Jesse Davis, all former Dolphins starting offensive linemen who are unemployed at the moment.
All we’ve got is maybes right now, but it’s hard to envision Grier is heading into May with the improvement of Austin Jackson and Liam Eichenberg, two early draftees who have struggled mightily the past two years, as his final answer when asked what will ensure last year’s troublesome line improves.
Leaving it up to chance isn’t Grier’s modus operandi. He doesn’t put his own job security on the line gambling on struggling draft picks to turn the corner and improve.
He’s lasted more than two decades with one franchise, progressively gaining power to the point he’s the final decision-maker on the football side of the organization by covering his backside.
DOLPHINS CAN'T BE DONE YET, RIGHT?
But this offseason’s handling of the offensive line leaves Grier’s cheeks exposed, and that’s a dangerous place for him to be, especially with a fragile quarterback who could miss months at a time because of a physical hit that might rattle his brain.
Grier normally doesn’t take those types or risks, so there has to be another plan up his sleeve.
After all, he began his journey as this franchise’s final decision-maker in 2019 with a pledge to fortify the trenches, and has yet to deliver on it offensively.
“Nothing is off the table,” McDaniel said Saturday night, minutes after Miami made its final draft pick. “We’re really happy with the offseason we’ve had, the players that we were able to keep on this roster, the new ones that we’ve added, that we added in the draft, and that we’re going to in free agency. There will always be stuff that we’ll investigate because that’s our job.”
There it is!
The Dolphins are not done yet. They can’t be because this offensive line isn’t good enough to make these Dolphins a Super Bowl contender.
No matter how fast Miami’s skill players run, how creative Vic Fangio’s defense becomes, or how much Xavien Howard and Jale Ramsey lock down opposing receivers, the Dolphins are one whiffed block away from having the 2023 season disintegrate into a disaster.
