Tuesday Dolphins Mailbag: Armstead, Depth, and More

Part 3 of the latest SI Fan Nation All Dolphins mailbag:

From Brian Z (via email):

I saw your list for the 53 man roster recently. Who are the 3 players you feel the most worried about other teams poaching? Of those 3, which one will be guaranteed to be poached by the evil Patriots (so old Bill can get inside info on our schemes)?

Hey Brian, while it’s not uncommon for teams to sign a player of an upcoming opponent, I think the idea of it being detrimental to the original team always is massively overblown. Having said that, the most poachable players who didn’t make my 53-man roster projection (remember that it was only 1.0, though) would be WR River Cracraft, TE Tanner Conner and CB Keion Crossen.

From James Cassettari (via email):

Hello Alain, do you expect a lot of serious experimenting with the O-line in camp? Need to determine if Eichenberg at center and Williams at left guard, for example, would be more effective than the reverse. Or if Wynn should be a starter. Or Jackson back at left guard or left out. Need to put on the pads to find out. I'm not sure how much of that has been done in the past.

Hey James, the idea of moving guys around to find the right combination has been done extensively at times, but I don’t recall much movement last summer. I’m not seeing Williams and Eichenberg going back and forth during camp, either, though I could see the Dolphins coaches wanting to give Wynn a long look to see if he belongs in the starting lineup. Bottom line: I would expect some movement at practice, but not a free-for-all.

From Thomas Hudson (via email):

Hi Alain, thanks for taking the time to answer questions. I have a two-parter for the dead time between OTAs and training camp: From everything I have seen, it seems like the fans are much more worried about the offensive line than the Dolphins are. Is that the impression you get from the team? And is there a position group that the team seems to be much more worried about than the fans are?

Hey Thomas, I think you’re right on the first count and it stems from the idea that Dolphins coaches are much more optimistic about what Austin Jackson and Liam Eichenberg can do than what fans are. As for a position where coaches might be more concerned than fans, that simply doesn’t exist because fans always are worried and coaches always are confident they can get things done with what they have. But to answer your question, I have to think the Dolphins might be a bit nervous when it comes to their interior defensive line group because there just isn’t any depth there — and all the players are signed only through this season.

From Todd Newton (via email):

Hi Alain, with O-lines typically needing to play together to jell properly, how do you think the absence of Terron Armstead from practice will affect the ability to find the best left guard? Is there a possibility that the left guard could jell better with the backup? This situation does assume that Armstead takes a majority of camp off.

Hey Todd, the assumption that Armstead won’t practice very much in camp is a very good one, particularly when we consider he barely practices during the regular season last year. And while there’s something to be said for cohesiveness and chemistry up front, I’ll take the stud left tackle any day of the week.

From Javier (@jboy1724):

When is a realistic timetable for Cook to make a decision, and what do you expect him to sign for?

Hey Javier, because there’s absolutely nothing going on right now in terms of practice with teams, the best guess is that Cook will take his sweet time to get the best offer and more than likely won’t sign until sometime in mid-July, if not late July right before training camps open. As for what he might get, I think everybody is in agreement he’s looking at a modest base salary ($4-6 million range) with incentives that could boost his total income — though if they’re LTBE (likely to be earned incentives based on targets he reached last year), that will make his cap number higher.

From Jorge boyd (@raga1922):

Hi Alain, will the lack of depth at several positions hurt the Dolphins on their 2023 season; did we have lack of depth last year; do most playoffs teams have had lack of depth at several positions in previous years and still manage to be contenders or even go to Super Bowl?

Hey Jorge, I’m glad you brought this up because this idea of the Dolphins (or any team) lacking depth is sometimes overblown. Because of the salary cap, the reality is it’s impossible to be deep at every position and/or be immune from a rash of injuries at a singular position. Like every team, the Dolphins have some players whose loss would be damaging, but they also have some positions of major depth. Ultimately, having luck in the injury department does come into play. K.C., for example, didn’t lose anybody of major consequence during the year, and the same goes for the Eagles. And then you have San Francisco, which was down to its third QB and with a legit chance to reach the Super Bowl until he, too, got hurt. The Dolphins had their share of injuries last season, but they pretty much were concentrated on defense (Ogbah, Brandon Jones, Byron Jones, Needham) and maybe that played a role in that unit struggling a bit. But Buffalo also had a lot of injuries on defense (Hyde, Poyer, Von Miller), so most teams will have to deal with this and it’s impossible to fully prepare for it if you run into bad luck.

From John Kerns (@yitwail):

Is there any reason to think NFL will be quicker to suspend Tyreek Hill than Alvin Kamara?

Hey John, none whatsoever. The NFL is letting the judificial/legal process run its course with the Kamara situation and likely will do the same with Hill. And the same applies to Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams now that charges against him have been dropped after the postgame shoving incident last October in Kansas City.

From Prince-Bishop Militantly Aardvark (@MilitantlyA):

Does lack of depth at some spots matter more than lack of depth at others? What spots matter most, in your opinion, and have the Dolphins done enough?

Hey PBMA, the only way to answer that question is determine where the Dolphins lack depth and what constitutes lack of depth. For me, I worry about the QB position because neither Mike White nor Skylar Thompson have done enough in their career yet to feel confident they can keep the offense humming if something were to happen to Tua. On defense, I worry about the lack of big bodies in the middle of the defensive line because the Dolphins are low in numbers behind Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis and Zach Sieler and the backups are rookies or young players.

From Michael McDonald (via email):

Hello Alain. 2 Questions: 1) The question in Saturday's mailbag about Ryan Tannehill reminded me of my biggest frustration of his tenure. The "Hut" vs "Hut hut" pass/run giveaway. It must have been nice to be an opposing D-lineman and to be able to pin their ears back and take off on a pass play. Do you have any ideas why the Dolphins weren't concerned about that? 2) Total rush and receiving yards, plus TDs for Achane to have a "successful" year.

Hello Michael. First, the Tannehill issue with the cadence as a recall was more of a brief problem than an ongoing issue over several years, and rest assured that that would have been a topic of much conversation between coaches and quarterback. As for Achane, I’ll go ahead and yet again apply context instead of just throwing numbers because there are such things as empty stats. For example, Achane could get 300 all-purpose yards on offense and be more impactful because those came at key moments than if he got 700 yards in mop-up duty. I know fans are really excited about Achane because of his speed, but I would caution against expecting too much too soon because the Dolphins still will be using other backs. To answer your questions, I’d say 700 total yards would be a pretty good rookie season for him.

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