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Will Doubling Down on O-linemen Pay Off for Dolphins?

The Miami Dolphins drafted offensive linemen in the first and second rounds for the fourth time in team history. They have gotten mixed results with this tactic.
Alain Poupart|
Will Doubling Down on O-linemen Pay Off for Dolphins?
Will Doubling Down on O-linemen Pay Off for Dolphins?

For the fourth time in franchise history, the Miami Dolphins selected an offensive lineman in both the first and second rounds of a draft when they took USC's Austin Jackson in Round 1 and Louisiana-Lafayette's Robert Hunt in Round 2.

The Dolphins obviously hope they hit on both of those players and that they'll become fixtures on the offensive line for years to come, although exactly when they'll be ready to start remains to be seen.

Based on most draft analysts, it's unlikely the Dolphins will get the kind of immediate impact they got in 1990 when they selected Texas A&M tackle Richmond Webb in the first round and Iowa State guard Keith Sims in the second.

Hitting on Jackson and Hunt the way the Dolphins hit on Webb and Sims would be the ideal scenario for a team looking to rebuild its offensive line.

Webb was an immediate starter for the Dolphins, made the Pro Bowl his first seven seasons in the NFL and became a borderline Hall of Famer while protecting Dan Marino's blindside throughout the 1990s.

Sims also became a very good NFL player and he, too, was an opening-day starter his first season. Sims started for seven seasons for the Dolphins and earned three consecutive Pro Bowl invitations from 1993-95.

Thanks in large part to Webb and Sims' rookie contributions, the Dolphins went from 8-8 in 1989 to 12-4 and a wild-card playoff berth and put up 34 points in a divisional round playoff loss against the eventual AFC champion Buffalo Bills.

Things didn't work out so well the last time the Dolphins doubled up on offensive linemen in the first two rounds.

That happened in 1995 when they selected University of Houston tackle Billy Milner in Round 1  and Indiana guard Andrew Greene in Round 2.

Milner played every game as a rookie, but didn't start until halfway through the season and the Dolphins traded him to the St. Louis Rams the following October in a trade for tight end Troy Drayton.

As for Greene, he was inactive for the first 10 games of his rookie season, made his first start in the 1995 season finale — a game the Dolphins won to secure a playoff berth in Don Shula's last season as head coach — and was waived before the start of the 1996 season by new head coach Jimmy Johnson.

Between those two extremes, the Dolphins got mixed results in 1979 when they did another O-lineman double play.

In the first round, they took tackle Jon Giesler from Michigan before taking the University of Washington's Jeff Toews in Round 2.

Giesler did not start a game as a rookie, but wound up starting 105 over the next nine seasons, and though he never made the Pro Bowl, he was a solid starter.

As for Toews, he became a guard in the NFL, didn't start as a rookie, and ended up starting 14 of the 71 games he played during his seven seasons with the Dolphins.

Unlike those three instances, the Dolphins had multiple picks in the first and seconds rounds this year, and Jackson and Hunt were just two of the five selections the Dolphins had in those first two rounds.

That doesn't diminish the importance of the selections, however, because the Dolphins need for both to come through for the sake of their offensive line, whether it happens this year or next.

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Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of Miami Dolphins On SI and host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press and the Dolphins team website. In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books, such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

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