Three draft picks, tens of millions in deals, and yet Dolphins’ OL still needs work
The quarterback talk gets the attention, but here’s the reality for the Miami Dolphins:
Neither Ryan Fitzpatrick nor Tua Tagovailoa will be playing in the postseason if they don’t get more protection.
Flawed but functional the first half of the season, the Dolphins’ offensive line isn’t even that anymore.
Dolphins quarterbacks have been sacked 10 times and hit an astounding 17 times in the past two games. The Jets dropped Fitzpatrick on four occasions Sunday and laid a hit on him five more times.
Much of the pressure came up the middle.
“I know the Jets stink but there was some good news from yesterday,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah wrote on Twitter Monday morning. “Quinnen Williams was unblockable.”
The boxscore agrees.
Williams had seven tackles, a sack and a half, three quarterback hits, two pass breakups and forced a fumble on one of Matt Breida’s eight carries.
The forced fumble might have been the least impressive part of the play. The most? How he chucked aside left guard Ereck Flowers — who weighs in at 343 pounds — like a man half his size.
Flowers is by far the highest paid Dolphins offensive lineman and is supposed to be the group’s anchor.
Instead he’s been, as of late, a liability. The last two weeks, Flowers has surrendered two sacks and three hurries, according to Pro Football Focus.
His four sacks allowed in 2020 are third-most among all NFL guards.
But let’s not pile on Flowers here. He’s been part of the problem, but not the only problem.
“I think we have to play better,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. “I think as a whole, the communication up front has got to be better. I think the correct communication of what we’re seeing has got to be better. They understand that. We’ve talked about it. It isn’t just one group or one player.”
Jesse Davis — the tackle/guard who has been credited with allowing one sack, four hurries and five pressures since the Broncos game — has given up 27 pressures (a stat that combines sacks and hurries) on 696 snaps this year.
Ted Karras, meanwhile, has been a bright spot among the Dolphins’ veteran linemen. Miami’s center has allowed just eight pressures but not a single sack this year and was the Dolphins’ fifth-best offensive player Sunday, per PFF.
But on balance, the Dolphins’ plan to have their experienced linemen shepherd their rookies through inevitable growing pains has not panned out.
Miami’s young tackles — Austin Jackson and Robert Hunt — were their two best linemen Sunday. Both were particularly good in run blocking.
But Jackson on the year hasn’t been great. His 27 pressures allowed are the most of any NFL player who has pass blocked fewer than 396 snaps this year.
Solomon Kindley, meanwhile, is dealing with a chronic, painful foot injury that could limit him the rest of the season.
The Dolphins’ offense rankings are, in a word, dreadful, and it’s largely due to line play.
Through Sunday’s action they ranked last in yards per rush (3.6), 25th in yards per play (5.2), 22nd in third downs (40.4 percent) and 21st in sack rate (6.8 percent). The only things keeping them competitive are an excellent goal-to-go rate (tied-third, 86.4 percent) and fourth-down rate (tied-fourth, 75 percent).
Looking for a silver lining? Here’s one: The worst might be behind the Dolphins, at least in the regular season.
Of their five remaining opponents, only Buffalo ranks outside the bottom 10 in defensive sacks per game. Three of the five (New England, Cincinnati and Las Vegas) are in the bottom five.
But if the cumulative performance doesn’t improve and Miami’s rookies don’t take a leap forward in the coming offseason, the Dolphins don’t have a lot of great options without giving up on high draft picks after just one season.
Plus short of a trade, Flowers is going to be on the team in 2021, regardless of how he plays down the stretch. He costs $1 million more against the cap to cut.
But Davis probably needs to up his game over the last month to stick in 2021. The Dolphins would save $2.6 million by moving on. (Karras’ contract expires after this season.)
If the Dolphins do move on from Davis, they absolutely could significantly upgrade their interior line. But it won’t be cheap. Both Brandon Scherff and Joe Thuney are expected to hit the open market after playing 2020 on the franchise tag.
Spotrac estimates both guards will fetch multiyear contracts that will pay in excess of $13 million annually. With an estimated $38 million in salary cap, the Dolphins could conceivably pay that, but it would limit their ability to make needed upgrades and wide receiver, running back and linebacker.
The draft would be another option, with potentially three picks in the top 40.
“We definitely have to keep working to improve,” Karras said. “Last two weeks certainly weren’t our best efforts. The third quarter [Sunday] was tough for us. We’ve got to be better. Neither of those games [are ones] we’d want to put our names on.
Miami Herald sportswriter Barry Jackson contributed to this report.
