Inside the Dolphins’ decision to use six offensive linemen vs. the Falcons
It started with a 9 p.m. text on a Tuesday.
With the Miami Dolphins down their best tight ends in Julian Hill and Darren Waller, the team wanted an additional in-line blocker. Two tight end sets are a favorite of coach Mike McDaniel, after all. The answer came in the form of 6-foot-5-inch, 300-pound offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill.
“So Butch sent me a text on Tuesday at like eight or nine o’clock at night, and it had like, 15-something plays on it and then at like five in the morning Wednesday they had another 15 or so set on there,” Brunskill said, referring to Dolphins offensive line coach Butch Barry. The advantage for the 31-year-old was clear: “It was just kind of a chance to get on the field, get some play in.”
And surprise, surprise — it worked. The Dolphins spanked the Atlanta Falcons 34-10 and somewhat have Brunskill to thank. His 22 plays — roughly one-third of offensive snaps — certainly caught the Falcons off guard, as McDaniel had never deployed a six offensive linemen set throughout the coach’s tenure in Miami.
“Knowing him from all the way back to, I believe, 2019 in San Francisco, I know what type of professional he is and his versatility,” McDaniel said. “We had some injuries at the position, so it gave us an opportunity to do something new. Having not done that one time since I’ve been here, I knew they wouldn’t be preparing for it. It’s a credit to him.”
Part of what makes Brunskill’s move so impressive is the learning curve. For the most part, offensive linemen only listen for a certain section of the play. Put differently, they just want to know whether it’s a run or pass and which way should they block.
Tight end, the position that Brunskill essentially played, requires a bit more extra attention.
“Now for me, depending on the personnel that I go in for — there’s like three different personnels they had me in — and where I’m lining up and that position, you could be the Z, you could be the F, you could be the Y,” Brunskill said, referring to the various positions. “I had to know certain words whether it was to the formation away, if I’m strength and then front side back side and then just kind of targeting.”
This, however, wasn’t Brunskill’s first experience at tight end.
“My first few years at San Diego State I played tight end until my redshirt senior year, and we had a tackle go down and then that’s when I first did right tackle in college, and then in the NFL after that senior year, that’s when it was kind of like some teams talked to me about tight end, some talked to me about offensive line,” Brunskill recalled. “That definitely helped, being able to be used to the going right and left and listening to the formation stuff, so it’s not something I haven’t done before.”
Although it had been some time since he lined up at tight end, Brunskill’s has carved out a seven-year career doing just what happened Sunday: being flexible. In fact, he has lined up in every position along the offensive line.
“In the NFL it’s been my strength, is being versatile,” Brunskill said. “I’m not the biggest, strongest guy out there or the fastest guy by any means, but I think I’ve always leaned on knowing the playbook well and being pretty smart on the field, being able to use that to my advantage.”
Now, only one question remains: when will he catch a pass?
“I don’t really care,” he quipped. “If we get wins, I don’t care how we get them, so I’m not too particular about that.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 12:36 PM.
