Dolphins offensive line back on the hamster wheel in 2021 after rebuild in 2020
Last year, we were told the Miami Dolphins addressed their offensive line. Nobody said the club was finished but a solid foundation was laid and another year would bond the unit and make it a team strength.
But now, mere days before the 2021 draft, the Dolphins offensive line seems in flux.
Surrounded by uncertainty.
And not necessarily better.
The club on Tuesday traded left guard Ereck Flowers to the Washington Football Team for third-day draft considerations, as reported by the NFL Network.
And the easy, obvious take is that Miami’s 2020 free agency haul that seemed so exciting and enduring a year ago has not aged well. Because running back Jordan Howard was cut, linebacker Kyle Van Noy was cut, center Ted Karras was allowed to leave in free agency, defensive end Shaq Lawson was traded, and now Flowers is being traded.
All but Karras signed multi-year deals last year. All were starters.
And now they’re all ghosts.
But that’s not it. The Dolphins apparently missing on those free agents, and quickly recognizing the miss and correcting course is not the biggest concern here.
The biggest concern is that we’re on that proverbial hamster wheel with that offensive line again.
Because last year the Dolphins drafted three offensive linemen, signed two as free agents, and all those guys started games for the team. And a year later only one of those players — left tackle Austin Jackson — might be playing the same spot he was last year.
And even Jackson’s status is not a stated certainty.
The offensive line at the end of the 2020 season:
LT: Austin Jackson.
LG: Ereck Flowers.
C: Ted Karras.
RG: Jesse Davis.
RT: Robert Hunt.
Davis started the final four games at right guard while Kindley, a rookie who started the first eight games at the position, was injured and faded somewhat late in the season. Kindley was inactive or did not play in three of the team’s final five games.
Fast forward to today. This is the Dolphins OL:
LT: Austin Jackson.
LG: Solomon Kindley.
C: Matt Skura.
RG: Robert Hunt.
RT: Jesse Davis.
So zero consistency year over year.
And, more importantly, is this group an upgrade?
If you take a sober look at this group it’s easy to say Davis provides the most certainty of any player on that line.
Think about that.
Davis is not great but he’s steady. That’s one of his appealing assets.
So the guy the team benched at right tackle after four games last year in order to start Hunt there 11 games is now back to that spot and probably the anchor of that line.
Why?
Because we still don’t know for sure that Jackson, rated 75th of 79 offensive tackles by ProFootballFocus last year, will improve so dramatically as to play like the first-round selection he was.
Because Kindley fits as a left guard, where he played in college at Georgia, but he was not better than Flowers last year.
Because Skura may or may not be an upgrade over Karras, who himself was merely solid.
Because Hunt is definitely better suited for right guard than right tackle but all this move says is the Dolphins kind of wasted a year instead of training him up at his more natural position.
So, yeah, Davis is your offensive line anchor!
The Dolphins signed D.J. Fluker in free agency recently so it’s fair to think he and Davis will compete for that right tackle spot.
But Fluker is a one-year addition. This cannot be it, can it?
The Miami offensive line is like a paella (I love paella) without shrimp or mussels or chicken. There’s ingredients missing.
So we look to the draft.
The Dolphins have to draft a center-guard type.
Have to.
It seemed like a need before. It’s pretty close to a must-have following the Flowers trade.
A center-guard type can compete at both center and either guard spot. And winning the job improves the line. And even losing the competition still means greater depth.
(If only 2019 third-round pick Michael Deiter could be counted on as a starting option but that is not certain.)
The Dolphins also have to take a long, hard look at Penei Sewell or another highly valued offensive tackle now.
This draft is supposed to be about improving Miami’s offense and helping Tua Tagovailoa develop. The sexy way to do this is give the quarterback so many offensive weapons he would have answers for anything defenses throw at him.
The other way is to help is protect him so well that his current group of playmakers eventually get open and can make plays.
Sewell fits in the latter.
So might Alabama’s Alex Leatherword (really like him), or Michigan’s Jalen Mayfield, or Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw or Samuel Cosmi of Texas.
The Dolphins have work to do with their offensive line again. Back to the hamster wheel.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 1:20 PM.
