The streak that keeps haunting Dolphins and who can change it. And Flores talks Tua.
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Wednesday:
▪ I keep hearing stories of people having trouble sleeping, or experiencing peculiar dreams, since COVID-19 arrived.
So maybe that explains why I awoke recently thinking of the oddest topic: Dolphins fourth-round draft pick Solomon Kindley and the organization’s inability to find mid-round offensive linemen who amount to anything for much of the past 30 years.
And no, I’m not kidding.
The good news is that Kindley, the 111th overall pick out of Georgia, has earned a starting job at right guard as a rookie (according to the Dolphins’ official depth chart, which is subject to change) and impressed everyone by losing more than 20 pounds since the college football season ended. He earned high marks as a run blocker at Georgia, where coach Kirby Smart raved about him, as both a player and person.
“You are a special guy, always have a great attitude, a great outlook on life,” Smart said in a video tribute to Kindley, who once saved a former teammate in his role as a part-time lifeguard.
So we have high hopes for Kindley.
But this story isn’t about Kindley. This is about the inexplicable. Specifically:
Why can’t the Dolphins — since Dan Marino was in his prime — ever find a longterm offensive line starter in the middle of the draft?
Consider:
Before this year, the Dolphins have drafted 11 offensive linemen in the fourth or fifth rounds over the past 30 years.
You know how many ended up starting games — any games at all — for the Dolphins?
Two. A measly two.
One of those two, 2015 fourth-rounder Jamil Douglas, started six games as a rookie but was cut by the Dolphins 16 months after they drafted him. He started five games for the Tennessee Titans last season and remains on their team.
The other, 1993 fifth-rounder Chris Gray, became a serviceable guard here, starting 23 games before moving on to Seattle, where he flourished before an injury ended his career.
The others?
Six of them never even appeared in a regular-season game for Miami, per nfl.com: Shawn Draper, Joe Toledo, Shawn Murphy (son of Atlanta Braves great Dale Murphy), Christopher Perez, Jerome Daniels and Scott Shaw.
As far as the others, Anthony Alabi appeared in 16 games as a reserve, Isaac Asiata two as a reserve, Gene Willliams 15 as a reserve. Asiata is now a police officer in Salt Lake City.
And there you have it: Three decades of extracting next-to-nothing on the offensive line in the middle rounds of the draft.
And now we have Kindley, who we can only hope will begin to reverse this trend.
To Miami’s credit, they found a solid piece on the scrap heap when they sign Jets discard Jesse Davis, who has become a competent starter.
Perhaps Kindley, who played well in America’s toughest conference, will flourish and will remind us of fourth/fifth round picks during more prosperous times, such as Jeff Dellenbach in 1985 and Jeff Uhlenhake in 1989. Both of those players became solid starters for Don Shula.
The oddity is that the Dolphins have had fourth and fifth round success at other positions over those 30 years. Among others, those rounds have brought them linebackers Zach Thomas and Bryan Cox; defensive tackles Paul Soliai and Davon Godchaux, receiver Brian Hartline, safeties Reshad Jones and Bobby McCain, running backs Lamar Miller and Jay Ajayi.
But offensive line in those rounds? It has been a blind spot for decades, over many regimes, while some other teams seem to have more success finding linemen on the third day of the draft. And this has been a costly shortcoming, because it has forced Miami to keep spending money and draft assets at the position.
And incidentally, the third round hasn’t been all that much more productive for the Dolphins and their search for offensive linemen, as I explained in this piece a couple of years ago.
Perhaps Kindley will break that trend; we can only hope.
“He has all the capabilities to be a great player,” center Ted Karras said Wednesday. “He tries to do everything right. He’s very explosive. He’s a huge man. He’s done very well. I’m going to do everything I can to help him. It’s been a pleasure to see him grow the past six weeks.”
▪ The Dolphins released their first league-required injury report of the season, and it has six players as limited in practice Wednesday: tight end Mike Gesicki (glute); cornerbacks Xavien Howard (knee) and Byron Jones (Achilles); receivers DeVante Parker (hamstring) and Preston Williams (knee) and linebacker Kyle Van Noy (hand).
▪ ESPN’s Louis Riddick — on a Zoom call promoting the network’s new Steve Levy/Brian Griese/Riddick Monday Night Football both — told me of the Dolphins: “Chris Grier and Brian Flores are on the right track. Brian comes from a program in New England where they are the gold standard of how to build an operation from A to Z, starting with ... the coaching staff to the scouting department... and put them in the best possible position to succeed.
“That’s what Bill Belichick is a master at and that’s what Brian Flores is trying to do down there now. That all starts ultimately by making sure you have the single most important position taken care of. Miami, I believe has taken care of that.
“When they unveil Tua Tagovailoa, we’ll see. They are on the right track because they have people in the important decision making roles who are well trained, well versed, highly skilled and they have the support of ownership down there in Mr. Ross. I think they are well on their way. Now they have to put their money where their mouth is.”
And then Riddick added this: “I’m rooting for Brian Flores in particular. He’s an absolute shining star in this league that people are going to find out a lot about in the coming months.”
▪ New England coach Bill Belichick, speaking to Patriots writers about the Dolphins on Wednesday: “It looks like that they’re a lot better than they were last year based on the acquisitions that they’ve made. ... It’s pretty clear that Brian has a plan. He knows where he’s going. And he’s taking steps to get there. That’s pretty obvious.”
Meanwhile, Brian Flores told Patriots beat writers that “in a lot of instances, Tua and this entire rookie class have gotten less practice, less reps, less live action than any rookie class in league history from what I understand. I think [the 2020 Dolphins rookie class is] the types of guys we’re looking for. They’re tough, they’re smart, they work hard, it’s important to them. Tua is right there, close to the top of our group. I’ve been very pleased with him.”
▪ Dolphins starting center Ted Karras, the Patriots’ starting center last year, said he has been giving tips to teammates about what to expect from New England’s personnel. “There’s a factor of familiarity but this is a new year,” Karras said. “They are going to have something unique for us to make us think and challenge us every step of the way.”
The Dolphins are still essentially running the Patriots’ defense but are no longer running the Patriots’ offense after Chad O’Shea’s dismissal as Miami’s offensive coordinator. “The language is different,” Karras said.
▪ New cornerback Byron Jones shared a few nuggets: 1) He said rookie cornerback Noah Igbinoghene is “a really good player. [You see] his maturity; he’s in meetings early, in meetings late, responds well to good plays and bad plays. It’s cool to see a young guy be so prepared.”
2) Asked about Preston Williams and DeVante Parker, he spoke about them but also mentioned Isiah Ford, who figures to get a lot of work in the slot on Sunday. He said Ford is “really crafty inside, savvy with his routes, very patient as well.” And Williams and Parker, he said, have a “good catch radius, do a good job of going up and getting the ball.”
3) The Rams’ Jalen Ramsey agreed to a five year, $105 million deal, meaning Jones (five years, $82.5 million) is no longer the highest-paid corner. He said that distinction “is not important to me” and said Ramsey is deserving of the big deal.
Here’s our Wednesday piece on how NFL rules are affecting the Dolphins, and Brian Flores’ comments in his media briefing today.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 2:53 PM.
