Kelly: Dolphins need to turn up volume on team’s physicality | Opinion
Patrick Paul has a face mask that makes him look like Bane, the villain from Batman’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” which is arguably the best of the comic book series that has been turned into movies.
It would be ideal if the Miami Dolphins’ new starting left tackle performed like a ruthless villain on the football field in 2025.
On Tuesday Paul did his part to set the tone of Miami’s first padded practice, standing up all challengers during 1-on-1s, consistently winning his reps by using his towering 6-foot-7, 326 pound physique to engulf Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips and Chop Robinson.
For one drill, on one day, Paul, the Dolphins’ 2024 second-round pick, held his own. His solid performance provided a sign of hope that Miami’s most important spot on the offensive line won’t be a troublesome area.
“Patrick has been doing great because he has to. Otherwise he would be miserable because you go in the grass against our edges,” coach Mike McDaniel said, referring to Paul, who handled 337 offensive snaps last season as Terron Armstead’s understudy and replacement last season.
With Armstead retiring this offseason, Paul’s under the microscope, and his ability to anchor the Dolphins’ offensive line will either stabilize the unit, or doom the season because the Dolphins don’t have a capable backup behind him.
“There’s no days off,” McDaniel said, referring to Paul’s second-season challenge. “I think his growth has been monumental. I think he’s one of the guys that you can feel a different energy based on earned confidence.”
The entire Dolphins offensive line needs to develop a different energy in 2025 because last year’s struggles can’t be repeated if Miami’s going to get its offense back in gear.
Last season the Dolphins struggled throwing deep because the offensive line rarely gave quarterback Tua Tagovailoa time to look downfield.
Then, after Austin Jackson sustained his season-ending knee injury in early November in Miami’s loss to the Bills , the Dolphins run game clammed up. MIami’s struggles running the ball impacted McDaniel’s play-calling to the point where the Dolphins were throwing short passes as substitutions for running plays.
And that doesn’t even bring into equation Miami’s issues converting short yardage situations, which has been tragically bad for three seasons.
This offseason the Dolphins added two new starting offensive guards, a forceful in-line blocking tight end in Pharoah Brown and two physical tailbacks in Alexander Mattison and rookie Ollie Gordon.
It’s too early to say whether Miami has fixed anything with those moves, but the offensive line’s struggles for most of camp’s first six practices creates cause for concern. However, that might be more of a problem with depth than the frontline players.
Sometimes you have to guard against a false sense of security, or premature cause for panic when it comes to trench play, especially when they don’t have pads on. Tuesday was the first of many padded practices, and the O-line showed a pulse.
For years I have watched the Dolphins defensive line bully the offensive line.
The pass rushers consistently harass the team’s quarterbacks during training camp, and then when the action becomes live, and the games start to count, opposing quarterbacks have all day to throw the football. And what we learn is that the offensive line isn’t as good as we think it needs to be.
Miami’s 2025 camp has been highlighted by Chubb, Phillips and Robinson’s almost daily dominance.
They are routinely in Miami’s backfield, often producing would-be sacks that disrupt timing of the offense, and their impactful play forces us into a chicken or the egg debate.
Are Miami’s edge rushers that good, ready to feast on the rest of the NFL? Or, is Miami’s offensive line so bad the unit will again weigh the team down like an anchor holds a boat to the bottom of the ocean?
We won’t truly know for sure until the regular season arrives, but the next three weeks, which are filled with joint practices and exhibition games against the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars, will provide some clues.
Replacing Armstead, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, won’t be easy. But Paul spent all of last year preparing for this.
The bigger concern is whether the team’s biggest free agent addition, James Daniels, who is coming back from an Achilles injury he sustained in September, will be the player he once was in 2025, and if Jonah Savaiinaea will blossom as a rookie starter.
The Dolphins intentionally replaced last year’s two starting guards, pinpointing their struggles as a reason for Miami’s stagnant rushing attack in 2024.
The goal this season is to “raise the standard” according to Savaiinaea, whom the Dolphins traded up to acquire in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
It will be interesting to see if Miami can do that with three new starters on the offensive line.
“I hold myself to a higher standard every time I touch this facility,” said Savaiinaea, who has been working to settle in at left guard. “You’ve got guys here that want to win, that have been here [longer] than myself. Obviously, I’m playing for something bigger than myself.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 2:38 PM.
