Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel have put a massive amount of effort into building up a roster that had a number of holes in 2021, keeping them from reaching the postseason once again.
That work resulted in the acquisition of some of the top free agent and trade candidates on the market that will now don the aqua and orange heading into the 2022 season.
With all of the changes Miami has made, there are still some questions about their roster.
NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show” this week and was asked what could hold back the Dolphins from reaching their potential this season, and his answer was probably a similar feeling that a lot of the fanbase and pundits feel right now.
“I love what they did from a coaching standpoint,” Jeremiah said. “I love the speed with (Jaylen) Waddle and Tyreek Hill and run after catch. Tua (Tagovailoa)’s very accurate underneath. I think that works. I think people think about ‘OK, how about the big arm to get the ball over the top?’ I don’t think that’s what this offense is really gonna be, so I like all that stuff. The thing that I don’t like, and I’m very up in the air on, let’s see how this offensive line comes together. They were atrocious. I know they brought in (Terron) Armstead, and that’s an obvious upgrade. There’s a lot of other question marks in that group. I’m curious to see how that all comes together.”
The additions of Armstead and Connor Williams will be largely beneficial, considering how putrid the 2021 offensive line was. However, with Williams apparently moving to center, Austin Jackson appearing to move to right tackle and Liam Eichenberg looking to play left guard, there are a lot of experiments that the Dolphins are running with the group.
They’re hoping that the new pieces, McDaniel’s zone-blocking scheme and the arrival of offensive line coach Matt Applebaum can help transform the line from one of the worst to a competent unit that can be a strength of the offensive instead of a weakness.
We won’t know which way it’s leaning until they start having full padded practices against their defenses and others during training camp.
