The No. 1 position group that needed to be improved for the Miami Dolphins this offseason has taken significant steps, but there remains more work to do on the offensive line.
The headline-grabbing move was made in snagging top free-agent tackle Terron Armstead. In the grand scheme of the offseason, it was only overshadowed the next day when the Dolphins landed the NFL’s fastest player in wide receiver Tyreek Hill, but solidifying the offensive line was the top priority as the roster reconstruction began under new coach Mike McDaniel.
Armstead, 30, will man the left tackle position, as he’s done for three Pro Bowl seasons with the New Orleans Saints. That much is a certainty, as McDaniel noted recently at NFL meetings.
But even as former Dallas Cowboys guard Connor Williams was added in free agency, how the rest of Miami’s revamped offensive line will line up isn’t set in stone. Although Williams predominantly played left guard in Dallas and Dolphins right guard Robert Hunt was probably the lone standout on last year’s offensive line, McDaniel isn’t committed to keeping them at those spots, especially as he implements a new outside-zone scheme.
“We are doing a new scheme that highlights different attributes of a player’s performance,” McDaniel said, “and it wouldn’t be fair to the process, nor to the players, to say, ‘Okay, this guy’s going to be here exactly at this point.’ Because it is a different scheme. We ask people to do different things.”
Williams played some tackle in college and could presumably play either guard position. He also said he has snapped the ball, while Michael Deiter’s the Dolphins’ lone center on the roster in early April. Hunt, in addition to excelling at right guard in 2021, held down the right tackle position as a rookie in 2020. He is a viable option to get kicked back out there should there be a need after the Dolphins released veteran Jesse Davis, who struggled significantly at right tackle last season.
But if Hunt is kept at guard, the right tackle competition would more likely come down to the early draft picks the Dolphins have used at left tackle over the past two seasons, 2020 first-round selection Austin Jackson and 2021 second-rounder Liam Eichenberg.
Although maligned for their play early in their professional tenures, McDaniel views the youngsters as blockers with potential that can be steered in the right direction. With his successful offensive lines as offensive coordinator and run-game coordinator at his previous stop with the 49ers, San Francisco was eyeing the same linemen, he said.
“I’m excited about all of those players, while really each and every draft pick that we’ve had up front were guys that, in a different city when I was working on a different team, we were looking at as targets for ourselves,” McDaniel noted.
A rough start to the 2021 season shifted Jackson inside to left guard in his second year as a pro. It also thrust Eichenberg to start at left tackle as a rookie after Jackson did the same in 2020. Eichenberg also started last year’s opener at the New England Patriots while Jackson was on the COVID list.
The Dolphins would need at least one of those two to step up and become a formidable starting NFL lineman. Eichenberg allowed far too many pressures at left tackle in 2021. Jackson’s pass blocking on the edge was hidden at guard, but he was still often exposed for lack of lateral movement and the line was often confused when opponents brought stunts and twists in their pass rush.
An upgrade over Deiter still remains a possibility with a center like J.C. Tretter, formerly of the Browns, still a free agent. Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has also indicated he has faith in Deiter, a former guard. Miami can likely be expected to add a lineman with one of their mid-round picks, late in the third and in the middle of the fourth round.
Further on the depth chart, 2020 fourth-round pick Solomon Kindley could offer a resurgence at guard after spending most of 2021 on the bench following his 13-start rookie campaign.
Robert Jones, an undrafted rookie last season known predominantly as a guard, started the finale at right tackle and held his own.
The Dolphins acquired former second-round pick Greg Little in a preseason trade with the Carolina Panthers last year, but he never saw the field in the regular season. Miami also has 2021 seventh-round pick Larnel Coleman, who can battle for a roster spot with fellow tackles Adam Pankey and Kion Smith.
