With the Miami Dolphins gearing up for their offseason, general manager Chris Grier and his staff are preparing their free agent and draft strategies.
While they can’t fully commit to a plan of attack without their head coach, it’s obvious where some of the bigger holes on Miami’s roster are. Their offensive line was graded as one of the worst in the league in nearly every category.
Most early mock drafts have had the Dolphins selecting an offensive lineman, and Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock draft of the offseason is no different. In this mock draft that came out Friday, he has Miami selecting Minnesota offensive tackle Daniel Faalele.
Here’s what Jeremiah had to say about the pick:
“The Dolphins have thrown a lot of resources at the offensive line, but they’ve yet to solve the problem. Faalele is a true giant of a human being, listed by Minnesota at 6-9 and 380 pounds. I’m shocked by how athletic he plays at that size.”
Faalele is a pretty raw offensive line prospect who opted out of the 2020 season, costing him some opportunities to refine his skills. If he can get some quality coaching, he can be a really solid starting tackle in this league. Pairing him and Robert Hunt on the right side could finally give Tua Tagovailoa some effective, consistent blindside protection.
The argument in the first round seems to be whether or not Miami should use more draft capital on an offensive tackle when they could go out and spend some of their cap space on a proven veteran. That’s a fair question, and it’s one that we won’t know the answer to until the new league year starts.
