Fixing the Offensive Line with Draft Picks
The Dolphins decided to wait until the 4th round to address the Guard position and selected Arizona State’s, Jamil Douglas. Douglas was a four-year starter in one of the best conferences in college football, the Pac12, so there is no denying that he is battle-tested. The Dolphins are so thin at left guard with Dallas Thomas, that Douglas will be given every possible opportunity to win the starting job.
Douglas has played the last 2 years at the Left Tackle position, however, he does have experience at Left Guard, where the Miami coaching staff wants him to play. He has all the physical traits of an NFL lineman, great height, length, and hand size, but needs to get stronger. Douglas is athletic and has a quick first step, and his blocking style fits perfectly in Miami’s zone-blocking scheme. He does well in both pass protection and run blocking, but again his biggest weakness is that he needs to get stronger to be able to handle the added power and strength of NFL defensive players.
During the Rookie camp, Douglas played only at left guard and he flashed his ability. The best pay per head reviews in the world are putting Douglas as the odds on favorite to win the starting left guard position from Dallas Thomas. Thomas was a train wreck last season, and anything will be better than having him start another season. However, I am not sure if that is saying much that Douglas will be the starter, because he may only be marginally better than Thomas.
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Billy Turner was our third-round pick last year and he barely saw the field last season, however this season he seems to be the set in stone starting at right guard. Forgive me for not being ecstatically confident that he will automatically be able to step into the starting position and be able to play well enough to hold his own for a complete 16 game season. Sure I hope and pray that Turner will be the answer, but the reality is that he played at a small school college at North Dakota State, which means he did not face top-notch competition, and then in his rookie season in the NFL he could not even crack his way into the Dolphins line-up. He has zero experience so even though he will be the Dolphins starting right guard, there is nothing to prove that he will be successful.
Now also add the fact that we are most likely going to be counting on a 4th round player to step in and be our starting left guard. So this means 2 of the 5 starting offensive lineman have zero NFL game experience. (I am not considering 16 or so snaps for Turner as experience) I know a lot of the best sportsbooks are saying that this could be the best offensive line that Tannehill has had in his 4 year NFL season, but I guess when the bar is sitting on the floor, then expectations can only go up. As long as Albert is healthy then I think this line will be the best of Tannehill’s career, which again is not saying much. But a healthy Albert, along with Pouncey moving back to his more natural Center position, and James moving back to his more natural Right Tackle position, should at least help the two young guards mask some of their deficiencies.
Douglas and Turner will unfortunately have to learn on the fly this season, and there will be some uncomfortable bumps along the way, however, if they can at least steadily improve as the season progress than there is the chance that Miami may have finally solidified the line for the next 3 years, something that Miami has not been able to do this century. If they can, and it is a big IF, then 4 of the 5 starters will have all been acquired through the draft, which at least gives some credence to the scouting department. How does the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans feel about the Dolphins’ potential starting offensive lineman group?
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My prediction is that this regime will severely regret not finding a definitive starting caliber OLman at G position, and this will continue to haunt Tannehill and the offense this year.
This, in addition to the ILB position, will be the bane of this regime.
Every dynasty in the NFL began with a strong o-line, the guards for the ‘phins are highly questionable; but all offensive lines need to grow up together and gel. It is overly-optimistic to think we will have a long post-season. (Because of deflategate and Rex’s overrating and the Jets, the playoffs are a strong possibility.) An offensive line can afford 1 or maybe 2 outsiders but they need time to work together.
Yes it starts in the trenches Bill, and we have come along way from two seasons ago, and we do have Albert, Pouncey and James, so we are getting closer. Hopefully one of the guards can at least step it up
Dunner
At this stage we can only hope that our FO is fully aware of that and that they are already looking at the teams that might have to cut veteran players due to salary cap issues or just because they drafted a better Guard. So maybe just maybe we could luck out and get a Guard that is better than what we project, or good enough to be a better back up than what we have.
Dan
I thought we already signed all our draft picks and undrafted free agents. Who is NM ?? are you talking about KM (Knoshom Moreno) Don’t think he will play for us this year. We are all set at RB.
As far as looking at other teams with strong offensive lines, it should be more about looking at teams current salary cap situation and their offensive players cap number. There will be a few or more good guards available once camps start and a few veteran O-Lineman are let go.
Yes there is still a few more roster tweaks that will be made, so this roster is not set in stone yet. And there still maybe be some players that come in to camp this year highly improved
Of all the draft picks I think Douglas has the biggest chance of being a bust. Why? Check out his arms – they are very short aka T Rex arms. That is a recipe for disaster especially with pass protection. I just keep thinking Dallas Thomas all over again who also has short arms and gets killed in pass protection. Conversely, I think this is a breakout year for Billy Turner. If he can stay healthy just pencil him in a RG and let him play.
It will be very interesting to see what these two young guards, Douglas and Turner can bring to the table this year
Yes Ralph we need to look at the teams that are strong on the offensive line I.E. Dallas, Giants, and Seattle. Our new running back with knee issues, I hope works out! What is going on with N.M. are we not going to sign him???
Jimmy
I wish I could say I am confident that it will work out but I am a bit skeptical about both our guards
They are the weak link in our offense and unfortunately teams will test them over and over. I see them yielding a few sacks every game and I hope that they are better in the running game at opening up holes but let’s face it they are not going to the pro bowl anytime soon
Rebuilding our beloved team will take at least one more year – we will probably draft offensive line with our first 2 draft picks unless we sign a pro bowler guard or tackle in free agency. If we have another injury we will be in trouble our backups are not that great
I’ll repeat what I’ve said before – I think Hickey has done a heck of a good job
Too bad we only had 6 picks in this draft
We might still pick up a guard who gets cut by another team deep in talent at that position before the season starts but if we don’t, then we will have to suffer a few extra sacks this year