Starting Offensive Line Taking Shape

The starting Offensive Line is taking shape with the inevitable addition of Tunsil.

The starting Offensive Line must begin working together sooner, rather than later.

Okay, after a bit too much of a celebration over finally being able to watch my beloved Dolphins get their first live reps…and a flu that followed, I am back – and after today’s practice, it seems the starting Offensive Line is taking shape. And maybe Dolphins O-Line play is back as well.

It’s no mystery that the Miami Dolphins have spent a lot of money, time, and resources in an attempt to fix their offensive line – which has been very poor for quite a while. So, with that being said, many of the best pay per head were betting that Miami may have finally fixed their porous O-Line. However, the results thus far beg to differ.

To most fans, it’s been frustrating to see the coaches give Dallas Thomas and Billy Turner the lion’s share of the starting Guard repetitions. Especially with these two having played far, far less than lights out. Thomas was absolutely terrible during the preseason game. As a result, in Sunday’s practice, the coaches finally began to give Laremey Tunsil more repetitions at the Guard position instead of Thomas.

This continued today as Tunsil received more work with the 1’s than any time previously.

Tunsil whipped Phillips a couple of times, stalemated Suh and beat Jones to the ground. It was his best practice yet.

Turner was also given less repetitions in practice on Sunday in favor of Bushrod. Before training camp began, fans expected the starting Offensive Line unit would consist of Albert, Tunsil, Pouncey, Bushrod and James. However, that group has not been the starting group in practice.

Turner resurfaced a bit in today’s practice – this position battle might continue for a bit longer.

Training camp is used to give players a chance to compete. Also, with the Offensive Line, it’s a time to mix and match players, to see which players gel and play the best with each other. This can run a bit in contradiction with the fact that the best offensive lines in the league usually consist of players that have played together for a long time, because there are so many moving pieces, and the unit needs time to play and grow together in order to truly become a top O-Line unit.

With a new regime, and the need to properly evaluate, this contradiction has run a bit longer that we fans hoped.

I understand why Coach Adam Gase gave Turner and Thomas the chance to start first. These two players are considered veterans on the team compared to Bushrod and Tunsil, who are both new on the team. This was very slick of Gase, because he gave the team vets a realistic chance to show if they could be the guy, and at the same time he let Bushrod and Tunsil, two players that are more talented,  have to compete  to earn the starting position.

With Thomas and Turner not putting in that good of a performance in the first preseason game against the Giants, it appears that this now has opened the door for Tunsil and Bushrod to get more reps. These two should be able to successfully win the respective starting Guard positions, and the result should finally help our Offensive Line to improve to a more respectable level this year. Go Fins!!!