Fixing the Offensive Line with Draft Picks

Jimmy Bourbon

10 years ago

The Dolphins decided to wait until the 4^th 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 4^th 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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