Phins in PRIME Position to Draft O-line Help!
Has Grier finally recognized the need to upgrade the blockers?
Most Phins fans knew the Miami Dolphins needed help on the offensive line at least some degree going into this season and even more saw the need by season’s end. Heading into the offseason we all agree that Miami must boost the O-line to some degree and that’s a good thing because Phins fans are so divided on plenty of other narratives.
The good news is Chris Grier seems to finally know this as well. Hopefully Grier uses a chunk of his ten draft picks to get the offensive line right.
This hope though comes in a two-parts: first part is that he actually drafts enough offensive linemen to fix the issues, and the second part is that he drafts well. Unfortunately, you can bet with the best pay per head that neither of these are a guaranteed given Grier’s history.
Will the Dolphins 13th be Lucky?!
The great news is that this draft will cement Grier’s ability to evaluate offensive blockers given all the talent out there. If Grier screws this up, then it should be clear to every fan that there’s no hope for him as our GM.
The Miami Dolphins will likely have a very good opportunity to find a high-end offensive lineman in the 1st and 2nd round. Will #13 be lucky for the Phins? I’m near certain the Patriots will take an offensive linemen with their pick, but the teams after them until ours could easily head elsewhere. So at least one of these players should be available with the Dolphins 13th pick: Kelvin Banks, Wyatt Milum, and Will Campbell.
I’m even seeing in Daniel Jeremiah mocking guards Armand Membou from Missouri to San Fran and Alabama’s Tyler Booker to the Bears. If this shot in the dark mock comes true it would hurt the Dolphins in the 2nd round to find a gem O-linemen, it would put a ton of help sitting there with our 1st Round pick. Of course, this is a mock draft, and mock draft rarely ever play out correctly especially ones this early. Still, even if these guards are good enough to rise that high, it would put given the Phins a near lock at a Top 3 tackle.
Kelvin Banks Jr. is getting pegged to the Dolphins a lot!
Kelvin Banks is rated about the top 3 offensive linemen in the draft and on the surface appears the perfect fit for the Dolphins. Banks is evaluated as able to play tackle or guard and we need both, so he would help us this season and going forward. Possibly he could start at guard and maybe work to tackle allowing us flexibility on the line this season. He’s a stellar athlete and could help our outside run game and pass blocking a ton. With Austin Jackson coming off an injury and not the best tackle in the world, he could help us this season in production and help us move off Jackson going forward if he continues to be injured and underperform.
Also, the Senior Bowl has a bunch of offensive linemen impressing with Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan, OT, Oregon State, Hollin Pierce, OT, Rutgers, Esa Pole, OT, Washington State, and Marcus Wehr, OG, Montana State getting noted. This sure seems to be a great year to need offensive linemen.
It’s still so early, so the evaluation process is still underway. Bottom line: this is the perfect draft to fix our offensive line, and Grier has all the ammo he needs. The question is, will Chris Grier handle this draft right? We’ll see. Go Phins!!!
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