Possible Dark Horse Starter At Guard

With new bodies on board, and others in their second year of the system, will someone end up Dark Horse at Guard?

The most accomplished Guard is a Dark horse

On paper, the Miami Dolphins starting Offensive unit says this offense looks extremely solid.

Ryan Tannehill seems to really grasp Coach Gases’ offense, and he should only get better this season. The Dolphins also arguably have one of the best and deepest Wide Receiver units in the entire league, a top Running Back in Jay Ajayi,  and the Dolphins even stocked up on veteran Tight Ends, over the off-season.

From a skills standpoint, they are locked and loaded.

So, I guess all is right with the world, and we should expect a Top 5 offense… Right?!

Well, who am I kidding–not you. You know as well as I do, it all comes down to the offensive line, especially the interior–again.

Crazy, how another season is all riding on three positions: Center and two Guards.

Are Larsen and Bushrod the given starters? Or is there a Dark Horse?

If Mike Pouncey can stay healthy–it’s a substantial if, even with the stem cell procedure he received– then we should have an upgrade on the offensive line… even with mediocre play at Guard.

However, the big question mark is (after Pouncey’s health and depth a Offensive Tackle), will the weak link at both Guard positions continue? Or will someone step up and bring good play this season?

The Dolphins brought back Jermon Bushrod and signed Ted Larsen, which are currently the “penciled in” starting Offensive Guards at the moment.

PFF was not a fan of Bushrod last season and graded him out as one of the worst Guards in the league in the run game. However, Gase felt quite the opposite and thought he graded out as one of Miami’s best lineman. Of course, the staff knows better than PFF about the extent of his injury, with which he played through much of the season. They are also more knowledgeable at extrapolating what the learning curve did to his performance.

But, despite what we keep hearing, does the staff have him a lock at starter? No, they don’t.

So, someone else may end up at Right Guard.

Urbik, Asiata, or Steen are candidates for starter at Guard

Then there’s Larsen, who has been a career backup, with stints of starting experience. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to get excited about from his resume. He has been practicing both Guard spots and Center in OTA’s. He has experience in both positions. This could simply be Miami love of flexibility, or because they know he, like Bushrod, isn’t a lock for starter.

The supposed second level of Offensive Guards are considered starter wannabes: Kraig Urbik, Anthony Steen, and Isaac Asiata.

The early favorite on a pay per head review site for a surprise starting Guard is Asiata. However, during OTA’s last week, which should be taken with a grain of salt since there was no contact or pads, Asiata appeared to be lost and not quick enough to deal with the Defensive Lineman in pass protect. Asiata is only a Rookie, so counting on him early to look like the probably is a bit of stretch.

This is where Phinsnews splits:

Surprises happen, will have one at Guard?

I believe the more likely dark horse candidate to earn one of the starting Offensive Guard positions is Steen, who started at Alabama in College, which is not something to dismiss. He’s been in the league since 2014 with the Arizona Cardinals, but he never received any game time snaps. It was not until last year that Miami signed Steen. Due to injuries, he was thrown into the starting lineup at Center, where a bulk of his snaps were played at. Steen has a massive lower frame and bulked up even more in the offseason. Coaches have already said that Steen put on 10 pounds of muscle this summer. Not bad. This clearly shows that Steen has been working very hard to get stronger, and wants to get better.

But even still, he’s slightly on the smaller side at 6’3” and 315+ LBS.

Yet, this is where later round Guards start to make their move into the lineup. So once the pads come on, it’ll be very interesting to see if that extra muscle becomes a factor and helps him to leap frog to starter. In addition, Steen is still young, so he has room to continue to develop. Maybe a second year in Miami’s system and blocking scheme may make the difference.

“Since I’m the guy who started Phinsnews, you agree with me,” Jimmy.

M.J., on the other hand, likes Urbik as the Dark horse for Right Guard–history over potential. In Urbik’s last extended campaign with the Bills, where he ran a similar Zone Stretch system, PFF gave Urbik an overall rating of +9.3. It was the ninth highest grade for a Right Guard with over 900 snaps. The analytics site graded him out at +5.1 in pass blocking and +3.0 in run blocking. Both grades are respectable considering a 0.0 is considered to be average play. In his 1,162 snaps, Urbik was only called for a penalty once. Yet, it wasn’t all rosy, at times Urbik was stood up on run plays, and PFF held him responsible for two sacks, five quarterback hits and 13 quarterback hurries.

Urbik is a massive man at 6’5” and 324LBS, who was also agile enough to play respectably well at Center. The downside of his frame is he’s top heavy, and that can cause him to lose leverage and lean. And of course, his ceiling has likely been witnessed… if he could recapture 2013, it would dwarf any Right Guard play seen in Miami in some time, but it’s been a while and there’s no guarantees.

Well, what do the rest of you guys think about a Dark Horse at Guard? And let us hear about how wrong M.J. is… just break it to him gently.

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