Last season, the Phins’ offensive line unit was by far the worst and least productive in the history of the team. They gave up a Miami Dolphins record of 58 sacks, and there is no way Ryan Tannehill can be a successful QB if this trend continues. As a result the Dolphins wisely decided to invest in the offensive line this off-season, and hopefully they will be better, but at the moment there is still plenty of questions.
The Phins signed one of the best available left tackles in the game in Brandon Albert. He is definitely an improvement over Jonathan Martin. But don’t forget Miami traded for Baltimore Ravens tackle Bryant McKinnie, and he did a serviceable job at left tackle for the Phins at the end of last year. Brandon Albert is definitely an upgrade, however, my biggest worry is now that since he finally got his big payday, will he slack off or continue to play at a pro bowl level? In the past, the Kansas City Chiefs often complained that Albert took plays off and was a bit on the lazy side. Unfortunately, this is not a good sign, since these types of players tend to really slack off once they finally get their big payday. So it will be very interesting to see how well Albert actually does perform this year.
Last year Tyson Clabo was the Dolphins’ Right Tackle and John Jerry was one of the Phins’ Guards. Both players played terribly last season so it was good that the Phins did not resign these two players, but it’s hard to say that we will definitely have players who can replace them and be an upgrade at the position. The Dolphins used their first pick in the draft to select Ja’Wuan James and he is penciled in as the starting right tackle. Even though most football gambling fans think he will be a solid player in the NFL, the fact is that he is a Rookie and no one knows if his excellent play in college will carry over into the pros. Billy Turner was also drafted this off-season and he will be competing with Sam Brenner for the starting Right Guard position. Again there is no guarantee that Turner will be as successful in the NFL as he was at the small-school North Dakota. So the jury is still out on these two rookies this season.
The other guard will be Shelley Smith who the Dolphins signed from the Rams. The bottom line is that Smith has been a career backup in this league. So to me there is a huge question mark on Smith, because he has been in this league 5 years and he hasn’t been able to play well enough to warrant a starting job. So time will tell if Smith is really the answer the call at left guard.
Lastly Mike Pouncey is still our starting Center, and we all know that he is very good. However, since he was involved in the bully scandal, he still has to fulfill his required NFL counseling, and there is still the chance that Pouncey may get suspended for a few games.
So after all these new additions there is no guarantee that this line will be improved. Personally I think that the character and work ethic of some of these new players will definitely be an improvement from what we previously had on this offensive line unit. I also believe that the two rookies will both start and do a good job, but there will be some growing pains to be had, especially in the beginning of the season. But at the end of the day, we will not truly know if these new offensive linemen will be better improvement on last year’s group until the season is underway.