Jarvis Landry leaves big shoes to fill in Miami Dolphins’ offense

Now that the Miami Dolphins and the Jarvis Landry saga is over the next question is what will the Dolphins do now. It’s an open-ended question with no clear answer.

Jarvis Landry will officially become a Cleveland Brown on March 14 at 4:00 p.m. when the league new year kicks off and trades can be finalized. He will leave behind him a strong four years and a historical presence in Dolphins history.

We all know that the Browns are getting a great talent but what does Miami do now?

Most will look over the roster and wonder how Miami will pick up the loss in production. It’s hard to replace a player who consistently catches 100 passes a season and is always close if not over the 1,000 yard threshold. But for as solid as Landry is and was, Miami can take a better offensive approach.

The quarterback crutch is gone.

Miami quarterbacks have been quick to dump off the ball to Landry. In part due to offensive line issues but also because he is reliable. That tends to hurt plays and if reports are true that Landry kind of did his own thing at times, well that also had to be factored in.

At first glance it would seem that Jakeem Grant will be in line for more work with the offense. As the season started to close in last year Grant saw more looks and showed why the Dolphins drafted him in the mid-rounds. Grant will be the first person to get more reps during the off-season but can he make the strides to keep that spot?

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Grant isn’t the only player that will be stepping up and filling those shoes. Rashawn Scott and Isaiah Ford could also get looks on the inside. Of course the Dolphins will likely turn to the draft if not earlier in free agency.

It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins offense will open up more now that Landry is gone. Tannehill or whomever the quarterback will be will need to go through their progressions a little more carefully. Perhaps not immediately looking for Landry could allow the QB to see others that are open further downfield.

Miami also won’t miss the occasional person foul and unfortunately the last image of Landry as a Miami Dolphins will be walking into the tunnel after being ejected in week 17. Landry is a very good football player. Someday he may even be a Hall of Fame candidate but his price tag was simply too high for a position that can be filled much easier than others.

Consider this before we get angry over the Landry trade. Wes Welker was not replaceable when he left but then Davone Bess showed up. Bess wasn’t replaceable either but then Hartline showed up. Hartline wasn’t replaceable until Landry showed up. Someone will show up and it won’t cost the team $15 million a year.