Miami Dolphins will benefit from interior offensive line competitions

The Miami Dolphins needed to make serious upgrades along the offensive line and now find themselves stacked through the middle.

After failing to protect either Ryan Fitzpatrick or Josh Rosen in 2019, the Miami Dolphins worked hard to address the weakest area of the team.

A concerted effort to add veterans and young, promising prospects through the draft now sees the Dolphins having a curious conundrum at the interior of their offensive line, with potentially too many players now vying for starting spots.

Michael Deiter, who played in 15 games during his rookie campaign in 2019, is the only player returning from last season that has a legitimate chance of keeping his role as a starter.

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Deiter, selected in the third round (78th overall) in the 2019 Draft, will reportedly move over to the right side of the interior and compete to remain a starter on the team.

He will have some tough competition though, as he could see a 2020 rookie push for playing time if the original plan for him doesn’t work out.

Robert Hunt, taken in the second round (36th overall) of this year’s draft out of Louisiana-Lafayette, is expected to compete with Jesse Davis for the Dolphins’ starting Right Tackle position, but many experts view him as being more suited to an interior role at the NFL level.

If Hunt steps inside, he will be a direct threat to Deiter’s position on the team. It would be a disappointment to see Deiter lose out just one season after being draft, but it could present the team with some solid depth on the right side as a result.

Danny Isidora isn’t likely to remain this year, with Deiter and Hunt both expected to keep him off the field, making him a trade candidate ahead of the 2020 season.

The center position has received a necessary upgrade in the form of Ted Karras, a veteran that started 15 games for the New England Patriots in 2019, giving the team a guy that should provide some stability for Fitzpatrick in the short-term. Keaton Sutherland will sit behind Karras, but won’t provide much competition for the starting job.

On the left side, the Dolphins will be hoping that Ereck Flowers can continue his upswing after an improved season with the Washington Redskins that saw him moved inside for the first time in his professional career.

Originally drafted by the New York Giants as a tackle, Flowers struggled greatly on the outside before finding himself in the capital. When moved inside, he had better protection around him and wasn’t relied on to cover edge rushers.

He was brought to Miami to be a reliable veteran presence and protect the quarterback more efficiently, but he too could face a competitor for his assumed starting role in the form of Solomon Kindley.

Kindley, a fourth-round (111th overall) selection out of Georgia in this year’s draft, has qualities that could see him become a starting guard in the NFL.

Graded as a backup ahead of the draft, Kindley has received plenty of praise from former head coach Kirby Smart and could potentially push Flowers if the veteran comes in assuming the starting role is his.

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The depth along the interior is something that should benefit the Miami Dolphins greatly, with more competition brewing and building a culture that will see the hardest workers and performers earn their playing time.

The veterans, in this case, Deiter and Flowers, are not 100% secured in their positions, with some promising and intriguing prospects joining the roster ready to compete for their dreams.

With more competition and higher quality along the interior, the Dolphins should be able to protect their quarterbacks far better than in 2019 and start to build a foundation that the team can build around in the long-run.

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