Miami Dolphins: Success of offensive line hinges on 2020 rookie class
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins have focused on their offensive line the last few years but it was in 2020 that they really went all in. Success depends on their growth.
In 2019, the Dolphins drafted Michael Dieter in round three but didn’t address the line again until round six where Isaiah Prince was drafted. He didn’t last long in Miami and didn’t improve the line. The same could be said for Dieter who had a spectacular first year and is now more or less a depth player.
Miami added Ted Karras and Ereck Flowers in the 2020 offseason that made the line a little better but it wasn’t really built for success as Miami went into the draft with a focus of fixing the line problems.
The 2020 NFL Draft provided the Dolphins an opportunity to get better quickly. Austin Jackson was taken in round one, Robert Hunt in round two, and Solomon Kindley in round four. All three started their rookie seasons and as expected, each had good games and bad.
This year, the Dolphins are relying on the core of last year’s draft to make a big jump in their development. They added Liam Eichenberg in round two and he will also compete for a starting job.
Miami has plenty of depth but the success of the Dolphins offense will rest on the development of last year’s rookie or the Dolphins offense will not succeed. Miami can add all the WR help, TE help, or RB help for Tua Tagovailoa but if the team can’t win in the trench, it won’t matter.
The good news is that this year the Dolphins linemen will get a full off-season of work instead of Zoom classwork and limited training camp with no pre-season games.
Miami’s starting offensive line will be in flux this year. It’s not clear who will start where exactly. We know that Matt Skura will be the starting center and we know that Austin Jackson will be on the left side but Hunt could kick inside to guard and Eichenberg could shift to the tackle position.
Solomon Kindley needs to work on his consistency and footwork but he should be the starting guard on either the right or left side. Miami also has Jesse Davis who can start at four of the five positions on the line. D.J. Fluker will also get a camp competition for a starting job.
Miami will likely keep nine or at most 10 offensive lineman to start the year and those players should be Hunt, Kindley, Eichenberg, Skura, Fluker, Davis, Jackson, Dieter, and Pankey. While Miami has good depth on paper, again, the success and failure will be decided on the development of last year’s draft class.