Miami Dolphins banking on coaches to fix offensive line rather than talent

You can’t overhaul the Miami Dolphins offensive line, not with the draft investment and youth of the current roster, but relying on coaching is a dangerous game.

Dolphins fans want change. In 2021, the Dolphins offensive line was last in the NFL and the play on the field was consistently bad. Yet fans want to see it upended, tore down, and rebuilt. It would be nice if it were that easy but in reality, it isn’t.

Some fans want a new center, others a new right tackle and left tackle. Still others are not happy with only Connor Williams being the lone guard. I get it. Miami’s offensive line has been battered and abused for a very long time. I remember how thrilled fans were when they made a move and landed Brandon Albert. I remember how fanatical fans were when Laremy Tunsil dropped to the team in the draft.

I also remember how both players were moved on from and that was the last time the offensive line was even average. Naturally, fans expect more. Chris Grier? Well, he has tried and thus far failed.

Austin Jackson, Michael Dieter, Liam Eichenberg, Robert Hunt, Solomon Kindley, all drafted players in the first four rounds. Ereck Flowers a high priced veteran addition that was jettisoned a year later. Matt Skura, D.J. Fluker, veteran attempts to add depth that didn’t work out. And of course, Jesse Davis.

Miami entered the off-season needing to protect Tua Tagovailoa. They needed to develop a running game. Miami added running backs to help that happen. They added full backs for Mike McDaniel to work with, and then, well, they added Connor Williams.

There is speculation that Miami is going to bounce him out to tackle despite the fact he has thrived for four years at guard. There is speculation that the team could still target one of the remaining tackles in the market but let’s be real, at what point does signing an aging veteran or a career back-up or even a bargain player really fix the problem?

Miami isn’t spending any of their long since spent $70 million cap space on a top free agent tackle. No, the Dolphins are banking on the coaching staff to fix the offensive line problems. Miami believes that Frank Smith, the OC, and Matt Applebaum the Oline coach, can make this unit better, but how much better? Can they make this unit go from a bottom dweller to a top 10 unit? Probably not in one year.

Across social media fans are excitedly bristling at the notion of Mike McDaniels and his coaching staff. Frank Smith is going to make the offense 100% better and Applebaum is going to bring a new exciting zone blocking scheme that will showcase the talent of those players.

Or so we all hope and some fully believe. The truth? Mike McDaniel has never been a head coach and rarely is it that a new HC develops a team in one year. Many will cite the fact the last two years Miami came one game away from the postseason but Miami is a lot further away than many think. Miami played a soft schedule in 2020 and in 2021, their 7 game winning streak, while impressive, was against teams they should have been able to beat. “But if they had beaten the Jaguars they would have made the playoffs” they say. And Brian Flores would still be the head coach.

No one knows how well McDaniel is going to be and no one knows if the new offensive staff can make Austin Jackson and Liam Eichenberg better than they were last year and they need to be a lot better. Are the Dolphins banking on Jesse Davis to take a step forward after basically being an interior backup lineman? That seems to be exactly what the Dolphins are banking on, or at least so far.

There is very good talent still on the market and many of them are better than what Miami has now but if the Dolphins feel they can coach the players to be better, then they better hope they are right. It could be a gamble that ends their season a lot earlier than they hope.