Why does the Miami Dolphins entire offensive line look so bad?
By Marco Moor
I can see how bad the O-line is, you can see it. But what is the cause? Why does the Miami Dolphins entire offensive line suck so bad?
Is it coaching, is it scouting, is it draft status, or is it scheme? I wanted to do some research to gain a little perspective as to why the Miami Dolphin’s O-line is so horrible. First, I went to pro football focus to see exactly how our O-line graded out.
Turns out our eyes have not deceived us, the Dolphins have the worst graded line in the NFL according to pff.com and the article by Sam Monson titled ‘Final 2021 NFL Offensive Line Rankings’.
Secondly, I wanted to see what the overall draft status was of our line compared to another higher-ranking team. I choose New England because I believe they can coach well and, hate him as I may, Billicheat has an excellent eye for talent.
New England’s O-line was ranked 9 overall.
The draft status and pff grade of New England’s line follows:
NE First round draft pick (23 overall) L T Isaiah Wynn Grade: 74.5
NE Sixth round draft pick LG Tedd Karras Grade: 73.0
NE Undrafted Free agent C David Andrews Grade: 77.5
NE Fourth round draft pick RG Shaq Mason Grade: 86.3
Trade for using a late round pick RT Trent Brown Grade: 78.3
What PFF’s Sam Monson said about them:
"The New England Patriots are one of the few NFL teams with both a good starting five on the offensive line and backup talent on the bench. Michael Onwenu boasts an 88.6 PFF grade since entering the league, playing across multiple positions, but the team benched him this season once everybody got healthy. Trent Brown allowed nine pressures in nine games and has still never recorded a poor pass-blocking season in the NFL. Shaq Mason at right guard was back to being one of the best run-blocking players in the league, allowing 15 pressures in 15 games."
Miami’s O-line was ranked 32 overall.
The draft status and pff grade of Miami’s line follows:
MIA Second round pick (34 overall) LT Liam Eichenberg Grade: 50.7
MIA First round pick (18 overall) LG Austin Jackson Grade: 49.9
MIA Third round pick C Michael Deiter Grade: 60.6
MIA Second round pick (39 overall) RG Robert Hunt Grade: 67.4
Undrafted free agent acquisition RT Jesse Davis Grade: 52.5
What PFF’s Sam Monson said about them:
"Miami’s offensive line surrendered a league-leading 235 pressures this season and recorded the worst pass-blocking efficiency score in the NFL. The unit did this despite being well protected by a quarterback getting rid of the ball quickly and by the team running the third-most RPOs in the league. The offensive line was run blocking on almost one out of every five passing plays, removing the chance of being exposed in pass protection. Miami gambled that their young players would develop this season and the line would improve, but that unquestionably backfired."
New England has one first-rounder and the next highest is a fourth-rounder invested in their O-line. Miami has a first, two seconds, and a third invested in an offensive line that is ranked last in the league. The Dolphins did not have a single lineman grade higher than 68 and New England did not have a single lineman grade lower than a 73. What the _ _!
Researching this article has made me so angry at our ineptitude with regards to the offensive line that I want heads to roll. Ahh, but whose head? Who do we as fans get mad at for this?
It goes back to the same ole’ questions. Does Grier suck, does our scouting department suck, did coaching suck, or was the scheme not a good fit for the players we drafted?
I’m throwing out the scheme because being drafted that high you should be able to get a better PFF grade regardless of the scheme. So, the culprits are coaching or scouting/drafting.
Either way, this type of organizational malfeasance has got to be unacceptable to the higher-ups; aka Grier SHOULD BE fuming.
light. Related Story. Late round O-line prospects
If our scouts are not good, we should double the salary of offensive line scouts from any other team and fire ours – the entire staff?
Is it possible that our previous offensive coaches were so bad they screwed up talented players? Is that part of the reason they decided to part ways with Flores?
As a fan from the outside looking in, I believe it was coaching (although, if you told me the players just suck, I’d believe that too). I’m not sure who to blame soo…
As of right now, I have two solutions.
1. Don’t draft another offensive lineman (because it seems as if doing so is useless anyway). And, 2. If the O-line doesn’t have a rapid improvement under new coaching, Grier needs to fire himself and all his O-line scouts too!
Let us all hope better coaching and a different scheme can improve our O-line play! Hey, it can’t get any worse…. can it?