Miami Dolphins offensive line needs a lot more work before seasons start

The 2022 season is underway with training camp, and the Miami Dolphins offense has been flying. But the offensive line has not.

When HC Mike McDaniel was hired from the 49ers, many Dolphins fans doubted him for his looks and lack of experience. But since OTA’s began one thing has been certain, McDaniel brought all the Shanahan tricks from San Francisco. However, the offensive line is still this team’s Achilles heel.

I know many well-respected reporters have acknowledged that the Dolphins’ offensive line looks better, but better doesn’t mean good.

I’ve kept a very close eye on Dolphins training camp to ensure I’m picking up on all the nuances as they unfold. But on Saturday I made an appearance in person so I could see what the team looked like with my own eyes.

Last year when I was at camp I noticed very early on the disaster that the OL was going to be, but I don’t think any of us would’ve guessed Miami was going to have the worst OL in football for 17 weeks straight.

This year the offensive line holds up a bit better, but the improvement is very inconsistent. Not enough for me to say there is a clear improvement that will be maintained all season.

There is an improvement for the Miami Dolphins OL, but it’s inconsistent. What does that mean?

for every 4-5 pass plays during scrimmages or 11 vs 11, there would be 1-2 reps where the OL gives the QB actual time to read the field and throw. For the other 60-80% of the reps, I saw the defensive line break the pocket with ease and force the QB to throw it away, or misfire to the first target they see.

Sometimes, the offense got lucky and managed to get a completion off. So yes there’s an improvement for the Miami Dolphins OL, but a 25% chance of getting a decent pocket is not a good number to work with for any QB.

But, there is one aspect where the OL has found their rhythm: the play-action game.

I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of the clips from the Miami Dolphins training camp where QB Tua Tagovailoa is throwing dimes every day, if you look closely most of those big plays come from play action.

If you look even closer, you’ll see that on all those plays, the OL gave Tua time to read the field and set up his throws.

Nevertheless, the Dolphins can’t afford an OL that can only perform decently off play-action, they need to be able to hold on drop-backs, and from the shotgun as well. An offensive line can have 1 weak spot and still be good.

But no way there’s only one point of strength and people want to say there is a clear improvement.

Player notes:

• Terron Armstead is the real deal and leader of that OL, a lot of the improvement seen is owed to him. But the talent gap between him and the next man on that line is glaring.
• Austin Jackson looks better and Omar Kelly said he looks like a starting NFL talent now, from what I saw in person I wouldn’t go that far (yet).
• Connor Williams holds his own blocking, but he has had a lot of problems with high snaps, Tua and Williams have stayed after practice often to work on this issue.
• Liam Eichenberg I don’t have a clear grade on, incomplete for now.
• Robert Hunt will be very good this year and gives the right tackle spot a bit of a safety blanket with his versatility and Football IQ to improvise off the snap.

The rest of the guys I don’t have a clear grade on, but they did not stand out for anything good for now. Will the Miami Dolphins figure out their OL problem before the season starts? 

We’ll see, follow me on Twitter to get the latest updates from camp @3rdnJuan.

Video courtesy of @BillFromBoynton on Twitter.