The Miami Dolphins should go back-to-back offensive linemen to start the 2024 NFL Draft

I'm officially planting my flag for the Miami Dolphins to use their first two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft on offensive linemen.

We're about 36 hours away from the NFL Draft and we're at the part in the NFL Draft life cycle where folks who grind tape are trying to film-shame folks who don't and who also have opinions on something that nobody has anywhere near a firm handle on; who is going to pan out and who won't? Everybody wants to show that they said months ago that a player was going to be good so badly. It's hilarious as it is exhausting and lame but hey that's the world of content.

Anyway, the Miami Dolphins have an opportunity to address an issue that they haven't been able to solve for years and that's the offensive line.

I know Chris Grier thought he was being smug and cool when he famously said "You guys are probably more worried about the offensive line than we are." Hey Chris (as I'm sure he's reading this), guess what happened? You lost your starting center and left guard and had nothing behind it. Oh, and you're big ticket left tackle who had a big injury history before you traded for him, turns out he still gets gurt a ton.

But I'm not here to live in the past. I'm focused on the here and now while also having one eye on the future.

If the Miami Dolphins stay at #21 and take the best player available, I'd be smitten with that. I'd endorse that plan and probably wouldn't have any issue with it. It appears there is going to be a predictable overreaction by teams to draft mid-QBs in the 1st round, something you'd think teams would learn not to do. Bo Nix and JJ McCarthy going in the middle of the 1st is laughable to me but hey maybe I'll be dead wrong. Again, nobody knows how guys will perform once they get to their team.

If Grier and the gang have a non-offensive lineman on their board who is their best available player, go for it. That doesn't mean that I and the rest of society will agree. But I get the best player available argument.

Since the draft process started, I've subscribed to the idea that the Miami Dolphins should trade down and get an extra pick. Even since Grier did solid work and retooled the roster after losing Wilkins, Hunt, and Van Ginkel, I still want the Dolphins to trade down somewhere in the 1st round while gathering something like a 3rd round pick.

I think because of the run of teams drafting mid-QBs plus the draft being deep at wide receiver and offensive tackle, the Miami Dolphins are in a prime position no matter what they do to upgrade the offensive line. This is what I strongly feel the Miami Dolphins should do.

Think about it. If the Miami Dolphins go back-to-back offensive line, they can be set up with a young and talented offensive line for years. Austin Jackson is amazingly 24 and Aaron Brewer is 26.

If the Dolphins go offensive tackle at #21 and then go interior offensive line in the 2nd round, man alive that would make me feel all types of things. It wouldn't be flashy but it would be smart.

If you shore up the offensive line, you have a better chance of preserving Tua and this offense. I'm not saying receivers are a dime a dozen but honestly, I think the wide receiver position is turning into the running back position. There are so many quality receivers seemingly every year in the draft that you can wait on them and get a solid player in the later rounds. You can't wait on quality offensive linemen nearly as often. Sure, some late-round pick linemen end up being great. But you can say that at any position.

How often are the Dolphins and other teams looking for a guard or tackle near training camp and beyond only to see that teams don't let go of good offensive linemen? Every year is the answer.

Mike McDaniel can get Tua to perform well with a very good offensive line. I believe that. I don't think he can get Tua and the offense humming without a quality offensive line even if the receivers are excellent, which they are right now. Receivers want to play in this system in Miami so attracting playmakers once Tyreek Hill is gone, whenever that happens, doesn't concern me.

What concerns me is patching up the offensive line in the middle of the season and seeing guys like Liam Eichenberg on the bench and having to put him in to play center when he's never done it before. That worries me.

Fans of the Miami Dolphins would respect a plan.

A reason I would love for the Miami Dolphins to address the offensive line a real way with their first two picks is that it would indicate that the regime understands that they have and have had an issue with this group and they decided to take care of it in this draft.

Fans respect a vision or a direction even if it's not what they exactly wanted. Miami going all in on the offensive line indicates that the brass is looking to maintain the type of offense we saw last year.

It's the kind of thing like when you see a person with really good self-awareness. You may not love everything they do but you say "At least they know what they want and damn everyone else who tells them to stop doing what they're doing." The Dolphins committing to the offensive line is the kind of stance the fanbase would get behind.

Players the Miami Dolphins can get to bolster the offensive line.

At this point, I think most of us know what guys to expect to possibly be around at #21. I wrote last week that Troy Fautanu out of Washington would be a steal if he gets there. Graham Barton is another guy who is being reported the Dolphins are researching.

As for interior linemen to be had in the 2nd round, Jackson Powers-Johnson is my white whale. This guy can be our center for seven to eight years or more. Christian Haynes from Connecticut is a pure guard that we can all envision taking the Robert Hunt role, seamlessly, like Gil took Landfill's role in Beer Fest(go watch that movie, you'll respect yourself in the morning.)

And since we know that Chris Grier is a wheeling-dealing son of a gun, the idea of him trading to get closer to the beginning of the 2nd round to get one of the better interior offensive linemen is something that is a viable option that I would soundly support.

There are so many good players that it's hard for me to see how the Grier and the Dolphins mess this up. Unless they take a corner at #21 even if it is their best player available, there aren't many scenarios where I think I'd walk away annoyed and depleted. Now, that doesn't mean they can't surprise me and do a boneheaded move. It's the Miami Dolphins we're talking about. I just think there are enough quality players to pull off a good and smart early part of the draft.

If this is the last time I speak to y'all before the NFL Draft, drink and eat well during it. And remember, none of us know very much and we're hoping the folks whose job it is to figure out who is going to be good and who doesn't have it know what they're doing. Enjoy the draft and joy of thinking that the Miami Dolphins may have a real chance of taking the Lombardi next year and that whoever they pick was the correct pick. I know I'll be doing those mental gymnastics if that's the way it goes.

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