Meaning of Deiter demotion uncertain

DAVIE — Has Michel Deiter been overhyped?

Does the rookie offensive guard, who had started every game he’s played in since his high school days until Sunday, need a slice of humble pie?

Or has the Miami Dolphins’ 2019 third-round pick simply hit the rookie wall?

The Dolphins coaches aren’t saying exactly why Keaton Sutherland, an undrafted rookie Miami claimed off the waiver wire in September, unseated the former Wisconsin standout for the starting left guard spot.

But they have left a trail of breadcrumbs.

Miami’s offensive line has been terrible all season, and Deiter has been no exception to the unit’s struggles as the Dolphins are on pace to become the worst rushing team in franchise history. In addition, the team is ranked 29th in the NFL in sacks allowed per passing play.

If an early draft pick can get benched for a rough week of practice, so can everyone else is the message Deiter’s demotion sent before last Sunday’s 22-21 loss to the New York Jets.

“We need consistency out of all positions,” offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea said Tuesday when asked to explain Deiter’s demotion.

“All positions need to try to strive for consistency and that’s what we’re trying to do. And Michael is certainly someone who has taken the approach of going to the practice field and trying to get better and improve every day. He just needs to work to try to be as consistent as he can be.”

According to coach Brian Flores, Deiter’s demotion centered around

making the collective offensive line better, and that meant putting Sutherland, a former Texas A&M standout, between left tackle Julien Davenport, who showed drastic improvement last Sunday, and Daniel Kilgore, the Dolphins’ veteran center and team captain.

Sutherland allowed four quarterback pressures in his second NFL start but didn’t give up a sack.

Deiter wasn’t the only Dolphins rookie who got benched against the Jets. Shaq Calhoun, an undrafted rookie who had started the previous two games, got leapfrogged on the depth chart by Evan Boehm, whom he previously unseated for the right guard spot.

But Deiter’s draft status and Wisconsin pedigree has him viewed as a building block for the rebuilding franchise.

The first move offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo made when he took over after Pat Flaherty was fired early in training camp was to move Deiter into a starter’s role. The vision was to invest in his upside and have Deiter learn from his struggles.

So far it sounds as if DeGuglielmo hasn’t liked the return on his investment.

“He’s a rookie trying to find his way in this business,” said DeGuglielmo, who is in his 14th season coaching NFL offensive linemen. “It’s hard for rookies to do that.

“I don’t want to overextend what he’s done, or overinflate his production or lack of production one way or another. It takes a while to truly get a good read of an offensive lineman.

“It’s a little different. You’ve got to weigh all of the pieces together.”

The Dolphins, who have used nine different combinations of starting offensive linemen in 13 games, will likely have the offensive linemen continue to compete to determine who plays what spot. So Deiter should have a chance to redeem himself.

He’ll need to do so. Otherwise we can put him on the franchise’s substantial pile of wasted draft picks used on offensive linemen.

Two troubling aspects about the Dolphins’ draft history over the past two decades center around that group.

The first is that the only time Miami has hit a home run with a first-round pick used the past two decades was when it selected an offensive lineman in 2004 (Vernon Carey), 2008 (Jake Long), 2011 (Mike Pouncey), 2014 (Ja’Wuan James) and 2016 (Laremy Tunsil).

And the second troubling aspect about the Dolphins’ draft history focuses on how poorly the team has done selecting offensive linemen outside of the first round.

Todd Wade, who was selected in the second round of the 2000 draft, was the last respectable starter Miami took on the second or third days of the draft.

Shawn Draper, Brandon Winey, Seth McKinney, Wade Smith, Taylor Whitley, Tim Provst, Rex Hadnot, Tony Pape, Anthony Alabi, Joe Toledo, Samson Satele, Shawn Murphy, Donald Thomas, Andrew Gardner, John Jerry, Jonathan Martin, Dallas Thomas, Billy Turner, Jamil Douglas and Isaac Asiata were mediocre at best.

Let’s hope we don’t have to add Deiter’s name to that disappointing list.