Kelly: Dolphins must fix O-line to help Tua
Unit’s struggles could hurt Tua’s development
Have we learned nothing from the Ryan Tannehill era, and his redemption tour in Tennessee?
Tannehill’s struggles in Miami can be attributed to many things, but a significant part of the reasons he’s thrived with the Titans has to do with Tennessee possessing things the Dolphins rarely gave him.
Tannehill has a physical and reliable running game, and a consistent offensive line that protects him. He has used both to deliver upper-echelon stats and playoff wins for the Titans.
Hopefully Dolphins general manager Chris Grier is paying attention because Miami is seemingly repeating the same mistakes the franchise made in seven seasons with Tannehill.
Tua Tagovailoa throws with accuracy and anticipation. He possesses uncanny pocket presence.
Those are all traits Tannehill still doesn’t have.
Imagine if Tagovailoa got a reliable running game, and solid protection.
Tagovailoa is going to be fine — if — the Dolphins can keep their relatively small (listed, some would say generously, as 6-1, 217 pounds) and durability-challenged quarterback healthy.
And — if — the Dolphins can establish a rushing attack to release some of the pressure placed on the second-year quarterback’s shoulders.
Both those ifs involve a good offensive line.
While it might seem like an overreaction to chastise this team for Saturday’s preseason game against the Bears and last week’s performances in their joint practices in Chicago — especially since the Bears possess one of the most physical front sevens in the NFL — what we saw in the trenches shouldn’t be ignored.
Miami’s offensive line got bullied in Chicago.
The Dolphins couldn’t run the ball effectively against the Bears on Saturday, averaging 2.7 yards on the first half ’s 18 carries, and failed to score in a goal-line situation in the first half.
And last year’s rookies — Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt and Solomon Kindley — got pushed around plenty by the Bears all of last week.
“Robert Quinn had a good like jump-chop kind of swim karate-chop move. It was the most efficient I’ve seen it done before,” said Jackson, the left tackle Miami used the 18th pick in
the 2020 NFL draft to select. “It was good to go against that and learn how to beat it really. I’m just taking away a lot from those guys, really.”
It’s early, and hopefully all three improve. But what if they don’t, and last season’s struggles continue this year?
But that’s not the only issue with this offensive line.
The center play has been just decent. Is that the goal?
The fact Miami didn’t properly address that important position of need properly in the offseason remains a head-scratcher. And now fans are left to crossing their fingers with center Michael Deiter, and guard Liam Eichenberg, the former Notre Dame standout the Dolphins traded up to acquire in the second round of this year’s draft who suffered a shoulder injury last week.
With Jesse Davis seemingly on a snap count because of knee swelling he’s experienced since the spring, there has to be some worry whether the unit’s most veteran player will be able to protect at a high level for an entire 17-game regular season.
If not, it’ll expose the fact that Miami’s depth on the offensive line is lacking, which Saturday’s game showcased.
Hopefully this week’s joint practices against an Atlanta Falcons defensive front that has historically had little bite isn’t as bad.
The best shot Miami has to patch up this unit is for Grier to make a move similar to the one the Bears did on Saturday, signing a grizzled veteran like former Pro Bowl tackle Jason Peters.
There are decent veterans still available like Russell Okung or Mitchell Schwartz who simply just want to skip training camp. Grier needs to find one.
If not, trade for a disgruntled or slightly overpaid lineman on another team. Or add a couple young linemen offensive line coach Lemuel Jeanpierre wants to develop when teams trim down their training camp roster to 53-man players on Aug. 31.
Keeping things status quo shouldn’t be an option because history hasn’t been kind to this organization when it comes to that unit the past two decades.
And the last thing Tagovailoa can afford is for his offensive line to allow unnecessary pressure consistently.