Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins need Harris to finish offensive makeover
Real missing ingredient for offense is a productive RB who can take pressure off receiving corps
Playmakers are finally here. Will Fuller’s signing delivered on Dolphins general manager Chris Grier’s pledge to add playmakers to Miami’s roster this offseason, at least from an offensive standpoint. With maybe one exception.
While Fuller has never been a 1,000-yard receiver in his previous five seasons, he’s one of the NFL’s most feared deep threats.
The soon-to-be 27-year-old is the type of receiver who occupies a safety and spaces out the field for everyone else. Think Kenny Stills, but better. Put a healthy Fuller — and his health has been an issue throughout his career — with the rest of Miami’s arsenal, and the Dolphins no longer reek of receiver desperation heading into next month’s NFL draft.
DeVante Parker contributed 1,202 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019, the one season he’s played all 16 games in his NFL career. He’s proved he’s a difference-maker when healthy, which isn’t often.
Preston Williams dominated training camp in 2020,
making Byron Jones look like an undrafted rookie before struggling with his own consistency. He was finally getting into a groove, then suffered a foot injury in Miami’s win over the Arizona Cardinals in November.
Albert Wilson led the NFL in yards after catch for half of the 2018 season before suffering his hip injury. Let’s hope the season Wilson spent away from football last year as a COVID-19 opt-out assisted his healing.
Allen Hurns, who has started 56 games during his six-year NFL career, has scored 25 touchdowns during that time. He’s still around.
And so is tight end Mike Gesicki, who caught 50 or more passes each of the past two seasons and has contributed 11 touchdowns.
And that doesn’t even include Lynn Bowden Jr., who showed promise as a rookie last season; Jakeem Grant, a return specialist; and Robert Foster, a third-year veteran the Dolphins signed this week.
Add it all up and Miami has more pass catchers than it has available roster spots, which is a good thing.
The biggest concern moving forward is whether all those passing-game options for Tua Tagovailoa will be healthy for the majority of the 2021 season. If that is the case, the Dolphins have seemingly fixed their passing-game issues without using a first-round pick to add another playmaker, which remains a viable option.
However, allow me to make the argument why it should be an Alabama tailback and not one of their speedy receivers.
Here’s an often-ignored truth about the Dolphins.
It has been Miami’s stagnant rushing attack that has held this offense back in recent years.
Fuller’s signing should allow Miami’s focus to shift to the run-game struggles, which have been consistent since 2017. That’s when the franchise decided to banish Jay Ajayi, the catalyst for Miami’s 2016 playoff push, because of his battle of egos with former coach Adam Gase.
The Dolphins’ rushing attack has been a disaster ever since, and it is not because Miami hasn’t had talent in the backfield.
Arizona figured out how to turn Kenyan Drake into a 1,000yard producer and 10-touchdown scorer last season after the Dolphins traded him to the Cardinals for a late-round pick that turned into Matt Breida.
Miami seemingly blamed the run-game problems on the offensive line and renovated the unit with two free agent additions and three early-round draftees last offseason.
But the struggles continued as a former Pro Bowl pick (Jordan Howard) signed last offseason couldn’t get out of second gear, and the big-play producer the Dolphins traded for, Breida, consistently misfired.
Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed, two former University of Washington standouts who propped up last year’s rushing attack, collectively contributed 903 rushing yards and eight touchdown on 217 carries. And there’s a possibility Gaskin and Ahmed could do more and that Malcolm Brown, a free agent Miami signed this week, could thrive in this offseason.
But what if they don’t and can’t?
The first letter in the RPO offense the Dolphins use stands for “run,” and its because the run game sets the table for every other element of this offensive style.
A Run-Pass-Option offense doesn’t work well without a reliable run game.
That’s why Miami should aim to improve the running game to rank among the league’s 10 best.
Former Alabama standout Najee Harris can make that happen. Harris is what the Dolphins need to complete this offensive makeover because he’s the kind of talent they have lacked since Ajayi.
Harris, who owns most of the Crimson Tide’s rushing records, is as close to 2,000-yard-rusher Derrick Henry as it gets. A powerful open-field runner with good hands is exactly what Miami needs to serve as the engine of this offense.
Other tailbacks can help the Dolphins perk up the running game. But Harris has the talent to serve as the catalyst for the Dolphins’ entire offense, and that’s the type of first-round selection that turns a rebuilding team like Miami into a perennial playoff participant.