New O-line coach could be long-term solution
The new gatekeeper/ mentor for the Dolphins’ offensive line might have the most challenging job of any assistant:
Elevating the play of four young players who could be starters ( Austin Jackson, Rob Hunt,
Liam Eichenberg and Solomon Kindley), and making sure the starting center ( Matt Skura)
doesn’t have a recurrence of his snapping issues that led to his benching in Baltimore last season.
But coach Brian Flores,
who has cycled through offensive line coaches like some cycle through paper towels, believes Lemuel Jeanpierre is up to the task.
“I think the world of ‘Lem.’ He was here a year ago and his energy in practice and his acumen about the game — run game, protection, opponents,” Flores said.
“When you walk into his office and you ask a question, be ready for a dissertation and be ready to get educated on football.
“Often times, if I’ve got somewhere to go, I’ll just put my head down and keep walking or else Lem will grab me in there and ask me about this defense or this front and what happens. ‘I’m going to do this, if you do this.’ It’s a back-and-forth, and he’s that way with the players. He’s got a great rapport with the players. We saw that last year, and I think he’s going to do a heck of a job.”
Flores has had four offensive-line coaches in less than three seasons on the job. Pat Flaherty
lasted only four days of training camp in 2019 before being dismissed.
Dave DeGuglielmo took over in August of 2019 but wasn’t retained.
Steve Marshall was hired, on the recommendation of Chan Gailey, and coached the group last season but was dismissed after one season, a few weeks after Gailey left the organization.
Jeanpierre has the best chance to be a long-term solution. He played in the league — primarily center — as a backup for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 through 2015, then became a coach as an offensive assistant for Seahawks coach Pete Carroll in 2017.
Raiders coach Jon Gruden hired him as assistant offensive-line coach in April 2018, and Flores hired him for that same job in February 2020.
Here’s what he has conveyed to his players:
Foremost, “they know I look for the toughness, being disciplined, being detailed and nasty,” Jeanpierre said. “I tell guys all the time, there’s a difference between being dirty and nasty. I’m not putting that out there any type of way, but you want to have guys who get after it, who have a tough mentality. I tell guys that toughness isn’t just being physically tough, but mentally tough, emotionally tough. There are definitely levels to this game, for sure.”
He said during practice, he plans to put players in “stressful situations to really simulate what they might go through. What I’m doing with them is, I’m trying to help them all learn football. So if I say a scheme where we might be, they should all be able to tell me what everybody is doing and put the pressure on them to do it like that.”
And he likes the group he’s inheriting.
“I’ve got a good group,” he said. “They were good last year as well. I think one thing that’s high with me is character. We’ve got a high-character group. They work hard, ask a lot of questions and all of that stuff. Even now, they contact me on the weekends, asking more questions, trying to learn.
“They will push each other in terms of quizzing each other and asking those questions and understanding — the terms of the O-line room in general.”
That’s a start. With no contact between offense and defense during May practices, it’s impossible to know whether left tackle Jackson will take the jump from adequate to very good in year two; whether Hunt will become the Pro Bowl right guard that some Dolphins people expect; whether Eichenberg can become an effective day one starting right tackle, as some Dolphins people expect; and whether Kindley can beat out Jesse Davis at left guard, which was Kindley’s position at Georgia.
But this offensive-line coach has the chance for the long-term success and traction here that was elusive for the three men that preceded him.
THIS AND THAT
In trying to predict which undrafted rookies have the best chance to stick, you always start with the ones given the most guaranteed money after the draft. And for the Dolphins, two stand well above all else: guard Robert Jones (given $130,000) and cornerback Trill Williams (who is guaranteed $100,000 by the Dolphins after being claimed off waivers from the Saints).
The odds are against any of the six undrafted
Arookies making the 53, but Williams — who had an interception during mandatory minicamp — has a chance because this regime has shown a willingness to give long looks (and occasionally, roster spots) to overlooked young corners, and Williams was considered a fourth-to-sixth round talent before an ankle injury.
The Dolphins offered Williams more money than the Saints did immediately after the draft, but Williams opted for New Orleans partly because he thought he had a better chance to make the Saints.
But he ended up with the Dolphins anyway, because the Saints — after signing him — wanted him to sign a waiver regarding his surgically repaired ankle.
New Orleans thought it could sneak him through waivers and re-sign him, not expecting any team to claim him and inherit his $100,000 guarantee. But the Dolphins pounced.
The 6-2 rookie from Syracuse had four interceptions in 28 college games and opted out after five games last season, because he thought it wasn’t advisable to continue playing with a torn ligament in his ankle. That ankle injury was affecting his hamstring and his ability to play to his level of expectation, his father told The Syracuse Post Standard last fall.
He had surgery in December but is fine now.
During the past three seasons, he had passer ratings against of 54.7 (2018), 98.7 (2019) and 80.1 (2020), with 92 tackles and three forced fumbles. Pro Football Focus rated him a fourth-rounder before the draft.
NFL.com rated him a sixth-rounder.
Making the Dolphins as an undrafted corner will be difficult with Xavien Howard, Byron Jones, Noah Igbinoghene, Jason McCourty (more of a safety now), Nik Needham and Justin Coleman. But Williams has a chance if Miami keeps six corners.
“With Trill, what he brings on his tape coming out of Syracuse is he was a run-and-hit guy,” cornerbacks coach Charles Burks said. “He was a guy that was very physical on his tape. He played some corner and he played some safety, so again in our system, we like guys who are versatile and can do a lot of things.”
Jones has a chance too, if Miami keeps 10 linemen (unlikely) or if the Dolphins keep nine but release a veteran backup such as Jermaine Eluemunor.
But the fact that the Dolphins might not keep a single undrafted rookie speaks to how the roster has been upgraded. And there’s room for Jones and Willliams on the practice squad, and perhaps one of the other undrafted rookies such as Indiana defensive tackle Jerome Johnson.
Dolphins running back Myles Gaskin, appearing on Sports Radio 950 in Seattle, said his “biggest takeaway” from the offseason program is that the Dolphins now have “a lot of speed on the outside. We’ve got Jakeem
[ Grant], Jaylen Waddle, Will Fuller. We’ve got some fast dudes, so I’m excited to see that.”
ABarry Jackson: 305-376-3491, @flasportsbuzz