FROM DUD TO STUD
How Deiter went from disappointing rookie to likely starter
MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Michael Deiter isn’t interested in taking a victory lap just yet.
Even though he’s spent every training camp practice and every preseason game as the team’s starting center, the competition to secure the spot vacated by Ted Karras’ return to New England isn’t over in his mind.
Deiter, however, knows he must continue to develop at center, a position he played sparingly in college, but began playing extensively last season.
His performance hasn’t been good enough for Deiter to feel he’s turned the corner — despite transforming himself from a disappointing rookie starter into a promising anchor on the offensive line.
“I think I need to play better. Plenty of stuff I need to clean up,” said Deiter, a former Wisconsin standout the Dolphins selected in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft. “There has been some good, and there has been some bad. There’s a lot to clean up.
“As long as I keep getting the opportunity, I’m happy with that,” said Deiter, who has held off veteran Matt Skura, a former Ravens starter, and Cameron Tom, a fifth-year veteran who has bounced around the league, for the first-team center role. “I just need to play better and be more consistent.”
Deiter’s evolution as a player shows that Brian Flores and the coaching staff don’t give up on their draft picks easily because there
was a point where Deiter was viewed as an afterthought.
When Miami signed Ereck Flowers and Karras as free agents last offseason, and then drafted Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt and Solomon Kindley, and made them all rookie starters, Deiter became the odd man out.
His inconsistent play as a 15-game starter at left guard in 2019, where he was one of the many weak links on the Dolphins’ worst offensive line in franchise history, didn’t make his future look bright.
Flowers was inserted into the left guard spot Deiter held, and Kindley became a rookie starter at right guard last season.
Deiter was relegated to a backup role last season, when Lemuel Jeanpierre, a former NFL center who was then the assistant offensive line coach, began teaching Deiter the finer points of snapping, and the role and responsibilities of a center.
When Jeanpierre was promoted to be Miami’s lead offensive line coach, one of the items atop his agenda was giving Deiter an opportunity to prove the investment made into him could be beneficial.
“He’s got to keep working the fundamentals and seeing them work. That will help him have more and more faith. Deiter works hard. He studies,” Jeanpierre said. “Now that he has his opportunity again, he’s not taking it for granted, thinking he’s anywhere close to being finished.”
Jeanpierre said his focus before the regular season arrives is to build Deiter’s confidence, and that requires repetitions.
Miami’s offensive line showed improvement from the first preseason game — a disappointing showing against the Chicago Bears — to the second preseason game, a 37-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons in a contest where Atlanta sat most of their first-teamers.
The goal is to keep that forward momentum going heading into Saturday’s preseason finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, so don’t be surprised if the first-team offensive line plays a series or two.
Because of how many youngsters are on the unit, and since most are starting at a new spot — all except Jackson, the left tackle, and veteran Jesse Davis — the belief is that they would all benefit from the work.
“I don’t know where I’m at. I’m in my third camp and I’m working to be the best player I can be. I want to be as consistent as possible, helping the Dolphins play good football and win games,” said Deiter, who started 16 of 54 games at Wisconsin as a center.
“We can communicate better. We can cut it loose better. We can play with better fundamentals and technique. We can finish better. There is nothing we can’t do better.”