Maualuga option for linebacker slot
T h e Dol p h i n s a re s t i l l looking for another starting linebacker — Neville Hewitt would be the presumptive starter next to Kiko Alonso and Lawrence Timmons at this point — and a proven one became available Saturday.
Cincinnati released eightyear veteran Rey Maualuga over the weekend, and he could be worth a look for Miami. He’s coming off a tough season in which he played through a leg injury and made six starts. He had 27 tackles and one interception last year. Pro Football Focus ranked him the No. 85 linebacker in the NFL, two spots ahead of Jelani Jenkins.
Prior to that, he averaged 80 tackles per season for the Bengals.
Maualuga has been a middle linebacker, which would be an interesting fifit with fellow inside linebackers Timmons and Alonso. The Dolphins have said they’re considering moving Alonso outside, and he’s comfortable with the change if that’s what they want.
Maualuga, 30, makes sense for Miami if he’s willing to come in on an affordable one- or two-year deal. He was set to make about $3.7 million this season.
The Dolphins also theoretically remain interested in free-agent linebacker Zach Brown, who visited the team last week.
Good options at DT, too: If the Dolphins aren’t ready to install Jordan Phillips as their new starting defensive tackle, they still have options available in free agency.
They hosted big name Dontari Poe this month before he went to the Falcons, but there are still a few defensive tackles on the market: Tony McDaniel
McDaniel still has something left at 32 and would be sensible on a one-year deal. He started 16 games for Seattle last year and hasn’t missed more than two games in a season since 2012, when he played for the Dolphins. McDaniel was with the team for four seasons as a reserve. Last year, Pro Football Focus ranked him the No. 52 defensive tackle in the league.
Johnathan Hankins
Of all the players left at this position, Hankins has the most promise. The former second-round pick turns 25 this week and has 41 career starts for the Giants. Last season, he had 43 tackles, three sacks and one forced fumble.
Arthur Jones
The Colts cut Jones, who will turn 31 this summer, on Saturday after two lackluster seasons. They were enticed enough by what he showed in his fifirst four seasons with Baltimore that they gave him a $30 million contract, but that didn’t work out. He started 11 games in Indianapolis.
Sen’Derrick Marks
Filling in a lineup with Jacksonville’s castoffffs never sounds like a good plan, but these are the types of players still around at this point. Marks, 30, played all 16 games last season with one start while putting up 22 tackles and 3.5 sacks.
Leger Douzable
Douzable, soon to be 31, has played for fifive teams in his eight-year career. He’s played all 16 games the past four seasons and made fifive starts for Buffffalo last year. PFF had him 71st among defensive tackles. and maneuverabilit y is a big part of what makes Asiata an intriguing NFL draft prospect, especially for a team like the Dolphins that could use a mid-round guard to compete for a spot on their offffensive line. He was one of the top linemen in college football last season and boosted his stock with impressive work at the combine this month.
He led all O-linemen in the bench press with 35 reps at 225 pounds and placed 15th in the three-cone drill. ESPN ranks him 11th among guards, draft website Walter Football has him 10th and CBS puts him fifth. He is projected to go in the middle rounds, where Miami has a compensatory pick at the end of the third and three in the fififth.
“Asiata may lack the name recognition of some of the other top interior linemen in the country but he is well known among NFL scouts, who see him as a future starting left guard — and a successful one at that due to his blend of initial quickness, agility and power,” CBS analyst Rob Rang wrote.
At 24, Asiata is one of the older prospects in this year’s draft class. He did not play in 2011 or ’12 at least in part because he was serving on a Mormon mission in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas.
He described that as “one of the greatest times of my life” and believes it had little impact on his football development. The results back that up.
Utah worked him in occasionally at right tackle when he returned, and he established himself as one of the best guards in the Pac-12 as a redshirt sophomore. He started 26 games at left guard for the Utes the past two seasons, and last year was voted the top offensive lineman by the conference’s defensive line play- ers. He and left tackle Garrett Bolles, a projected fifirstround pick, helped Utah average 214 rushing yards per game last year.
The Dol phi ns l o o k s e t a t b o t h t a c k l e p o s i t i o n s wi t h L a re my Tunsi l a nd Ja’Wuan James, plus they have three-time Pro Bowler Mike Pouncey at center. They aren’t so secure at guard, and they need a trustworthy backup center. That’s essentially what they said when meeting with Asiata at the Senior Bowl.
“They want me to learn both guard spots and center if I’m coming in,” he said. “I look forward to showing people that I can play center if they need me to and be versatile.”
He a l s o l ove s t he i de a of joining that particular offffensive line because it has proven pros to guide him.
It would be great to be mentored by them and to go in and learn from them,” he said of the Dolphins’ linemen. “I just want to con- tribute any way that I can: as a starter or just going in and being a solid backup for them. Obviously, everyone wants to start and I want to play, but just want to play my role on a team and contribute to a team’s success.”
Miami signed journeyman Ted Larsen to a three-year deal this month and brought back last season’s starting gu ard, Jermon Bushrod. They were ranked the Nos. 44 and 69 guards in the NFL, respectively, by Pro Football Focus last season, and there’s no guarantee either of them will be around long term. Bushrod, in fact, said at the end of last season he would probably retire if the Dolphins didn’t re-sign him.
That means there’d be an opportunit y for Asiata to compete for a starting job right away and, if not, he’d get the chance to grow into one of those spots going forward.
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