We have witnessed a catastrophic mismanagement of resources.
The Miami Dolphins’ struggles building and sustaining a respectable offensive line the past few years is more evidence that general manager Chris Grier has a blind spot when it comes to evaluating that position.
The good NFL evaluators can find and develop third-day picks that turn into solid, if not productive NFL offensive lineman. Not the Dolphins.
They have to buy them in free agency, and even then there’s no guarantee.
Larry Borom was the worst playing lineman on the NFL’s worst offensive line — the Chicago Bears — last season and the Dolphins’ decision-makers targeted him to be the team’s top backup offensive tackle this offseason?
It figures!
Tua Tagovailoa was sacked twice on his three drives in Miami’s preseason finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Once on a block Borom, who has been filling in for the injured Austin Jackson as Miami’s starting right tackle, missed, and the other was a block tight end Pharoah Brown couldn’t hold.
Both sacks killed drives, and if we’re being honest, they each could have hurt Miami’s starting quarterback in a game that doesn’t even count.
Considering Tagovailoa, who finished the game completing 4 of 8 passes, throwing for 48 yards, which includes a 25-yard run-after-catch touchdown Malik Washington scored on after catching the ball 3 yards past the line of scrimmage, is the NFL’s most fragile quarterback. Grier is unintentionally setting this team up for failure based on the talent assembled in the offensive line room.
Last year Grier laughed off our concerns about that unit before admitting he made an error. Well, here comes the sequel.
I’m a big believer that football games are won and lost in the trenches, and this Dolphins organization has neglected that unit for far too long.
Heading into Tuesday’s cut day — where the Dolphins need to trim the 90-player training camp roster down to 53 — it’s my opinion that South Florida’s NFL franchise doesn’t have enough 53-man-roster-worthy offensive linemen to pick from.
Borom, Daniel Brunskill, Jackson Carman, Braeden Daniels and Kion Smith belong on Miami’s practice squad, the team’s developmental unit for youngsters and fringe NFL talent. Not the 53-man roster.
Say your prayers that Grier makes an 11th-hour trade for an offensive tackle, signs a decent veteran whose salary was too high for another team’s taste and claims someone with upside off the waiver wire because reinforcements are badly needed.
Think about it, we’re officially at the point of hoping that Liam Eichenberg comes to the unit’s rescue when he recovers from an offseason knee procedure that got him placed on the physically unable to perform list at the start of training camp.
Imagine a world where Eichenberg, who has been the weakest link on this offensive line for the past four seasons, struggling in most of his 52 starters, is the top backup at all five spots on the offensive line and is needed to fortify Miami’s most troublesome unit.
This is a dangerous spot for the Dolphins to be in considering it has been decades since Miami hasn’t had to start the team’s seventh, if not eighth and sometimes ninth offensive lineman for a handful of games in the season.
Who remembers last year’s loss to the Houston Texans, a game where Carman, a player on last year’s practice squad, had to start the game at right tackle because of injuries to Miami’s top three offensive tackles and allowed two sacks in a game Tagovailoa injured his hip scrambling around.
Expect the sequel unless Grier does something creative because these backups are BAD.
Last year Miami’s offensive playcalling got watered down because of the struggles the offensive line was having running the ball once Jackson missed the second half of the season because of a knee injury he sustained in Miami’s fourth-quarter loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Miami’s Tagovailoa-led offense had to evolve from that point, relying on short passes to move the chains, and I can predict the same type of future is on this team’s horizon if reinforcements aren’t added.
Grier has made four trades at this point in the year to acquire offensive linemen since his tenure as the team’s top decision-maker began in 2019, and he might need to do so again because that unit will serve as an anchor weighing down the offense, if not the team.
Without a reliable rushing attack Miami will become a one-dimensional offense again, much like last season, and if defenses don’t have to respect the rushing game they will back the safeties up and choke out Miami’s deep-ball game.
We went into this past offseason knowing that Miami’s offensive line needed to be rebuilt, and it was courtesy of Patrick Paul’s elevation, James Daniel’s signing, and Jonah Savaiinaea’s selection in the second round.
But where are the backups?