Every Dolphins Draft Pick Can’t be Offensive Line, BUT…..

The Miami Dolphins’ Offensive line has been a pain point for the team on the field and for all Dolphins fans.

The position group has been bad for many years and various reasons.

Terron Armstead, while a great player, was always an injury concern and missed games.

Austin Jackson has played in only two and eight games in two of the past three seasons.

Liam Eichenberg. Enough said.

Robert Jones, a borderline rosterable NFL player, was starting for us (same as Liam above).

Connor Williams was very good for Miami before he suffered a career-altering injury, and he wasn’t brought back.

Robert Hunt is a player Miami drafted and developed but was unable to lock up and keep long-term. Now he enters his prime with another team

The Dolphins haven’t been able to find the right mix and have enough success with this position group.

To add insult to injury, the general manager the past two off-seasons laughed when reporters raised concerns about the offensive line, stating, “You’re more worried about it than we are.”

Only to then watch his offensive line be crippling and hamper the team’s offensive success in 2024.

Miami will enter the 2025 season with many big question marks on their offensive line.

Is Patrick Paul ready to take over for Terron Armstead? From a durability standpoint, it is an upgrade, as Paul is younger and doesn’t have the laundry list of injuries that Armstead had. But he has almost no experience and is a complete unknown.

Will newly signed free agent James Daniels rehab from his Achilles injury and be 100% by September and week 1? If so, that is great news for Miami. But this is the Dolphins we are talking about who told everyone not to worry about Isiah Wynn and Odell Beckham Jr last off-season. This time, they were injured, and Wynn missed almost the entire season, and Beckham started the year on PUP and when he did return he never looked like the same player prior to his injury.

So, the Dolphins saying “DON’T WORRY” about James Daniels should be a reason all Dolphins fans should be worrying.

Austin Jackson- well, we know his track record. Can he stay healthy? If so great, if not, Miami is royally scrweed.

As of today, Liam Eichenberg will be a starter. For as bad as he has been (and don’t let any analytics fool or beat writer who is tired of seeing the fans beat up on Liam tell you otherwise), the fact that he was re-signed and they have no competition for him going into late April is par for the course with this franchise, which hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 years.

So, as we enter the draft, the Dolphins have a ton of needs.

They have only one cornerback (Jalen Ramsey) on the roster that you trust. And he is running for the exit as we speak.

Outside of Zach Sieler, they have no other defensive lineman that you trust.

They have lost both starting safeties last season and signed career backups to replace them.

So, with the 13th overall pick, Miami really should be addressing the defensive side of the ball; otherwise, 2025 will be a terribly long season.

BUT the offensive line still hasn’t been fixed.

The offensive line is the black cloud that constantly hangs over the Dolphins organization.

In free agency, the Dolphins “addressed” it (if you want to call it that) by signing a guard coming off a major injury and a backup tackle in Larry Borom who just isn’t very good.

Now, entering this 2025 draft instead of having 2 or 3 specific needs which can realisticly be addressed, the Dolphins have 4 needs and one of these positions probably won’t be addressed.

And since Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel‘s track record has been to ignore the offensive line, the odds are that the offensive line will be ignored again in a week with the draft.

You can make a case that the Dolphins should draft a Kelvin Banks Jr., Josh Conerly Jr., or Josh Simmons with the 13th overall pick. Then maybe double down in Round 2 by adding Jonah Savaiinaea or Donovan Jackson, should he fall there.

That would give Miami a solid offensive line for this year and for years to come.

But no, they can’t do that.

Why?
Because Miami has no defense as of today.

So, Miami may have to add a cornerback and defensive tackle in rounds 1 and 2 and wait until pick 98 to maybe address the offensive line. But Miami still needs safety help, and they truly need more than one defensive lineman, so they may have to go there at pick 98.

This means the offensive line gets ignored again.

Don’t worry; I’m sure Chris Grier will tell the fanbase and the media that we are all more worried about it than we are. How they really like Liam Eichenberg. And he will probably go out and sign Isaiah Wynn again and bring him back (maybe he will be healthy and actually play this year).

And, well yeah, I don’t have to say. It’s the same old stuff with the offensive line.

Part of me kind of wishes Miami would double-down on the offensive line with picks 13 and 48 in rounds 1 and 2, and ignore the defense.

I mean, this team isn’t competing for anything or winning anything this season anyway. If you can look at this roster honestly and objectively, then kick the can down the road with the defense until next season.

It will be interesting to see what the Dolphins’ plan of attack is entering this draft, but if you’re hoping for Miami to go full throttle and address and fix the offensive line, I wouldn’t hold your breath.