Patrick Paul Stood Out In Preseason Opener

Some good things came out of the Miami Dolphins’ first preseason game Friday night against the Atlanta Falcons. Players like Tanner Connor and rookie running back Jaylen Wright got the headlines with their stats. 

However, the player that stood out to me was rookie left tackle Patrick Paul. The big left tackle played for 3 ½ quarters, and I grant you that it was mostly against backup and fringe players, but the Dolphins need to give him a lot of work this preseason.

When the Dolphins drafted Paul in the second round this year, some felt it was a wasted pick because he won’t play. I highly disagreed with that assessment because the Dolphins needed to draft a potential left tackle of the future because Terron Armstead is injury-prone and at the end of his career, and Kendall Lamm is retiring after the season.

The Dolphins aren’t practicing Armstead to get him ready for the season, and Lamm is going to be a swing tackle who can play on the left and right side, so the Dolphins are giving Paul a lot of work. 

Paul has the physical tools to be a heck of a left tackle for years to come, but he needs to be coached up on certain areas, such as hand placement and footwork, to counter against speed edge rushers. He also has a good person to mentor him in Armstead, and he’s welcomed him with open arms. I read how Paul has looked good at times but also has had issues with penalties and hand placement, which is to be expected. 

Friday night was a good first step because I didn’t see Paul have an edge rusher go by him.

He was physical at the point of attack in the running game and finished blocks to the whistle, a physicality this team needs. He did this pretty much all game long. I don’t want to go crazy about this performance, but it encourages moving forward into the rest of training camp and the preseason.