Dolphins Like Their Depth In Middle Of O-Line | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Dolphins Like Their Depth In Middle Of O-Line

DKphin

DKphin

Active Roster
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
14,535
Reaction score
6,353
Location
Pattaya, Thailand
There should be intense competition for the starting jobs at guard, just the way Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen wants it.
Click to expand...
The Dolphins kept intact their streak of selecting an offensive lineman in every draft in franchise history when they picked guard
Isaac Asiata in the fifth round. The selection of Asiata was the latest in a series of moves designed to fulfill one objective: creating more competition in the interior of the line.

Asiata joins a group of interior offensive linemen that includes four players who started games for the Dolphins last season — three-time Pro Bowl selection Mike Pouncey, former Pro Bowl tackle Jermon Bushrod, Anthony Steen and Kraig Urbik — plus former Ted Larsen, who joined the team as an unrestricted free agent.

Provided he’s healthy, Pouncey will start at center, but there should be intense competition for the starting jobs at guard, just the way Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen wants it.
Click to expand...

http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/a...f-O-Line/55eb0e31-92dd-443a-93ac-1e7b9d5e54aa
 
Our backups at guard are better than our starters just a few years ago. Getting Asiata in the fold will go a long way. Especially if he can play center.
 
The interior Oline play, followed by the coverage of our linebackers are probably the biggest questions we have IMO player wise going into this season. I keep implying it shouldn't take all first round draft picks to play on our offensive line, good coaching corrects this issue.
 
phintim said:
The interior Oline play, followed by the coverage of our linebackers are probably the biggest questions we have IMO player wise going into this season. I keep implying it shouldn't take all first round draft picks to play on our offensive line, good coaching corrects this issue.
Click to expand...

I am sort of liking it but then compared to what we have gotten by with in the past....as it won't be hard to improve.

WLB: Alonso/Hewitt
MLB: Timmons/Hull
SLB: McMillan/Misi

Looks better than anything we've had since Dansby, Barnett and Misi with much better depth.

I also think Bushrod will be better in only his 2nd year as a RG and we will get good play out of Larsen at LG.

LG: Larsen
C: Pouncey
RG: Bushrod

That still leaves capable backups between Urbik, Steen and Asiata (hopefully). Steen is still an inexperienced but ascending player who surprised some people last year. Urbik should be a RG and with any luck at all, Asiata will have a good camp and either take a starting role, pushing Larsen to either backup center or possibly starting RG. Asiata could even take over the backup center spot from Steen.

(I'm still more worried about DT)
 
Eesti said:
I am sort of liking it but then compared to what we have gotten by with in the past....as it won't be hard to improve.

WLB: Alonso/Hewitt
MLB: Timmons/Hull
SLB: McMillan/Misi

Looks better than anything we've had since Dansby, Barnett and Misi with much better depth.

I also think Bushrod will be better in only his 2nd year as a RG and we will get good play out of Larsen at LG.

LG: Larsen
C: Pouncey
RG: Bushrod

That still leaves capable backups between Urbik, Steen and Asiata (hopefully). Steen is still an inexperienced but ascending player who surprised some people last year. Urbik should be a RG and with any luck at all, Asiata will have a good camp and either take a starting role, pushing Larsen to either backup center or possibly starting RG. Asiata could even take over the backup center spot from Steen.

(I'm still more worried about DT)
Click to expand...
I really believe Asiata will be the starting LG once the season starts. Then the left side of the o-line will be set for awhile with him and Tunsil. Larsen will be a backup at one of the three interior positions.
 
I like this group better than last year ... but that's not really saying much. If you consider the "interior" line loss of Tunsil, we're not really in a different spot. But the parts to like about this one are 1) Asiata is a good guard prospect who will remain at guard for his career and can both pass protect and blow open run lanes, which we desperately need. And 2) Mike Pouncey can't possibly miss 15 games again next season (14 regular season and our 1 playoff appearance). Honestly, if Pouncey is injured again this season, we may not be any better off at all.

I see Larsen as depth just like I do Urbik and Bushrod. We shouldn't have any of the 3 starting, IMHO. I hope Larsen pleasantly surprises, but I'm not betting on it. I hope Bushrod is better in his second year at guard and with this OL coach ... but he's also a year older, and I'm not really expecting great things from him despite what Gase tells the media.

But if we get a healthy Pouncey and Asiata adjusts like I expect him to, we have the potential for 4 solid OL, and we can probably cover over that 5th spot. I'm expecting it to be Bushrod, but who knows.
 
I am thinking Pouncy is done with those hips, then no Branden Albert is going to hurt too even though he was on ir some what during his tenure here. Which means we are relying on this rookie to really step up which is a bit of a gamble. Just some facts to consider along with the positives.
 
Eesti said:
I am sort of liking it but then compared to what we have gotten by with in the past....as it won't be hard to improve.

WLB: Alonso/Hewitt
MLB: Timmons/Hull
SLB: McMillan/Misi

Looks better than anything we've had since Dansby, Barnett and Misi with much better depth.

I also think Bushrod will be better in only his 2nd year as a RG and we will get good play out of Larsen at LG.

LG: Larsen
C: Pouncey
RG: Bushrod

That still leaves capable backups between Urbik, Steen and Asiata (hopefully). Steen is still an inexperienced but ascending player who surprised some people last year. Urbik should be a RG and with any luck at all, Asiata will have a good camp and either take a starting role, pushing Larsen to either backup center or possibly starting RG. Asiata could even take over the backup center spot from Steen.

(I'm still more worried about DT)
Click to expand...

100% agree with this, Larsen is a little too underrated on this forum... he's gonna be solid and Asiata might push Bushrod and probably provide good depth across the interior OL.

Our OL and LB depth improved immensely this year, first time I've actually seen DEPTH on those units.
 
phintim said:
I am thinking Pouncy is done with those hips, then no Branden Albert is going to hurt too even though he was on ir some what during his tenure here. Which means we are relying on this rookie to really step up which is a bit of a gamble. Just some facts to consider along with the positives.
Click to expand...

Unlike other regimes who have passed through Miami, I have faith that the coaching staff will be able to coach up whoever they bring in. Let's not forget they made the playoffs last year with a LB corps held together by superglue and paper mache.
 
Well I'd say that I have faith in Gase. I'm building faith in the rest of the staff.

Burke had only 1 LB with which to work last year, but IMHO, that LB made a major impact on a defense that greatly underperformed. This year, it's all on Burke, as we've given the core players a full season in this defense, he knows the people and the division, and we loaded up his shopping cart full of goodies in the draft and free agency (don't forget Hayes, McDonald, Timmons and resigning Branch). I'm looking for production this year, because 30th at anything isn't going to cut it with this kind of investment in salary cap, draft picks and time.

The offensive line coach seemed to make progress late in the season. Hopefully James' improved play wasn't just a flash in the pan ... as we've seen with him several times in the past. I found it funny that we picked up James' 5th year option, yet the Bills did not pick up Sammy Watkins' 5th year option. That ought to tell you what the staff thinks of his "potential" ... but IMHO, at this point of his career he needs to figure it out. I'd say this is his make or break year. For us and for his sake, I hope the OL coach really has gotten through to him. Maybe he can learn to run block this year.

RB coach has earned my respect. That group is preforming.

WR coach needs to get Parker performing up to his awesome potential before he wins me over. Stills proved it in New Orleans, and Landry is fully self-motivated, so DVP is the measuring stick for me.

DL coach ... simply not good enough. Maybe we can pick up Kacy Rogers if/when the Jet's fire their coaching staff? When a DL has Suh and Wake, both performing up to their ability, and is horrendous vs. the rush and not special vs. the pass ... clearly the coach isn't doing his job well.

LB coach ... well we've discussed this. But, this year we will have enough talent. Kiko and Raekwon give us 2 legitimate three-down starter building blocks. Having Timmons and Misi on the roster should give us a 3rd NFL-caliber starting LB for early downs. Now we should see whether we can coach LB's.

DB's coach gets a bit of a pass. It looked like the 5th of July at the Mayo Clinic last year ... everybody getting injured so fast that they needed a 'Gurney Traffic Controller' to regulate flow to and from the training room. This year with Reshad healthy, the double addition of Allen to keep the seat warm and McDonald to be the real 'other safety' for the second half of the season, we should actually have competent safeties rather than pretenders and converts masquerading as safeties. Maxwell should finally be healthy. Xavien Howard should finally be healthy and no longer a rookie. Add in another year of development for Lippett and draftee Tankersley and we have a lot of talent that wasn't in games last year. So, we'll see just how good our DB's coach really is.

To pull this back to the interior OL, I do think that Asiata was a fantastic pick. He brings a physicality we need and have been missing at guard. Hopefully he works out immediately and fantastically, and this encourages the front office to get someone just like him for the other guard slot during the 2018 draft. After all, the Miami Dolphins have drafted at least 1 OL every draft since their inception. If the game is won in the trenches, and I believe it is, then keeping 5 good hogs owning the trenches on offense is a smart thing to do. As long as we're going to draft an offensive lineman next year ... why not make it another dominant guard and finally fix this tragically comedic offensive line?
 
I think it may take Asiata some time to adapt. Not only to the level of play but the system. He is labeled as "scheme-diverse" but it still took Jawuan James half the season to get used to a different technique. Larsen has played under Gase's system before so he has a head start and is more experienced. The issue with him could end up being penalties.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom