ESPN: Will Dolphins' Laremy Tunsil play left tackle in 2017? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

ESPN: Will Dolphins' Laremy Tunsil play left tackle in 2017?

Perfect72

Perfect72

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The Miami Dolphins just completed one of their most successful seasons in recent memory despite last week's playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

]@JamesWalkerNFL When will tunsil go to LT officially? Can we save cap room if we make the move?


James Walker: This would require cutting or moving veteran left tackle Branden Albert in 2017, and I don't anticipate that happening. The work and leadership Albert displayed behind the scenes last season should not be understated. He had a big hand in Tunsil's rookie development and also played consistent football on the field when healthy. I expect Miami to keep the left side of its line together for at least one more season. The Dolphins view Tunsil as a decade-long player. Barring injury, there will be plenty of time to play Tunsil at left tackle for most of his career.

LINK: http://www.espn.com/blog/miami-dolp...lphins-laremy-tunsil-play-left-tackle-in-2017
 
I tend to agree with Walker on this.

That is a lot of moving parts if you cut Albert and like I've said in the past, you in a sense weaken your depth at two positions by doing that.

Miami needs to focus on finding that dominate RG this offseason and give the Albert/Tunsil/Pouncey/RG FA/James line one more shot at staying healthy. We do need some youth in the depth department of this offensive line as James contract is coming up and Albert's eventual retirement/moving on from. Need a young tackle and a young guard somewhere on the roster (PS included).
 
But Miami could go from having a good guard and a good tackle to the hope of having a good tackle and an unknown guard? If some people have it their way we would strip the entire o-line and only bring back Jawan James at his same position next year.
 
I'd go one more season with Albert. Find a good young right guard and hopefully the o-line can stay healthy for a full season.
 
I agree. The mentoring of our young prodigious talent Tunsil is very important. Because of Tunsil himself and Albert's strong veteran leadership, we seem to have eliminated the large risk factor that scared off all those other teams and caused him to drop to us. I see no reason to break that up.

That does not mean our OL is fixed though. Albert gets injured a lot, and that is part of the hefty price we pay for keeping him (along with salary). Bushrod was brought in to be a backup OL, and we still need that starting RG. Given the consistent missed games at LT and OC, we also need at least 1 more interior lineman. I'd say bring in one dependable guy in free agency, and draft one young stud to start at RG right away. Then keep Urbik and Steen as backups. If he wants to return, I'd also consider keeping Bushrod as a backup. He did well when he was healthy, but unfortunately, he is another guy who, at his age, can't seem to stay healthy for long.

Since our salary situation has us locked into Pouncey (injury prone) and I'm advocating keeping Albert (also injury prone), it makes sense to look for OL that have better luck with injuries as the backups. Because let's be honest, our backups will play.
 
It really all just depends on what is available. Ideally it would probably be wise to start Tunsils development at LT sooner than later, especially given Albert's injury history. But Walker is right that Alberts value cant be underestimated, so if were going to make the move we better damn sure have a good plan for guard. No more of this relying on 4th round rookies.
 
Kdawg954 said:
I tend to agree with Walker on this.

That is a lot of moving parts if you cut Albert and like I've said in the past, you in a sense weaken your depth at two positions by doing that.

Miami needs to focus on finding that dominate RG this offseason and give the Albert/Tunsil/Pouncey/RG FA/James line one more shot at staying healthy. We do need some youth in the depth department of this offensive line as James contract is coming up and Albert's eventual retirement/moving on from. Need a young tackle and a young guard somewhere on the roster (PS included).
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So what you're saying is you don't believe Tunsil will be as good as BA at LT? Not arguing,just asking. I'm ok with BA staying one more year but the problem is when you count on him AND Pouncey to both stay healthy it can lead to a big let down. The ideal is to find a good RG and EVERYONE stays healthy. The falcons o-line started every game this season. They were the only team to do that. It doesn't take a genius to say that we should expect both of them to miss games next season.

Ozzy rules!!
 
Maybe the Phins would be better cutting Albert and using that cap savings to pursue a couple of the better guards in FA.
I would like to see the Oline addressed before the draft, so that we can upgrade the talent and speed on defense with young draft picks.
 
Danny said:
So what you're saying is you don't believe Tunsil will be as good as BA at LT? Not arguing,just asking. I'm ok with BA staying one more year but the problem is when you count on him AND Pouncey to both stay healthy it can lead to a big let down. The ideal is to find a good RG and EVERYONE stays healthy. The falcons o-line started every game this season. They were the only team to do that. It doesn't take a genius to say that we should expect both of them to miss games next season.

Ozzy rules!!
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I'm not saying that at all. When I say weakens the depth at 2 spots, if you cut Albert, you may indeed get the better player in Tunsil in 2017 to start at LT, however you don't have Tunsil as your backup depth at LT. He goes down, you are looking at Sam Young or whoever else you attempt to bring in/draft. Rather have that guy as the #3 OT. On top of that, you still need to replace Tunsil at LG if you do jettison Albert. I just think our best option maybe to give this group another shot at staying healthy. Hell if Pouncey and Albert go down again in 2017, we have direct needs in the 2018 offseason for sure.

It's not a perfect world plan, but I like it over attempting to use FA to replace these offensive line holes in one offseason. I am absolutely not a fan of going offensive line in this draft early on. Too much defense to be had. Grab your FA RG and roll the dice. You can probably get another year out of Bushrod and Urbik is under contract as well. Plus Sam Young. Right there you have 3 veteran options as your gameday active depth . . . a C/G, a G/T and a T. If we get lucky enough to where a day 3 guy shows something, a UDFA or something . . . then that would be ideal but we definitely need to be developing some late round/UDFA youth on this roster for offensive line purposes.
 
warren4prez said:
I wonder if management will approach Albert about a restructure?
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I fully expect it. Something simple as a pay cut upfront but allow Branden to make up the most of the money via "games played" and the rest via a "pro bowl" berth. Something of that nature. Really don't wanna guarantee any more of his salary because of his injury history.
 
Id rather cut him and use our FA money on Zeitler and Warford or Lang. But, if Albert takes a paycut and has incentives for playing time and playing good, id keep him.
 
SCLSU Mud Dogs said:
An offensive line of Albert-Tunsil-Pouncey-Leary-James makes me erect.
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IF that unit could remain somewhat healthy, 85% or so of the snap counts, sign me up for 2017. Even though I can't wait for Tunsil to blossom at LT

I have this creeping suspicion there are looming questions on Pouncey's health and the lingering issues with his hip.
 
Sons Of Shula said:
IF that unit could remain somewhat healthy, 85% or so of the snap counts, sign me up for 2017. Even though I can't wait for Tunsil to blossom at LT

I have this creeping suspicion there are looming questions on Pouncey's health and the lingering issues with his hip.
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If it were a cap-friendly cut, I'd probably cut Pouncey. All signs point to him being too injured to continue his career much longer. He's had that hip injury how many times now?
 
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