Free Agent Offensive Linemen that fit the Wide Zone Blocking Scheme | Page 5 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Free Agent Offensive Linemen that fit the Wide Zone Blocking Scheme

BigNastyFish said:
...and of course, when it comes to evaluating the talent (or lack thereof) on our roster -- all our OL dudes had the benefit of outstanding state-of-the-art NFL coaching.

:rolleyes:

That said, I still believe there's more talent in that group than many acknowledge. Not saying a bunch of ALL-Pros, but viable Pro players. If there's any one position group where we might see significant improvement derived from coaching it's the OL. I mean you'd have to be blind not to see how many times the group was either confused or tentative re assignments and execution. That slight indecision is more than enough to give the D a decisive advantage. I look for a LOT better. And of course some additional talent. But I think the coaching variable in this equation is significant.
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You're right the new coaching should improve our line. However, the problem is that pretty much all 5 positions on the line need to show improvement from last year. I'd be willing to go into the season with the assumption that Robert Hunt can handle RG and that 1 of the 3 of Ajax, Eich and Deiter can handle LG but any more and your leaving yourself open to way too much risk. Risk that they don't develop in just one offseason. We need a fail safe for multiple positions on the line.
 
I think the Texicans would want to re-coup some of their losses with the legendary Turnstile. I wouldn't trade a second for him. I also think part of the reason the 'QB who will not be named' was never seriously pursued is that the Texican still have a sore @$$ from that Turnstile deal and want some back.
 
SanMarino said:
Free Agent Offensive Linemen that fit the Wide Zone Blocking Scheme

First off I would like to explain that I am not an oline expert. I simply listen and read a lot of information on the Dolphins and have gathered my findings in one spot.

Purpose: I would like to make the playoffs next year and I believe we are aware that Stephen Ross is desperate to do so as well. To do so I believe we need to completely overhaul our offensive line. None of our current lineman have any experience in the Wide Zone Blocking Scheme within the NFL that I am aware of and they don’t seem like they have the physical/mental attributes to be plus starters in this system either. From what I gather, in order for this system to work we need players that have great lateral movement, very athletic for their position and have high play recognition and instinct. In order for this system to really take off I believe we need at least 3 new starters with experience in a similar system on the Oline and can do it relatively economically.

Assessment of Current Starters

Austin Jackson – He seems to have all the physical tools to be a LT in this system as he is very athletic but his play recognition and instinct are very poor. He seemed to be doing well in the first half of his rookie year before his injury so there is hope that he can develop but I wouldn’t trust him off the bat in a starter role.

Liam Eichenberg – He is not as athletic as Austin Jackson but was forced to play in the LT role because of Ajax’s shortcomings. He seems like more of a fit in a Gap type of scheme but all hope is not lost with him either. I believe he will develop into a good guard but may take time and there are already a few ready made free agents with a ton of experience in this system. I could go either way on him but I lean on redshirting him this year to see how he does in this system.

Michael Dieter – A center that is very intellectual and also very athletic to reach the reach blocks in this system is very important. Deiter may have been our best olineman when he was playing last year but he has slower feet and is suited more towards a Gap power system. I would go with a replacement here.

Robert Hunt – He did well in the last half of last year and played by all accounts pretty well in his rookie season. Kyle Crabbs (Lockedon Dolphins podcast) likened him to Laken Tomlinson in that at first glance he doesn’t seem to be a fit in this system but he’s just an overall gifted lineman that he can make it work. I would like to keep him as a starter at RG but depending on free agents I could see the Dolphins moving him to RT.

Jesses Davis – Goodbye.

Free Agent Olinemen available and the System they were in last year

Below I prepared a table of Free agent lineman that were on PFF’s list of top 200 Free Agents (https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-2022-free-agent-rankings-free-agency) and included their FA rating per PFF. I took the highest Market Value between Spotrac and PFF and tried to determine what run blocking system (IZ/GAP – Inside zone or Gap power, WZ – wide zone, HYB – Hybrid between the two) these players played in last year per the following sites:

https://fantasydata.com/all-32-nfl-coaching-schemes-for-the-2021-season
https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-offensive-scheme-analysis-32-nfl-teams-2021

I realize that some players are able to play in both systems but I really want to hit the ground running and have players that are experienced and can help potentially develop our younger players.

View attachment 96256

I realize this is difficult to read so we will filter this out a bit. I have filtered the lineman out that were not in a WZ or HYB system last year. Some notable names that were filtered out:

Eric Fisher
Nate Solder
Cam Robinson – One of the worst teams in the league doesn’t want him I don’t get the hype around him
Connor Williams
Andrew Norwell
Ryan Jensen – This is a very popular choice by many but he is more suited towards GAP as others have mentioned on this site, has struggled with shotgun snaps and takes stupid penalties. I think there are better/younger/cheaper fits.
Mark Glowinski
Trent Brown

Filtered for HYB & WZ systems:

View attachment 96257

There are still quite a few players so I will filter for the top 100 free agents. Here are some of the notable names that other people have highlighted:

Joseph Noteboom – Kyle Crabbs highlighted him as an option as he did well as the 6th offensive lineman on the Rams last year
Trai Turner
Scott Quessenberry – Chris Kaufman (3YPC) mentioned him as an option. Has experience with our new OC Frank Smith.
Ethan Pocic
David Quessenberry
Tom Compton – Simon Clancy (3YPC) mentioned him as an option on twitter as he played in SF system last year but from what I’ve read he is a great run blocker and poor pass blocker. Potentially a cheap option though and it did seem to work for SF last year with Mike Mcglinchey out.

Filtered for HYB, WZ & top 100 rated PFF

View attachment 96259

Projected Starters

Left Tackle – Duane Brown - While Terron Armstead is enticing as he is a premium tackle with zone experience like many other have mentioned he is very costly and very injury prone. I really like Duane Brown as an option as although he is old (37) he has not slowed down, has a ton of experience in zone blocking systems and can mentor/teach both Austin Jackson and Liam Eichenberg for the next 1-2 years. PFF has him at 2 year 20M which is right in line with what Andrew Whitworth was making in his age 40 season where he just won the Super Bowl. With Brown we can take the same approach we took with the Oline coach, demote and develop.

Left Guard – Laken Tomlinson - As most have mentioned Laken Tomlinson should be a slam dunk signing as he is a pro bowl guard coming from San Francisco where he could teach the other olineman by example some of the intricacies of the system. He would be number 1 on my list of targets because of this.

Center – Brian Allen –While I could get on board with Ben Jones as an option he is older, has struggled with shotgun snaps and is coming directly from a more gap power inside zone system. Brian Allen had a very good year on the Rams and played in a system that is very similar to San Frans as McVay also came from the Mike Shanahan tree. In addition, he is also projected to be half the cost of Jensen.

RG – Robert Hunt – This is where it could get interesting. James Daniels and Austin Corbett (not mentioned as often but has seemed to flourish from moving to a WZ system from GAP in CLE) are a great fit as a RG but that would mean moving Robert Hunt once again. That can’t be great for a young lineman so because of that I decided to keep Hunt where he’s at and sign a RT instead.

RT – Morgan Moses – Moses played well last year by all accounts in a system ran by Mike Lafleur the former OC in SF before Mcdaniel had the position. He is extremely dependable and has had very few injuries over his career.

Projected Net Cap Spend

My last topic will be how does this all fit with our cap situation. Although 34M is a lot to spend on the oline I am sick of having a bad line and want to throw money at it so we can concentrate on skill positions in the draft (WR & RB). See below how my projected oline signings fit in with the assumption of a franchise tag and trade of Gesicki for at least a 3rd round pick.

View attachment 96262

Conclusion

I know this is insanely long but I found it enlightening. Again I’m not an oline expert I just thought I’d take a stab at fixing the oline with players that fit the scheme. Let me know which players you would sign that come from the WZ scheme.
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Great post. I appreciate the time you put into researching it. A lot of it makes sense.
Keep in mind that while McDaniel would say he is a zone scheme on offense, he runs more variations on his plays and schemes than anyone I've seen in the NFL when it comes to how we'll be blocking people.
So while we will run inside and outside zone a bunch, we'll also pull guards, trap, block down kick out, run iso with double teams at the point of attack, combo blocks, you name it. We'll see some game plans emphasize variations depending on the front and scheme we are facing. Sometimes having a great player in the front at NT, DT, DE, or LB might determine how we prefer to do certain things blocking wise. Everyone in the league does these types of things, but McDaniels offense does it more and has been the best at it IMO running the football and using play action off of those runs.
 
SanMarino said:
I could get behind this I just would also add on a center. I don't trust Dieter and I am pessimistic that Linderbaum would fall to 29.

Fisher at 16M and Trent Brown at 10.5 per the estimated market value charts in my OP along with Ben Jones/Brian Allen brings you to about $34M which is the same as my projection for signing the 4 lineman.

This could work and may be the decision that's made I just feel like Grier is going to try and save face and try and find a stop gap (Duane Brown) to try and develop Ajax. If he goes with Fisher he removes all doubt that Ajax was a bust to his boss. Fisher is a long term solution which I think we'd all be happy with. It'll be interesting to see which way they go.
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I don’t like the money for those centers at their age/play level.

Laell Collins is on the block in Dallas and I’m in on that at right tackle Id think he could be had for a day 3 pick. $10 mil this year.

Rodger saffold is being dumped also by the Titans but I don’t think I need a left guard unless austin jackson is going back to tackle
 
hoops said:
I don’t like the money for those centers at their age/play level.

Laell Collins is on the block in Dallas and I’m in on that at right tackle Id think he could be had for a day 3 pick. $10 mil this year.

Rodger saffold is being dumped also by the Titans but I don’t think I need a left guard unless austin jackson is going back to tackle
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What's the solution at Center then? Jensen at 13M or James Daniels at 10M?

Laell would be great but it would have to be a Post June 1 trade because per spotrac a trade before leaves them with 13.95M in dead cap in 2022 vs. A post June 1 trade spreads the dead cap over two years. I dont know if we should be willing to wait on the chance to trade for him. Need to resolve this within the first few days of FA.
 
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SanMarino said:
What's the solution at Center then? Jensen at 13M or James Daniels at 10M?

Laell would be great but it would have to be a Post June 1 trade because per spotrac a trade before leaves them with 13.95M in dead cap in 2022 vs. A post June 1 trade spreads the dead cap over two years. I dont know if we should be willing to wait on the chance to trade for him. Need to resolve this within the first few days of FA.
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Is that right on Collins? Supposedly he’s on the block now.

As for center with the outside zone heavy scheme james Daniels of those 2 options but Miami may need to just nut up and go get linderbaum in the teens. Of course you could have just took him at 15 most likely if your gm didn’t royally screw up that trade out from 3 last year with all the chips on his table. We got smoked on that trade out and trade back up. But I digress.
 
hoops said:
Laell Collins is on the block in Dallas and I’m in on that at right tackle Id think he could be had for a day 3 pick. $10 mil this year.
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Day 3 pick, I'll take him for ORT.....
 
This is an important topic in regards to the Phins approach to FA. We need to upgrade both quality and experience on OL so makes sense to use our cap space in that area. Armstead is the big fish and many pundits have Miami as his landing spots. Thing is we need a balance of quantity and quality. Adding a the stud LT would be great but realistically we only need decent players to upgrade our line. Robert Hunt is the only current member this unit that could be classified as that. Deiter to a lesser extent.

While splashing the cash on Armstead would help I think we're better off spreading the money around more. For similar money to Armstead you could land both Duane Brown and Morgan Moses. You basically upgrade 2 spots for the price of one.

Addressing the interior could take a couple of approaches. Bring in a center like Ben Jones and let Deiter, Jackson and Eichenberg compete for the LG spot. All 3 are still young and some good coaching should elevate the play of at least one to the standard required. Alternatively target a guard in either FA or the draft.
 
I like Jones at center Brown at lt Moses at right tackle All are good vets that will start next yr and will either develop the talent we have drafted without putting us in cap hell
 
James Daniels and Laken Tomlinson for me.Solidifies interior let Ajax,R.Jones and Eich plus draft pick fight
over tackle spots
 
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