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One Scout's view of Dolphins

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gafin

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Finally, preseason provides a sketch of individual talent.

This last idea had more relevance than usual with the Dolphins, because the offseason's primary issue was the offensive line's total makeover. An AFC scout who has watched the Dolphins this preseason gave a glass-half-full report on the line heading into the New England opener.

"They look set at tackle," he said. "You couldn't have asked it to work out much better at this point. You always knew what you were getting in Branden Albert. That's why they paid all that money for him.

"And the kid (rookie right tackle Ja'Wuan James) looks pretty good. He really does. You've got to wait until the music comes on, but he won't be a liability and could actually be pretty good right away. That's good news and that's important."

But …

"The bad news is the two guards and center — I don't know what they have there. I just don't like enough of what I've seen. You can write it off to preseason. But it's not like they didn't come without questions, and if that's who they are …"

Trouble?

"I need to see more," he said. "But let's just say they can't get
Mike Pouncey healthy quick enough. He's good enough to cover for some of their limitations at guard. But ..."

This is especially relevant because the first three opponents have beasts inside. New England's Vince Wilfork, Buffalo's Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams and Kansas City Dontari Poe will find weaknesses, wherever they are.

The best news from this Dolphins preseason?

"I really like how [quarterback] Ryan Tannehill fits in this offense, and I like Knowshon Moreno as their back," the scout said. "He does everything you want a back to do there. He's decisive. He can break into the second level [of linebackers]. He can block — that's important. And he catches passes.

"The only question with him is if he can stay healthy. Yeah, that's a question on every team. But I look at the Dolphins and it's not just Moreno. I'd be crossing my fingers all year.​
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Can't disagree about the guards, we are going to have issues there...maybe even worse than last year.
 
As far as the guards go that is a major concern but it can be masked a lot with playcalling-- rollouts, read option, quick passes, play-action will all help but the biggest thing will be the uptempo. If we can keep the DTs from substituting and slow down the blitzes with the uptempo that will be huge to mitigating the liability at guard.

Linebacker is the weakest spot on the team, but we'll have to wait and see just how bad it is. I will say this though-- get Coyle just one really good LBer and our defense goes from being good to elite.
 
roy_miami said:
As far as the guards go that is a major concern but it can be masked a lot with playcalling-- rollouts, read option, quick passes, play-action will all help but the biggest thing will be the uptempo. If we can keep the DTs from substituting and slow down the blitzes with the uptempo that will be huge to mitigating the liability at guard.

Linebacker is the weakest spot on the team, but we'll have to wait and see just how bad it is. I will say this though-- get Coyle just one really good LBer and our defense goes from being good to elite.
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Against division opponents... scheme to hide weakness only gets you so far. Those DTs will be tough.
 
colledge will be fine. it's the other side that shelley smith (or somebody) has to come through for us.
 
Right now no one knows what the OL will look like. But to have expected every starter that wasn't Pouncey was going to be all-pro quality isn't fair to Hickey. Having to replace 4 guys on the OL is enough of a pain in the ass. Having the guards be serviceable, at minimum, should be the expectation.
 
I actually think Shelley Smith is OK from what I have seen so far. We will see when the bullets start flying.
 
Colledge is not as good as Cog but, will be average, and could be better in between Albert and Pouncey. Shelly is much better than Jerry on the run but much worse at pass blocking, overall a downgrade so far.
 
"The only question with him is if he can stay healthy. Yeah, that's a question on every team. But I look at the Dolphins and it's not just Moreno. I'd be crossing my fingers all year."

I fundamentally disagree with this opinion above. The Dolphins problem is that - if one of their slightly above average players goes down - we've got another slightly above average player to plug right in. Occasionally it might be a slightly average or even slightly below average guy, but somebody else on the unit who is a little more slightly above average will compensate for him.

What we need is a little sprinkle of elite. Maybe just two guys to add to the 53 who would make 31 other teams go "man, I wish we had that kid". But we would cut him for no return the following season, so there's probably no point.
 
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