Shelly Smith finds role on Dolphins offensive line | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Shelly Smith finds role on Dolphins offensive line

I am hopeful that we will be able to get two quality starters between Smith, Thomas and Turner. A lot of unprovens right now, but I would take that at this point over the knowns we had last season in Incognito and Jerry. At least Smith, Thomas and Turner appear to have more upside than those guys if they reach their full potential. Smith seems like the most likely to start of the three as he hasn't had any real direct competition in OTAs and Mini Camp at the right guard position. Thomas has been holding Turner off at the LG position, but that could easily change once things really heat up in Training Camp/Preseason.

The offensive line will take some time to gel with four new starters, and things potentially might look bad early on, but I am hopeful this line can finally be what we need. I am liking the idea of Albert at LT, Thomas/Turner at LG, Pouncey at C, Smith at RG and James at RT. Again, might not look pretty right away, but I think the potential is certainly there to be a good line.
 
There will be growing pains for sure but at least they all fit the scheme.
 
I just keep telling myself it can't get any worse. There are enough names in the hat that fit our scheme for me to believe our new coach can put together a decent OL.......and by decent I mean better than awful.
 
Are we less than a month from training camp? Time for the pads so we can get to what guys are doing on the field now and stop all the talk and speculation...for some reason this off season feels like it will never end......
 
smith looks small...reminds me of sam brenner size wise...must be a serious bench press guy if he's a mover in the run game...either that or he must play with great leverage and technique in it
 
All along this kid has seemed like a project. Great run blocking skill for our scheme, and some good physical tools ... but he is not a good pass protector. This preseason will be in part about getting Smith reps and letting him try to claim a starting RG. Let's hope he makes a dramatic improvement.

Sent from my phone, so please forgive any typos.
 
Upper body strength can be an issue for him, particularly with counter movement over his left shoulder. Generally speaking he was a left guard until the Rams needed him at right guard this year. He had a tough day when iso'd all day on Justin Smith at left guard in 2012 (I believe Smith was All Pro that year), but otherwise his pass pro tape at left guard looks better than right guard where he persistently shows weakness protecting the A gap (to his left). I didn't see issues protecting the A gap (to his right) at left guard and when it comes to protecting the B gap (to his left), it helps to have a veteran with as many accomplishments as Branden Albert next to him. It also helps that lining up on that side gets him moving in that direction anyway, which can minimize some of the weakness to his left.

The reason he's a good run blocker is lower body explosion, which he has in spades. He fires off the ball explosively and wins a lot at the point of contact because of it. The lower body also helps him get out into space and do damage that way. He's going to consistently draw high marks for getting out into space and making a block, which I think most people notice more easily than wins at the line of scrimmage.

He's a marginal starter if you can't fix the issues in pass pro, but he was worth the gamble as a lower-priced free agent that you see if you can "fix" in your system and development program.
 
He may be a better fit on the left side between two VG pass blockers. For now, that would leave us with two first time starters on the right side, which is scary.
 
lower body explosion...ok makes sense...something to look for come the preseason...firing off the ball and into contact
 
KTOWNFINFAN said:
I have watched and rewatched all the clips of Shelly that I can find, and I just can't be convinced that he has the talent to turn into a consistent pass blocker. I know Lazor is very interested in powerful run blockers and Shelly certainly fits that bill, but I don't see that he has the natural ability to make it as a starting guard when it comes to pass blocking. He seems to lunge/guess at the defender, he plays low enough to be good, but even though his plays low he still seems to get thrown off his feet too easily. He tends to stay with his man too long even on obvious twist and stunts. His awareness is just not good enough. He always seems to be overmatched and doesn't play with confidence.

If I were the QB and Shelly was my starting RG I would struggle keeping my eyes down field. Not only does he get beat too much but when he gets beat he often gets beat straight off the snap which puts instant pressure on the QB. He will be a solid addition if he is used as an extra TE on GL and short yardage, and maybe even could be brought in late in games to close teams out when we have a lead, but if he is our day one starter RT17 won't be any better off than he was last year IMO, to be honest it will be worse because the pressure will get to him even faster than it did last year.
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I saw a couple of games last year and observed the same thing. If he is the starting RG, I hope the Running Game becomes dominant where they won't be put in a whole lot of passing situations. Maybe Benton can work with him to improve his pass blocking. He was one of the reasons Sam Bradford got hit so many times last year. But I think he can improve.
 
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