Just to clarify, I did not write this. This work is by the amazing Cidolfus on Reddit whom writes these each year and has some amazing work. Click the links below to check out his writeups.
https://www.reddit.com/r/miamidolphins/comments/1icvmng/the_offseason_with_cidolfus_2025_offensive_line/
The Offseason with Cidolfus 2025: Offensive Line
This is why I don’t commit to formalizing this series beyond reddit posts; I can’t even keep to my own self-imposed deadlines. Sorry for the unplanned week off.
Alongside the backup quarterback position, solving the offensive line should be a priority in 2025. There’s a lot to go over, so let’s jump right in.
- Part I: Assumptions and Baseline
- Part II: Quarterbacks
- Part III: Offensive Line
- Part IV: Skill Positions
- Part V: Defensive Line
- Part VI: Linebackers
- Part VII: Secondary
Offensive Line
The Miami Dolphins enter the 2025 offseason with an offensive line in flux. Both of the team’s starting guards, Liam Eichenberg and Robert Jones, are (blessedly) free agents; Terron Armstead, our starting left tackle, is likely to retire; Kendall Lamm, our backup swing tackle who started much of the season in relief of Austin Jackson and ended the season on injured reserve himself, is also likely to retire; and back-up left guard, Isaiah Wynn, who split snaps with Eichenberg after returning from injury, is a free agent.Including players signed to futures deals, the Dolphins have the following players under contract headed into the 2025 offseason:
| Player | Position |
|---|---|
| Terron Armstead | Tackle |
| Austin Jackson | Tackle |
| Patrick Paul | Tackle |
| Braeden Daniels | Tackle |
| Ryan Hayes | Tackle |
| Bayron Matos | Tackle |
| Chasen Hines | Guard |
| Aaron Brewer | Center |
| Andrew Meyer | Center |
The Dolphins have carried 10 offensive linemen onto the 53-man roster in each of the past two seasons; we should expect the same moving forward. I’d argue that only three of those ten spots are locks: Jackson, Paul, and Brewer.
Expect to carry four tackles, four guards, and two centers to make the 53--maybe only 9 if the team is confident in a player who can swing between guard and tackle or guard and center. For the sake of this piece, we’ll assume that to round out the roster the team is looking for two tackles, four guards, and a backup center.
Returning Players
The Dolphins reportedly liked Kion Smith this past offseason; he’s an exclusive rights free agent, and that means he’s almost certain to be extended a tender at the minimum salary. He’ll have a chance to compete for one of the backup tackle spots alongside guys like Daniels, Hayes, and Matos.Fans won’t be happy about it, but don’t be surprised to see two of Wynn, Eichenberg, and Jones returning to contend for backup spots. None of these players is going to earn much more than the minimum on the open market, and it makes sense to bring in scheme-familiar players for camp. We’ll be in bad shape if more than one of them actually makes the final 53, but given that the team needs four guards and only has one currently under contract (who only returned to the practice squad in November 2024), it’d be nearly unprecedented to enter camp without bringing back a single guard who played snaps at the position in 2024.
Free Agency Priorities
Once again, let’s look back to the qualities that define Chris Grier’s tenure as the Miami Dolphins general manager.He attempts to execute the head coach’s vision for personnel. He overcompensates at perceived positions of weakness. He retains veterans who offer only marginal cap savings, preferring to release them in camp. He tries to plug holes in free agency to avoid need-based drafting.
Items 1, 2, and 4 are most relevant to this discussion. The Dolphins have devalued the guard position since McDaniel’s arrival, and that while will certainly change, don’t expect the Dolphins to do a complete reversal. We’re unlikely to rush to pay Trey Smith the type of contract we declined to pay Robert Hunt last year, but whether it’s in terms of cap space or draft picks, the Dolphins will need to invest more resources into improving at guard.
That said, McDaniel’s scheme is likely to heavily influence what traits the Dolphins seek at guard. I don’t expect that the team is going to make major schematic changes, so I expect they’ll pursue talent with experience in offenses who rely heavily on zone blocking schemes. We’re likely to continue to prioritize athleticism of guards and the ability to move in space effectively over the big bodies who will impose their will in a power blocking scheme. That said, given how absolutely awful this team was when trying to run gap blocking schemes this past season, they need a better class of athlete at the position in general.
Further, I would bet that a guard’s capability as a run blocker will be a more important consideration than their pass blocking chops. The Dolphins have been largely successful at masking pass blocking inefficiencies by leveraging Tua Tagovailoa’s best physical skill: his quick release. I don’t think that’s likely to change. The Dolphins tried to open up the passing game with more passing options this year, but the reality is that Tagovailoa is most effective when he stresses defenses by getting the ball out quickly.
The Dolphins’s offense works best when it can punish teams who drop into two deep coverages to take away plays over the top by gashing them in the run game underneath. The loss of Robert Hunt in free agency and then Austin Jackson to injury early in the season was devastating to the team’s run blocking in 2024, and the result was an offense that struggled because defenses could regularly drop extra defenders into coverage while still winning at the line of scrimmage with a light box against the run.
To be clear, the Dolphins don’t need to get the best run blockers in the league to make this work. Eichenberg, Jones, and Lamm all posted sub-60 (below average) run blocking grades on PFF this season. Only Jones posted an above-average run blocking grade on zone blocking snaps. All three posted sub-50 grades on gap blocking snaps. Jones posted an atrocious sub-40 grade on gap blocking snaps. Reaching even league average would be a huge boon to this team.
To points two and four above, I think that Grier tries to bring in at least two players in free agency who project as starters at guard. No doubt the team needs to look to the draft to improve the offensive line, but I expect Grier to spend money in free agency to address the guard position and mitigate the urgency.
As I already said, I don’t think that the team will spend $20 million per year to sign Smith, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they spend nearly as much to acquire two starters, especially if only one of those two is a multi-year deal. There are several free agents this year who might fit into the veteran journeyman role as a short-term improvement.
This would align with Grier’s aggressive strategy of attacking roster weaknesses while also diminishing the need for the Dolphins to draft a guard to start immediately.
Tackle
Jackson is entrenched as our starter at right tackle, and I don’t see him going anywhere. Paul is a more interesting case. It’s no secret that he was drafted to start following Armstead’s retirement, and we saw a decent sample size of him in 2024. It was also no secret that he was a project, and the result we saw on the field was a bit of a mixed bag.While I’m confident that Paul’s roster spot is secure, I’m not as confident that his position as a starter is as secure. The point in his favor is that the free agency class at tackle is largely unimpressive this year.
Alaric Jackson could conceivably be a target coming off of two solid seasons as a starter in LA. He’s shown consistent improvement year-over-year, and his scheme familiarity would be a huge bonus if the Rams were to let him hit free agency. I’m skeptical though, that the Dolphins would be in a rush to spend the $15 million per year it would likely take to sign him. And I suspect they’re in even less of a hurry to close the door on Paul as a starting tackle. Unless they’re willing to try Paul at guard, which would be surprising, that kind of move doesn’t make much sense.
I think the bigger dark horse at tackle would come in the draft. Picking at 13, it’s not inconceivable that the Dolphins would draft someone who has played tackle at the college level but projects better inside. An open competition in camp then might sort out who starts where. We’ll look into this more in depth when I get to the draft in future entries of this series.
The most likely scenario is that the shakeup at tackle happens only at the backup spots, and given the desperate need to improve along the offensive line, I think the team will struggle to spend resources addressing tackle depth and will instead rely on letting someone like Kion Smith develop and emerge as a cheap solution.
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