MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Given their tight 2024 salary cap situation, the Miami Dolphins were never going to be big offseason spenders on the offensive line.
They gave center Aaron Brewer $10.2 million guaranteed and drafted tackle Patrick Paul in the second round, but the only other new lineman on their Week 1 roster is rookie free agent Andrew Meyer.
Only eight teams are spending less on their offensive lines than the Dolphins ($32.4 million) this year.
So the group that plays in Sunday’s season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars won’t be an accident. It was a conscious decision, even though Miami had the league’s second-worst pass-block win rate in 2023.
2024 Miami Dolphins Offensive Line Outlook
On Thursday, Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith shed new light on the franchise’s thinking when assembling the roster six months ago.
The short version? Miami had confidence that the growth it saw from its players last year would continue in 2024.
“I think ultimately, it’s the makeup of the guys,” Smith said. “Their willingness to improve. You see the growth. With offensive line, a lot of the times you can immediately get stuck in currently where they’re at, as opposed to when you see growth.
“Sometimes it’s gonna move at a different level than maybe a skill position where you see the immediate production. On offensive line, it might be moving in different ways.
“… [It’s the] consistency of our system, consistency of the coach and just, you see guys that are hungry to get better and just they’re working together, getting more in tune to their fundamentals, how they’re gonna work together and what they’re doing.
“A big part of it as you look at the entirety and then you look at now knowing that each guy everyday is gonna get better and we were very pleased with the growth we saw and then this offseason has been great when we’re looking at the group and we feel very confident in how they performed and how they’ve grown in the offseason all the way through training camp.”
When people say they’re concerned about the Dolphins’ offensive line, what they’re really saying is they’re concerned about the guard play. Brewer and tackles Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson should be fine.
But Liam Eichenberg (right guard) and Robert Jones (left guard) are the real question marks.
Smith praised both Thursday.
“You can’t say enough about him as a person, [he’s a] team guy, his willingness, his growth, man over our time here, has been tremendous,” Smith said of Eichenberg.
Smith added his thoughts on Jones:
“The hardest thing is like when playing offensive line is when it’s new, you’re trying to just make sure that you understand the concept of scheme and where you fit. But then as you gain the consistency and the confidence, you know, kind of, ‘OK, here’s how I need to play to be successful.’
“You can really see him understanding, right, how he needs to play to be successful, how he fits in combinations as he’s playing with different guys. So just ultimately see the confidence growing and the knowledge and understanding of where he needs to play and how he needs to play to be his best.”