The NFL Draft is less than two weeks away, and there is a lot of talk about what will happen at the top of the draft with quarterbacks and teams looking to trade up. There will also be talk of teams looking to trade back, which is what I would like to see the Miami Dolphins do. The Dolphins don’t have 3rd or 4th round picks at this time, and they need to try to stockpile picks, considering their salary cap situation this year and years to come with players’ contracts coming up.
One of the deepest positions in this draft is the offensive line, and that’s a good thing for the Dolphins because they lost guard Robert Hunt in free agency, and center Connor Williams will either not be returning or not be physically ready to play this year with his torn ACL.
The Dolphins did resign Isaiah Wynn and Kendall Lamm to one-year contracts. They also signed Aaron Brewer, but these guys are short-term solutions. The Dolphins need to find linemen to develop and give the team more depth and cap-friendly deals.
The Dolphins specifically need to find the heir apparent to left tackle Terron Armstead. Armstead is 33 years old and coming back, but he has never played a full NFL season, so odds are he’s going to miss a handful of games this year. Plus, the Dolphins can get out of his contract next year, but they need someone to replace him. Lamm did a good job this past season, but this year will be his last season in the NFL, as he was talking about retirement a few weeks ago.
The Dolphins don’t necessarily have to draft one at pick 21, but they must look hard early. They should let the draft play out because you never know if a talented player will fall to them from another position. That happened in 2016 when the Dolphins had the 13th pick, and left tackle Laremy Tunsil, projected as the top pick going into the draft, fell to the Dolphins because of a social media video posting of him smoking pot in a gas mask bong. The Dolphins should keep their options open for any position.
The Dolphins have to draft a left tackle but not necessarily play left tackle this year. They could draft a player who primarily plays left tackle and potentially have him work at another position in 2024. That’s what they did with Tunsil in 2016 because the Dolphins had Brandon Albert at left tackle but had Tunsil work at left guard his rookie season and then go back to left tackle the following after releasing Albert, as Tunsil was the future at the position. It will be a win if the Dolphins can find a player like that.
Armstead is at the end of his career; he and the team know it. I’m sure Armstead would be willing to mentor a young player like Albert did in 2016. Plus, with Armstead, they can’t count on him for more than ten games due to his injury history, and they need to look at the future.
Maybe one of the top tackles falls to the Dolphins, with quarterbacks taken higher than usual, or another position has players go off the board. The Dolphins need to address this position, considering it’s a deep class, and who knows what next year will bring. They need to draft for the present and for down the road, and they need to plan for certain players who won’t be here like Armstead in a year, most likely.