If the Miami Dolphins decide against signing one of these big free-agent tackles this off-season, it sends a clear message to the fans and the team: We have faith in Mike McDaniel to develop what we have at our offensive line.

Honestly, all Miami Dolphins fans would prefer immediate security in the trenches for our run and pass game; investing in our youth is not a bad play either.

The Addition in the Trenches

Connor Williams: Williams is an underrated signing because he’s not one of those big-name signings. Fans associate big names and big contact to good signing, but that’s not always the case. For example, the knock-on Williams is that he’s highly penalized. People fail to recognize that penalties are a fundamental and coaching issue. Rules and penalties are constantly evolving, and that falls to the coaching staff to make sure its players are fundamentally performing. For Miami to sign a player that has “penalty issues,” it just means they believe Mike McDaniel can make sure that his players can perform the fundamentals. Penalties aside, the talent is there. Pro-Football-Focus credited Williams with only one sack allowed last year. He held a blocking grade of 76.1, which ranked 17th out of all qualified guards. Pro-Football-Focus also only credited Williams to 13 pressures allowed, ranking 3rd. With Williams being 24 years old, 25 in May, this signing is a steal if Mike McDaniel can reinstall the fundamentals into Williams’s game. Instead of possibly having a rental or an aging star at tackle, we could have a young core player for a decade.

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What Miami Has

Robert Hunt: The Dolphins’ offensive line is criticized heavily, but if there was one bright spot, it would be Robert Hunt. According to Pro-Football-Focus, Hunt ranked 37th among all qualified guards with a blocking rating of 67.4. Pro-Football-Focus also credits him with only two sacks allowed all year. If McDaniel can squeeze out the potential from Robert Hunt, expect a vast improvement from year 2 to year 3.

Liam Eichenberg: Was his first season as a Miami Dolphin great? Absolutely not. Do I have faith that Eichenberg can be saved? Yes. The positives coming out of college as he excelled in run blocking. Mike McDaniel intends to bring a running scheme to Miami. The common denominator lies within McDaniel and the scheme he installs in the offense. With Eichenberg only being 24 and it being his second year in the league, there is a lot to improve. Eichenberg was also on record stating he felt uncomfortable at left tackle (where he played most of the season ) and preferred to play right tackle. This could have been a result of his struggles during his rookie year.

Austin Jackson: Jackson has been a disappointing prospect for the Miami Dolphins. But coming out of college, he was a valued athletic prospect whose flaws were “Technique issues, infrequent usage of hands, etc..” in other words, fundamentals. (According to NFL.com scouting report). So far in the NFL, these flaws have been the story of Jackson’s career as PFF has him graded with an overall passing grade of 49.9. There is much to want out of Jackson. However, Jackson is also the most significant testament that if Miami doesn’t sign a star Tackle, they have faith that McDaniel can develop Jackson into the caliber starter Miami envisioned him to be when he was drafted. With fundamentals being the critical issue plaguing Jackson’s early career, we will see if he can be coached up to his potential.

Michael Deiter: Michael Deiter was honestly probably the second potential bright spot on Miami’s offensive line last year. Pro-Football-Focus has him rated with a 60.6 overall blocking rating last year, the second-highest on the team. Pro-Football-Focus also only credits him with one sack allowed all year. So there is potential here. Deiter ranked 29th among all centers, according to PFF. Competent but much to improve.

While it is true that Miami has much to improve on the offensive line, it is also fair to say that this is a young offensive line (average age of 25) that has a lot to learn. And if they don’t sign a star tackle. Miami is telling us how they see it: the last regime didn’t coach Miami’s future line to their potential, and they believe Mike McDaniel is their guy.