Earlier this week, the Miami Dolphins re-signed offensive lineman Liam Eichenberg, and at that moment, Dolphins fans collectively raised their palms to their foreheads.

Before I continue, let me clarify one thing so nothing is taken out of context. What I am about to say is strictly about the football decision to bring Liam back.

I am sure Liam Eichenberg is a great person, teammate, friend, family man, and all-around human being. This is not me taking shots at who he is to his core as a person.

The old saying, “It’s not personal, it’s business,” truly fits here.

Honestly, Miami Dolphins fans’ frustration has less to do with Liam and more to do with Chris Grier and the Miami Dolphins front office. Liam did nothing wrong here.

So, with that out of the way, there is no justification for Miami re-signing Liam Eichenberg. The front office looks dumb, and they come off as tone-deaf.

Some fans and media members are trying to defend, dismiss, or marginalize this re-signing, and they all look foolish.

In fact, I believe anyone trying to defend this signing is a bad-faith actor and is being totally disingenuous.

Sometimes, things are what they appear, and this is a bad re-signing.

There is no “yeah but…” to try and defend this.

It’s a bad decision made by Miami’s front office.

For an organization that hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 years, that said after the season, “status quo isn’t good enough,” they are literally doubling down on a player who has failed for four years and bringing him back into the fold.

At what point can you just admit you missed on the early-round draft pick? This guy does more damage than good on the field, and it’s time to move on.

Now, I have heard all of the excuses the bad-faith actors have used to defend, dismiss, or marginalize this re-signing. Let’s dive into them and shoot them down one by one with common sense.

 

HE IS ONLY BEING RE-SIGNED AS A BACKUP; ITS NOT A BIG DEAL

This is the one that drives me up a wall. Why? Because in Miami, the injury rate is higher than the industry standard. Look at Miami’s offensive line.

Terron Armstead is still under contract, so for this exercise, I will assume he is playing in 2025. He is always injured and cannot be depended on week to week.

Austin Jackson may be the only player on Miami’s roster more injury prone than Tua Tagovailoa. In the last three seasons, he has played in 2, 16, and 8 games. Like Tua, the only time he gave you close to a full season is because he was playing for a new contract. Austin cannot be depended on.

James Daniels is coming off an Achilles injury. Now that he is a member of the Miami Dolphins, with this organization’s luck with injuries, can you say with confidence he will be 100% ready to go by Week 1? I know what Miami said after they signed him and what they are saying the medicals say, but this is the same organization that re-signed Isaiah Wynn last season and he didn’t return to the field till the season was almost over, and then they signed Odell Beckham Jr injured, didn’t tell anyone, and well how did that turn out. So, sorry, my faith that James Daniels will be 100% and ready by week 1 is pretty low.

Patrick Paul is an unproven 2nd year player who played very little as a rookie. Even if Armstead retires, or Paul starts over Armstead what happens if a month into the season Paul is totally struggling and not very good, you can’t keep putting him out there.

We don’t even have a left guard on the roster at the moment. (Well, unless you want to just pencil Liam in there.)

Do you see where I am going with this?

The bad-faith actors on social media, in the traditional media, and in the Dolphins organization say Liam is only being brought back as a backup. Yet, the odds of him seeing the field and getting on the field are really, really high.

And then what? We are back to square one with this offensive line.

Same faces. Same struggles. Rinse and Repeat. Nothing changes.

 

IT’S TOUGH TO FIND BACKUP CENTERS, AND LIAM CAN BE A BACKUP CENTER

Here is another one that makes me chuckle. For one, Liam didn’t play the position until the 2023 season. Not in college. Not in High School. Damn, sure, not in the NFL. Miami’s front office felt they could “get by” with anyone at the backup center. Then when Connor Williams goes down in December, and Miami is playing its biggest and most important games of the season, it’s that “OH SHIT” moment when they realize they may have screwed this up.

Liam goes out there and plays 592 snaps at center, and yes, for a guy who has never played the position, he wasn’t a total embarrassment. But let’s not lie and say he was good. Or adequate, either.

Last year, in 2024, how many snaps at center did he take? You guessed it, ZERO.

So now, some will spin this as Liam is a quality backup center (mind you, he only took 592 snaps at the position, all in one season, which is now 2 seasons ago, and the majority of them were bad), which is why this re-signing isn’t bad.

Do people fall for this bullshit?

How about this instead: Go sign a proven backup center. If he was re-signed mainly to be a backup center, that’s a poor justification for this re-signing.

 

LIAM CAN PLAY ALL FIVE OFFENSIVE LINE POSITIONS

Yeah, and he plays them all badly. Name the offensive line position where Liam was a stand-out player. Check that an above-average player. Check that: an average player.

I will wait.

…….

Still waiting…

Ok, you have had long enough. He has been bad at all five offensive line positions when given the opportunity. So why would you want a bad football player on your roster?

I’m sure a bad-faith actor will find some ESPN NextGen Stat analytic number or some PFF grade that will say he really wasn’t “that bad” but anyone with two eyes and a brain who actually watched the games knows the reality. So don’t let an analytics nerd try to convince you Liam isn’t as bad as people say.

Seriously, you know he’s bad. He’s been bad for you for four seasons. Why did the Dolphins knowingly sign a bad player with no upside moving forward?

You see, that is the biggest head-scratching one for me. I don’t care how much Liam got paid (and I will get to that in a minute) its about the fact he doesn’t contribute or produce on the football field.

Give the money (whatever it is) and the roster spot to another player, and let’s see if they are better. If they are, GREAT! If they aren’t, we took a shot and a chance to upgrade over Liam.

What do you have to lose? Because if (sorry…WHEN) Liam is thrown into the starting lineup in 2025, it’s the same old song and dance. He will get pushed around, have plays where he is on the ground on his ass, and he will not play at the level of a capable NFL offensive lineman.

To think otherwise is to be naive, a blind optimist, or just clueless in general.

HE DIDN’T SIGN FOR THAT MUCH MONEY; WHO CARES ABOUT A LOW-LEVEL SIGNING LIKE THIS

We don’t have the contract details for what Liam signed, so we don’t know how much he is getting. But, since I am not a bad-faith actor like others, I will concede that he probably didn’t sign for big money because I cannot think there was any market for Liam as a free agent.

But honestly, who cares about the money? This is about winning football games on the field, and Liam does not help Miami win games.

Sorry, not Sorry….that is a cold hard fact!

As I stated above, he will probably start games for Miami in 2025 (if not Week 1, with our luck) or, at worst, play a significant number of snaps. And when he does play, it won’t be good.

So this is not about the money and hiding behind the “well, he’s not getting paid a lot, so who cares?”

That dismissive attitude is why this organization has gone 25 years without a playoff win.

 

MIAMI WILL DRAFT AN OFFENSIVE GUARD AND SIGN MORE OFFENSIVE LINEMEN IN FREE AGENCY. DON’T WORRY

Any time someone tells you, “DON’T WORRY,”….start worrying!

And, will they sign more in free agency?

Will they draft an offensive lineman in the early/meaningful rounds of the draft?

Are you sure about that?

Let’s start with the draft. Even if they do draft one in the early rounds, how do we know they will be good?

Grier did draft Liam in Round 2, for example. He also drafted Austin Jackson in Round 1, who took until year 4 before he became a contributor (and mind you, he is always injured, as I stated above).

Yes, he did draft Robert Hunt, but there are far more misses on his offensive line draft selections than hits.

Second, will he sign more offensive linemen in free agency? The safe answer is probably yes. And he probably will.

But he has already signed James Daniels and Larry Borom and brought back Liam. We have Paul, Jackson, and Aaron Brewer, and we don’t know about Armstead. That brings us to 7.

Kion Smith is returning as well as Jackson Carman. Now we are at 9.

Andrew Meyer will have a chance to compete to be the backup center. Chasen Hines is still here. Now we are at 11.

If we draft one or two with our 10 picks and bring in a couple of UDFA offensive linemen, we will be at 16 or so pretty easily.

Who’s to say Miami will sign another free-agent offensive lineman?

You know what they say when you assume!

Besides, in case you haven’t been paying attention, Miami has one defensive lineman on its roster. I am not sure it has one starting-caliber safety. It currently lacks a #2 starting cornerback. The free agent market at those positions is thin, so Miami may use its three picks in the Top 100 to address those areas of need and NOT the offensive line.

Now you’re kicking the can to the 4th round at the earliest to grab an offensive lineman, and how many guys taken round 4 or later are day one starters in the NFL?

Exactly!

So, if you’re sitting there thinking at pick #13, Miami will grab Kelvin Banks or Armand Membou, you may be mistaken. 

MIKE MCDANIEL RUNS A COMPLICATED OFFENSE, AND LIAM KNOWS IT AND CAN BACK UP MULTIPLE POSITIONS

This is the scariest one. Will Mike McDaniel be able to help himself?

The first sign of trouble on the offensive line, the first injury—I will bet you $100 that Liam is the first guy they turn to.

They will turn to the devil they know over the rookie, a new free agent signing, or a new face and put him in because they know he knows the offense, has played with the majority, if not all, of the guys around him, and he understands the system.

The best thing would have been to not give Frank Smith, Mike McDaniel,  and the coaching staff the option to put Liam on the field because I think it will be too hard for them to resist.

 

Conclusion

I get that it’s easy to dismiss and marginalize this signing as “no big deal.”

But this signing is just bad optics and bad football.

If the status quo isn’t good enough, you don’t bring back a player who has failed for four years and has been part of the weakest position group on your roster and the biggest pain point. (ie Bad Optics)

From a football perspective, this signing does nothing to improve your team’s performance in 2025 (i.e., it’s Bad Football).

I know we live in a world, especially with social media, where the majority opinion goes one way. However, there are always a few bad-faith actors who, just for the hell of it, must take the contrarian opinion.

One, it brings them the attention they are seeking. Two, it lets them act above everyone else with a holier-than-thou attitude. Be dismissive of the masses and look down upon them.

It’s all bullshit. Don’t fall for it.

Sometimes, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck!

Deep thought isn’t required with some things.

It’s very surface-level.

There is no contrarian viewpoint needed.

It is what it is.

Liam Eichenberg is a bad football player, and the Dolphins made a bad decision to bring him back.

And this decision will bite them in the butt when the 2025 season gets here. Anyone who defends, dismisses, or marginalizes this re-signing is either a bad-faith actor or doesn’t understand that small moves like this that make no sense have come back to haunt this franchise for the past two decades.

And they keep repeating the same mistakes, which is why fans are so frustrated.

We know how this will play out; we have seen this before.

So for those bad faith actors, don’t pee on my leg and tell me its raining!

We see through the bullshit.