Omar Kelly: Dolphins remain soft in the trenches, and seemingly don't care

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Mar 20, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Terron Armstead hasn’t decided if he’ll play another season or will end his career after 12 seasons.

The man who has anchored the Miami Dolphins’ offensive line for the past three seasons, starting 38 regular-season games, could easily go either way with the decision, and the team knows this, and is supposed to be planning accordingly.

Miami has already drafted his replacement in Patrick Paul, but asking the 2024 second-round pick to replace a five-time Pro Bowler, and do it seamlessly, is no small task.

Neither is the position general manager Chris Grier finds himself in, asked to change a soft, finesse team — one that he built by the way — into one that’s physical, and forceful enough to challenge the Buffalo Bills for AFC East supremacy.

At the end of last season Grier supposedly learned the error of his ways, and at the end of the year he promised to rebuild the trenches.

Problem is, we’re still waiting!

Last year Grier was negligent with Miami’s trenches in free agency — signing a handful of 300 pounders to one-year minimum-salary deals — and the draft, and it showed on the field.

Outside of playing six and a half games without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was sidelined by the concussion he sustained in Week 2 and the hip injury that sidelined him for the final two games of the 2024 season, the Dolphins’ lackluster trench play — on offense and defense — weighed last year’s 8-9 team down.

Miami’s run game, which was the strength of the 2023 team, producing 2,308 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns, disappeared last season.

The Dolphins averaged a pedestrian 4.0 yards per carry, and scored just 12 rushing touchdowns on 448 attempts. Only four teams — Kansas City, Dallas, Las Vegas, the Los Angeles Rams — were worse when it came to running the ball in 2024.

Blame that on Austin Jackson’s midseason knee injury all you want, but the interior of Miami’s offensive line was a disaster all season, and outside of signing James Daniels to a respectable three-year, $24 million deal, Grier has done little to change that so far.

And what’s troubling is that Miami’s present defensive line is in even worse shape heading into the 2025 NFL Draft.

On too many instances Miami struggled stopping the run last season. Opponents might have averaged 4.35 yards per carry against Miami’s defense, which ranks Miami ninth in rushing yards (103.5) per game. But the shortcomings were extremely obvious when Calais Campbell wasn’t on the field.

And the Dolphins went from setting a franchise record in sacks (56) in 2023 to producing just 35 in 2024. Miami ranked 27th in sacks per passing attempt, and the lack of pressure applied contributed to the secondary’s struggles last season.

Getting back healthy versions of Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips, who are both nursing serious knee injuries, should help. But someone has to set the table for that pass rushing duo, and at this moment Miami only has three defensive linemen — Zach Sieler, Neil Farrell and Matt Dickerson — under contract.

And two of those defensive linemen are fringe NFL players who began their tenure with the Dolphins on the practice squad last year.

As things stand with the NFL Draft a month and a half away, if Campbell, who turns 39 in September, doesn’t re-sign with the Dolphins this team could be in some serious trouble, soft in the trenches yet again.

Of course re-signing Benito Jones and Emmanuel Ogbah, two of last season’s starters who remain free agents, would help. But there’s a reason both are still on the market. And Miami could easily add a veteran such as Raekwon Davis, who spent four years as a starter in Miami before leaving for the Indianapolis Colts last season.

There’s still time to add veterans, who often take their time to find the right fit, the ideal situation. But Grier not reinforcing the trenches for the second straight offseason isn’t reassuring.

And quite honestly, it feels like yet another empty promise that isn’t being delivered on.

The Dolphins should be commended for the franchise’s fiscally responsible approach to free agency this spring.

They have lived off big daddy’s credit card far too long, and owner Steve Ross seemingly encouraged the franchise to dial the big spending back.

Last offseason Miami handed out $121 million in signing bonuses alone to four players — Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Jalen Ramsey and Jaylen Waddle — and it produced the 8-9 season, which was a byproduct of lackluster seasons for all four.

So I don’t blame Ross for cutting off the irresponsible spending, if that was the case.

But the fact Miami hasn’t properly, or effectively addressed what was at the root of last year’s issues is stunning. Head scratching.

While the offseason isn’t over, Miami’s continued negligence when it comes to improving, enhancing and reinforcing the trenches will ultimately lead to everyone’s demise.

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