Isaiah Wynn is a Fin

One year deal. Stayed healthy only one of his NFL seasons to date, playing well in 2021. Nice depth signing IF he can change that; the Greg Little reclamation project didn't work out, hope this one does.

I see Grier finally found out how injury-prone Wynn was and of course had to sign him ASAP.

I guess that means Cam Fleming is off the table, then? (Sighs.)

This is not a Wynning move.

Unimpressed. Injury prone player that never really found a spot in NE and they have one of the best line coaches in NFL history.

I love the move. Wynn was one of the two linemen I wanted. While I preferred Fleming, when healthy Wynn was arguably a better player. He can play tackle and guard, and has been very good when healthy. He's got 40 career starts under his belt, so he has plenty of experience. This is one of those low risk, high reward moves: if Wynn is healthy we got a steal, and if not, he's cheap and we lose nothing.

I don't think this rules out Fleming, but I guess we'll see after June 1 if he's still available.

white1 wrote:never really found a spot in NE

He started 40 of 43 games for the Patriots, and was a full-time starter at LT when he was on the field in his first 3 seasons. Last season they moved him to RT, but he was in and out of the lineup with injuries. He's also seen some action at LG.

The Phins shytecanned a few UDFA Linemen awfully quick it seems like to me? Three days in minicamp was enough to tell they stink?

And then promptly signed Wynn? As DF316 points out, "Injury history, schminjury history! He will not get injured if we sign him!!!"

I hope I am wrong, but the more I see and read the more I think the Oddsmakers are right and the Phins failure to address the OLine realistically is going to be the downfall of the team yet again IMO. The Phins have the 3rd best odds of winning the AFC East! Yes, behind the Bills and the Jets!

I mean it is one thing to HOPE Eichenberg and Jackson stay healthy, but that still means:
One - You have Eich playing LG and Jackson playing RT which ain't been a proven winning formula yet!
and TWO - Armstead could have checked out for surgery last year and played hurt. He is another year older now and if he goes down for the season... Who is the LT?
and THREE - If Tua gets dinged by the craptastic assemblage of crappy crapola of an Oline, then another season has been wasted by Grier IMO.

I am at a loss to understand what exactly the PLAN is??

The only reason anyone has the Phins behind the Jets in the East is because of Aaron Rodgers. That's it.

finfanatic wrote:
I am at a loss to understand what exactly the PLAN is??

Seems like you're overthinking it. The plan is pretty simple and hasn't changed at all: the starters are Armstead, Eich, Williams, Hunt and Jackson. In camp, Feeney and Wynn will have a chance to overtake Eich and Jackson respectively, but until that happens this is the starting OL. We have improved the depth with several vets that have tons of experience, and we have lots of young linemen that will get a long look this summer. I would've liked to see a higher draft pick on the OL, but I'd rather have Harris and Achane than a lineman that was probably going to sit on the bench all season.

This is an OL that was ravaged by injuries last season, yet the Dolphins still finished with a top 10 offense and were top 10 in fewest sacks allowed. The two top RBs averaged almost 5 yards a carry. In fact, with a makeshift OL, we went to Buffalo in the playoffs and would have walked out with a win if not for a plethora of dropped passes (and a defense that allowed 30+ points). Yes, the OL can be improved, but it is not nearly as bad as the current narrative makes it. If injuries hit again, we now have better depth at both tackle spots and all 3 interior positions. That's a step in the right direction.

The plan is pretty simple and hasn't changed at all: the starters are Armstead, Eich, Williams, Hunt and Jackson.

I will say this. These starters did not make it through last season healthy, in fact we lost Jackson very early and at times throughout the year had to rely on street free agents as stop gap starters.

If we get better luck with their health OR the depth behind them is better (and both of these can be true) we have a chance to have a much improved offensive line this season.

The stats for our offensive line were not that bad. I think that goes to a number of things: Tua has a very quick release, he's getting the ball out fast which helps his protection. Hill and Waddle are major threats. Defenses cannot "sell out" for fear of getting burned deep. We have a grown-up offensive scheme and game planning, rooted in one of the most successful modern schemes (Shanahan offense) - a major difference from the Gase / Flores regimes.

A bit more optimism. Our running back room is better day one this year than it was last year, we did not acquire Mostert / Wilson until later in the season. Chase Edmonds was a major disappointment. We also added another speed threat with receiving skills in Achane. Additionally, Berrios and Chosen are better 3 and 4 receivers than we had last season. Gesicki is gone and that's a good thing. He didn't fit this offense. Blocking at TE becomes stronger.

All of this will contribute to the line being better.

Good post, white.

I've been saying for many years that teams don't need great offensive lines to win - just being decent and not totally sucking is good enough if you have the right offense. And with this current Mike McDaniel offense, I think that's even more true.

Now, do we need better OL play overall? Sure, at LG and RT we absolutely need to see improvement - both from starters and backups, and backup LT too. But keep in mind - this team was firing on all cylinders with Eich at LG, and AJax looked very good at RT in preseason before getting hurt. If these guys stay healthy, I have no worries about the OL. But if we do get injuries, Feeney and Wynn are solid, experienced players that can get the job done. It certainly isn't an ideal situation, but how many NFL offensive lines are perfect?

It's always risky to roll the dice with players that have been injured, especially at OL, but that's the way the NFL is these days due to a shortage of OL talent league-wide. Fans and teams went apeshit over Mike McGlinchey is free agency this year, but he missed 4 games in 2019 (quad injury) and 8 games in 2021 (quad injury). And starting LT Trent Williams hasn't played a full season since 2013. And it seems like everyone is putting the Jets in the Super Bowl this coming season - with Duane Brown (missed 9 games in 4 years and is turning 38 in August), Alijah Vera-Tucker (missed 11 games in 2022) and Mekhi Becton (1 total start in 2021 and 2022) as projected OL starters. Almost every team is in that same boat with injuries, and the vast majority of backup OL just aren't very good - if they were, they'd be starters.

The Miami OL simply isn't the tragedy that so many people make it out to be, and injured OL isn't a situation that is unique to the Dolphins. I certainly hope we get better play from the OL overall, but I think this current line is good enough to win with.

JMP wrote:The Miami OL simply isn't the tragedy that so many people make it out to be, and injured OL isn't a situation that is unique to the Dolphins. I certainly hope we get better play from the OL overall, but I think this current line is good enough to win with.

If Terron goes down, this Oline IS fairly close to a tragedy IMO. Especially if the Oline gets Tua injured!

As I said, sure the Oline will (maybe?) be better if Eich and Jackson stay healthy, but what is the backup plan at LT? Gonna move Eich over there, or Jackson, or... who?

Anyway, my point was that the "plan" essentially is to HOPE there are no injuries and sign some "hopefully better" backups. But the jury is still out on just how good Eich and Jackson are even if they can stay healthy, and MAYBE the backups are better.

I was really HOPING for something I could point at as a MAJOR UPGRADE on the Oline. And maybe it is coming later this season after some training camp cuts?

I agree with JMP, W1; nice post.

finfanatic wrote:

what is the backup plan at LT?

If Armstead gets hurt, Wynn plays LT. He was a multi-year starter at LT for the Patriots.

I agree with JMP. OL shoul be fixed but stats have to be considered. How much better can we get with the 6th best offense in the league last year. I think tweaks is the way to go. I also think that if there's a real fix, it's Tua taking the check down and McDaniel making the play calls quicker.

Tua's health or concussion concerns were mostly his inablity to take what was given. They were extended plays. All 3 concussions!!!!!!!! No doubt about it. Even the tragic ending at SF. He simply tried to make plays when making play isn't neccessarily completing a pass. Sometimes its just throwing the ball away.

Do I think there's room for improvement? Of course, but the same can be said for any position and any time regardless of whose on the roster. There is no way to predict anything but the hope is that getiing better is a constant and fluid situation until you actually play the game.

Umix10 wrote:I agree with JMP.  OL shoul be fixed but stats have to be considered.  How much better can we get with the 6th best offense in the league last year.  I think tweaks is the way to go.  I also think that if there's a real fix, it's Tua taking the check down and McDaniel making the play calls quicker.

Tua's health or concussion concerns were mostly his inablity to take what was given.  They were extended plays.  All 3 concussions!!!!!!!!  No doubt about it.  Even the tragic ending at SF. He simply tried to make plays when making play isn't neccessarily completing a pass.  Sometimes its just throwing the ball away.

Do I think there's room for improvement?  Of course, but the same can be said for any position and any time regardless of whose on the roster.  There is no way to predict anything but the hope is that getiing better is a constant and fluid situation until you actually play the game.

Agree completely.

I think Tua and McD can do things to take pressure off the OL. As you say Umix - Tua needs to learn to check down (and throw the ball away when necessary) and McD has to get the plays in quicker. But also, McD has to call more running plays and Tua has to learn to run for easy yards when the path is clear and he can quickly get out of bounds after a gain. Improved TE blocking with Saubert will also play a role.

We had the #6 offense, and were top 10 in fewest sacks allowed, in year one of this offense. Think about that for a second. That's damn impressive. And we did it with an OL that everyone seems to think is godawful. Just imagine how good we can be if Tua and McD make the adjustments discussed here and the OL gets even a little bit better.

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky had an excellent film review segment on “NFL Live” showing how Tagovailoa’s two concussions last season (and the possible concussion against Buffalo) could have been prevented, from an offensive line and play-calling perspective.

“Their tackles in Miami, for some reason, play slow to the snap when they’re in shotgun,” Orlovsky said.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article275161491.html

if that's not fixed, then its gonna be a long season.

Nice post, merc, but those specific plays are more an indictment of Tua than the OL IMO.

As Orlovsky pointed out, Tua held the ball far too long on all of those plays. This offense is designed for the QB to get the ball out quickly, and Tua didn't do that. Tua had all day to throw on each of those plays - the OL did their job, but he did not throw the ball. If he learns to throw the ball out of bounds when needed, those hits don't happen.

BTW - Cam Fleming re-signed with the Broncos. One year deal.