I like the move. Gives us another option to fight for the guard positions, and let the best 5 start on the OL until Pouncey is healthy.
Because we're not going to play a center. We're going to play three guards, and move them around ala the shell game. The other team ain't gonna know which one is going to snap the football.
Supposedly Taylor can play across the line, but I'm not hearing anything about them trying him at center.
I'd be a lot more comfortable with Colledge if he were filling out the line and wasn't automatically going to be one of the top couple or most reliable linemen on the line. I feel like this team should consider signing another one of the linemen they've looked at, and then consider looking into a non-linemen blocking specialist, someone like a Ben Hartsock. Don't **** around on this one.
I don't think the team is only looking to replace Pouncey's snaps at center but also his veteran leadership. The only guy left on the roster (before Colledge signed) who has started multiple seasons in the NFL is Albert. I have some hope and perhaps even expectation that Thomas, Smith, James, and even Taylor will develop into a good oline. But only Albert has done it. Garner and Fox have been in the league as has Smith but not as full time starters. Adding Colledge also adds experience to the oline room. To me his signing is also about that.
My guess is the Dolphins feel better about one of their own guards who has worked out at center than what is available? The veteran could step in if Smith or Garner played center and either start or provide depth. The Dolphins historically, or at least recently, like their linemen to be able to play across the line.
I'm excited to see Shelley Smith playing center, if that is the implication of their choosing Daryn Colledge. I really liked Shelley as a lower-cost free agent but mostly on his potential to be better at pass pro playing left guard as opposed right guard. If he was playing right guard then I would worry about his pass pro, especially within the context of him having a rookie right tackle to his right side and a shaky center to his left, and either Dallas Thomas (disappointing second year player) or Billy Turner (FCS rookie tackle-to-guard convert) at left guard. With all those questions everywhere on the line, you want the free agent you signed (Shelley) to be a rock, unquestionable. Except in pass pro as a right guard, he's not. Moving to center has a chance of really covering up his pass pro weakness because of the nature of the position. It also could take away from one of his strengths, which is the ability to get low and fire explosively off the football. When you have to snap the football first before doing anything, that saps your ability to explosively impact the point of attack. However, at center he will still be able to affect the game with his mobility and that's a big plus. I guess the only thing you'd want to make sure is that he's not going to get knocked around by a big nose tackle if he's matched one on one. Unfortunately we may have to wait until the preseason or regular season to find that out, as Miami doesn't really have a guy like that on defense anymore. He went to Atlanta.
The fact they signed a guard (Colledge) suggests that the idea for now is to go with one of the guards which would imply probably Shelley Smith or Sam Brenner, most likely Shelley Smith since I don't think Brenner's challenge for the LG job was being taken seriously. But the fact Rotoworld is saying they like Samson Satele and Ryan Harris and have them kind of on speed dial suggests to me they have a short leash on the experiment and could decide to table it in favor of a competition between Nate Garner and Samson Satele. Ryan Harris would be here to replace Garner as a backup tackle.
Too late. The Jets are planning to do that, hence they drafted Geno Smith. [video=youtube;OAROOqbaQkY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAROOqbaQkY[/video]
That's a good point. Miami does play Atlanta the first preseason game, but look at the first 3 regular season games: Vince Wilfork, Marcel Dareus/Kyle Williams, and Dontari Poe.
I wonder if their flirtation with Harris suggests anything about their feelings toward Fox? I would have expected Fox to battle Garner for the swing tackle position if not the starter (had they not drafted James). Yet pursuing Harris would seem to suggest Fox may not have lived up to early expectations???
I certainly understand signing a veteran offensive lineman at this time. Of course I also understood the signing of Clabo last off season and we all know how that turned out. Hopefully this signing of another veteran who is on the downside of his career will work out better for the Dolphins than Clabo did. I thought before the injury to Pouncey that this offensive line was going to struggle this coming season because of all the new parts on the OL. With Pouncey out early in the season and perhaps the entire season, I just don't see this OL being much better than the 2013 offensive line. I think the RB's will continue to have trouble finding running room behind this line and Tannehill will once again find himself under a lot of pressure from opposing defenses. Hopefully Lazor will put in a lot more QB roll outs than Sherman had last year. I think getting rid of the ball on quick passes and having Tannehill on the move is going to be the only way this offense will succeed with this offensive line in 2014.
Man, thats a really pessimistic opinion. We have a massive upgrade at LT, almost certainly an upgrade at RT, an upgrade at one of the OG spots for sure in Smith, and a few young players at the other OG spot who have looked pretty solid so far. Yes Pouncey is out, but probably just the first quarter of the season. I think that it will likely be a league average OL once its said and done, with the potential to be really good in 2015.
No, but the track record of signing veteran linemen isn't all that inspiring either - Steinbach, Clabo, McKinnie. Branden Albert could be a game-changer as far as an offensive lineman is concerned and I'd hope that Colledge will at least have some familiarity with the concepts of Miami's new offense.
McKinnie was fine. Colledge was signed so Miami didn't have to rely on two of the three of Thomas, Turner or Brenner being ready to start.
McKinnie was terrible and not really any different from Martin. If the wheels haven't fallen off on him yet, I would be terrified to see what that looks like.
gotta find the right balance between bringing in prospects and having enough time to evaluate the right pecking order. Keeping more linemen on the roster was only indicative of how insecure they felt about the line last year. Just set the line and pour the cement, endless auditions have become ad nauseum...
Based on how ineffective the OL was in the final two games last year, I would have to question how effective McKinney was after his signing. Obviously he was an upgrade over Martin, but that isn't saying much. The fact the Dolphins or no other team at this time have shown any interest in signing McKinney for the 2014 season, basically shows that no one was overly impressed with his play last year.
I think it will be better than last year, but the OL last year was one of the worst OL's in the NFL for the past decade. I'm not saying this group can't develop in a solid line over the next few years. I just think they will struggle this coming season as they learn to work as a unit. The loss of Pouncey will only make it harder to develop consistent line play, IMO. Hopefully this line can develop faster and I'll be proven wrong in regards to how well this OL will play in 2014.
For the life of me I'll never understand why we didn't do that more last season. Seemed like whenever Tanny got outside the pocket (whether on a designed roll out, or just due to pressure) he was very accurate with his throws. He also showed some quicks, and is capable of putting a lot of pressure on opposing defenses with both his legs and his arm.
It's funny though, how after McKinnie joined the line, that Clabo began to play better. There may not have been a great deal of improvement from Martin to McKinnie, but the tandem of McKinnie and Clabo played better than the tandem of Martin and Clabo for some reason.