The Miami Dolphins certainly haven’t been shy about finding opportunities to continue to level up the quality of talent and depth across their offensive line. The team traded for former 1st-round offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson in the spring, for starters. Wilson, who lasted less than a week with the Dolphins after it was apparent his focus isn’t on football, was a 1st-round pick of the Titans in 2020. And then the team brought in veteran DJ Fluker. But he, too, fell by the wayside as he underwent arthroscopic surgery at the start of camp.
The Dolphins waived him with an injury settlement.
And so despite the addition of Liam Eichenberg and Larnel Coleman in the draft and picking up Jermaine Eluemunor to help bolster the depth, former NFL executive Michael Lombardi suggested over the weekend that Miami is placing calls about some potential offensive tackle depth.
In talking to teams around the league, sounds like Miami is searching for some offensive tackle depth and is willing to make a trade. I’m sure they aren’t the only teams looking for quality tackles.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) August 8, 2021
Lombardi shared his thoughts early enough in the day on Sunday that the South Florida press was able to ask head coach Brian Flores about the report ahead of Sunday’s practice. And while Flores declined to get into specifics, he didn’t necessarily shy away from Miami being open to making moves, either.
“Yeah, we’re happy with the guys we have. Like always I’m not going to get into conversations that we have with other teams, but I think we’ve got good depth along the offensive line. But look, this time of year, there’s conversations that are had on a daily basis about players offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. Those conversations will only pick up moving forward. It’s that time of the year. I’m not sure that’s big news. I think that’s just the time of year it is. Everyone is kind of having conversations as we get into preseason games,” said Flores.
“I was a scout. I went to those preseason games and was looking for offensive tackles, offensive guards, defensive tackles, safeties. I’m timing the long snappers to just see if there’s anyone that you feel like is going to get cut loose that could potentially help your team. I’m not sure if that’s big, big news. I think everyone’s looking for different ways to improve their team and we’re definitely part of that. We’re no different than any other team.”
In short, no. But also yes. It would seem as though, based off Miami’s prior transactions at tackle this offseason, the team would like to have ample options at their disposal. And with Wilson and Fluker falling out of the race, that does leave room for an additional tackle to be added if Miami wants one. We’ve got about a month for them to find one if a move is going to be made; so lets see what, if anything, Chris Grier is able to piece together.
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