With the Miami Dolphins’ first released depth chart of the season, there are sure to be overreactions aplenty. It bears remembering that the Dolphins are still in evaluation mode and, just as importantly, they’re trying to properly motivate players on the roster to elevate their play and claim the jobs that were envisioned for them.
Some of those head games may be in play with the team’s depth chart release. But despite the cautious skepticism we should be approaching the first depth chart with, there are plenty of truths to be found along the way. Some positions, like quarterback and cornerback, are pretty open and shut. Amid the positional battles currently underway, here are three assignments we are buying with the first 2021 depth chart.
Michael Deiter will be the starting center
Deiter has entered training camp as the first-string center and has not yielded the position yet. Miami clearly saw something in Deiter when they decided to draft him with a 3rd-round choice back in 2019 and, after 15 games as a rookie, Miami pushed him to the bench for more seasoning before kicking him inside to guard. He’s unproven at the NFL level at center but there’s no reason to think he can’t be another “draft and develop” talent for this regime.
Miami hasn’t really felt like they’ve given any significant consideration either Matt Skura or Cameron Tom. We’d consider this race to be fairly decided.
Liam Eichenberg will play inside at left guard
This one is a fairly bold take given that Solomon Kindley was a majority starter in 2020 and would be pushed to the bench in this scenario. But we literally saw the Dolphisn take this same approach with their handling of Michael Deiter in 2019 & 2020; they’re not emotionally attached to young talent unless they leave no doubt that they’re progressing forward as a player.
And that’s something we haven’t really seen or heard much of from Kindley thus far this summer. And if you pair Eichenberg being more natural on the left side of the line as compared to flipping across the line to play right tackle, then so be it.
We get the sense there are several layers at play that would help this decision between Kindley’s status and Eichenberg’s comfort. But building an offensive line comes down to finding the best combination of five and right now our gut says that best combination features Eichenberg next to Austin Jackson.
Jaelan Phillips will start the year as a non-starter
Phillips is currently listed as a “third” linebacker. He’s been injured with a minor leg injury this past week; so he’s missing some valuable reps. It isn’t the end of the world and we certainly don’t think it points to anything ominous about the season to come. But with Brennan Scarlett and Andrew Van Ginkel showing well this summer, it will likely leave Phillips as a rotational (third down) pass rusher early on until he makes up for some of the valuable lost time he’s missed early in camp.
By the end of 2021? We expect Phillips to leave no doubt on his role as a starter. But in the infancy of the year? It looks more like quality veteran play is available on the early downs to let Phillips focus on what he does best to open 2021.
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