The Miami Dolphins’ offensive line overhaul of 2020 ended with the team’s protection unit up front seeing plenty of improvement from an abysmal 2019 campaign — but still plenty of room left for improvement. Miami’s 2019 unit was comfortably the worst in football. The Dolphins averaged 3.3 yards per carry and conceded 58 sacks in the first year of team’s rebuilding effort.
2020?
Miami’s offensive line allowed nearly half the amount of sacks (34) and the Dolphins added 0.6 yards per rush over the season (3.9 yards per carry). The improvement is obvious. But the raw numbers themselves are still fairly unimpressive. Miami ranked T-15th in the NFL in sacks allowed and their 3.9 yards per carry figure was 29th. Things are getting better — but they’re not where they need to be for the Dolphins to feature the balanced offensive attack that most sustainable winning offenses can provide.
At the heart of Miami’s offensive line improvement is center Ted Karras, a transplant from New England who bet on himself in signing a 1-year deal with the Dolphins to start and prove he can be a long-term fixture in the heart of an offensive line. Miami must now evaluate Karras’ play and decipher whether or not he proved himself enough to warrant a long-term extension. Continuity would certainly help the chemistry on the Dolphins’ offensive line — and Karras is highly regarded as a team leader, a communicator and a presence in the locker room.
Is Karras the man the Dolphins want in the middle long-term? And if he is, what would it cost to keep him on the roster? One projection, from Spotrac, pegs Karras as quite the high-priced free agent should he hit the open market in March. Spotrac’s projection for Karras forecasts him at a $10.2M annual average salary on his new deal.
That contract figure would peg him as the 9th-highest paid center in all of football, and likely out of Miami’s price range. That figure is over three times the size of what Karras played for in 2020 and while there’s plenty to like about his smarts and his quickness in the heart of the Dolphins’ line, justifying that deal would be a difficult sell. Miami’s price range for Karras likely falls closer to that of Ben Jones (Tennessee), Trey Hopkins (Cincinnati) and Nick Easton (New Orleans): somewhere between $6M and $6.5M per season.
If Karras and his representation cling to a number closer to Spotrac’s forecast, it may be best to part ways and let Miami get younger at the position courtesy of one of their five top-100 NFL Draft selections in this year’s class. But Karras, who took less money from Miami to come here in the first place, may also covet the opportunities Miami affords and be more flexible with his price point. We’ll see if Miami is content to let him hit the market or if the team prioritizes an extension here in the coming months.
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