Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier appeared dismissive back in August of concern directed at his team's offensive line.  Grier commented that the media were more worried about the offensive line than they were. 

"I know you guys made a joke about me saying you guys are more worried about it than we are, but internally that’s how we feel about our group here as a team."

Unfortunately, that quip aged like a glass of milk on a Key Biscayne sidewalk on a sunny August afternoon.  

The Dolphins were effectively like an Oreo cookie this year.  Tough and sturdy on the outside, and soft on the inside.  That's how they looked on paper with two capable tackles but no reliable guard play returning, and that's exactly how it played out.  Guards Robert Jones and Liam Eichenberg struggled mightily, submarining any chance of the unit functioning well.  

And then, of course, the cookie crumbled, with both the constantly injured Terron Armstead missing time and Austin Jackson missing half the season with a knee injury. Swing tackle Kendall Lamm went on injured reserve late in the year.  Kion Smith was lost for the season during the preseason.  It was just a disaster, both due to injury and without it. 

During his exit press conference on Tuesday with Mike McDaniel, Grier explained why he said what he did about his offensive line. 

"When I was saying I wasn't concerned – I'm always concerned because you're always concerned about injury, but I did think we had created some depth. We had some players that were very confident in Butch and Mike and the scheme and staff. Those guys deserved some praise because of what they had done the year before, and they started out the year well, and unfortunately injuries got to us.  We didn't finish well. 

"But yes, going forward Terron and I had a conversation briefly yesterday. We're going to talk again sometime here in the next few days or coming weeks. But also knowing that we're going to have to invest in the offensive line now. Kendall did a fantastic job here for a few years and we're just older there now – and (Isaiah) Wynn – so this is the time again like we did back a few years ago with Austin and Rob Hunt and Soloman Kindley and stuff, this is the time again for us to start investing in some offensive linemen." 

The problem is that the guys penciled in as starters at the guard spots had never proven they were quality NFL starting caliber players.  Unfortunately, Jones and Eichenberg never proved it in 2024 either.  That's already 2/5 of your line not being good enough.  Throw in a lost starter at tackle, and over half your line is suddenly not starting quality.  

It's baffling that you would wager on the development and improvement of not one but two starting offensive linemen in front of a quarterback that's always had a hard time staying healthy in Tua Tagovailoa.  But that was the path Grier chose to take, and now, at almost $3 million over the salary cap and $18.5 million over in effective cap space, per OverTheCap.com, he's going to have to find, at minimum, two interior starters and perhaps another tackle over the offseason, among several other roster holes.  

Miami completely whiffed on their interior line in the draft last year, electing to take a wide receiver and trade for a running back as part of their draft moves.  It would be foolish not to spend multiple picks to shore up the trenches this year.  

We'll see if Grier finally takes the draft seriously for making this team better on the interior line.  Because it appears he's not chuckling about it anymore. 

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