One of the Miami Dolphins’ best young players just received an insult disguised as a compliment
One of the Miami Dolphins’ young standouts was selected as the team’s breakout player in 2026. There’s just one problem…
Among the biggest questions around the Miami Dolphins one year ago was whether or not young offensive tackle Patrick Paul was ready to take over for a recently retired Terron Armstead.
Armstead, after all, was among the best offensive tackles in football. Paul had played just over 300 snaps in his rookie season — including a poor performance in the season finale of 2024 while playing out of position at right tackle. As it turns out, yes. Paul was indeed ready for the challenge. He was a delight to watch play this past season and is now firmly entrenched as a long-term building block for the Dolphins’ youth movement. That did not stop him from being picked by ESPN analyst Benjamin Solak this week as Miami’s breakout player for 2026. There’s just one problem with that…
ESPN picks left tackle Patrick Paul as the Miami Dolphins’ breakout player for 2026
“Long and rangy, (Paul) was excellent on the hoof in Mike McDaniel’s diverse running scheme. And Paul should once again excel in new coordinator Bobby Slowik’s preferred wide zone approach.
Paul replaced the retiring Terron Armstead last season on the blind side — those are hard shoes to fill, and at times Paul’s inexperience showed in pass protection against crafty rushers. But his blend of power, length and speed are exactly what makes for high-level franchise left tackles.”
— ESPN’s Benjamin Solak
I know Ben well. We worked together for several years, so you can be assured I’m going to give him some light-hearted grief . But how are we going to pick a player to breakout who has already broken out?!
I’m not a subscriber to offensive line grades in the sense that we’ve come to expect from outlets like Pro Football Focus. Those outlets still have exceptionally valuable data to provide insight on play, though. Paul ranked 13th among all NFL offensive tackles in pass blocking efficiency this past season. He was 14th in total pressures allowed. And while I’ll concede there’s more consistency to be found in his run game angles and execution, Paul catching defenders flush created a ton of movement. When getting attached to defenders in space, he created a ton of disruption blocks.
So I’d argue Patrick Paul can’t be the Miami Dolphins’ breakout player. Because he’s already broken out. If the narrative breaks out this season by the general public, they’re a year behind.
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