Have Miami Dolphins Finished Rebuild of Offensive Line?

In a space of 14 months, the Miami Dolphins have gone from scandal to success, and from tragedy to triumph on the offensive line.

The off-field turmoil that embroiled the Dolphins locker room in controversy in 2013, coupled with the on-field disaster that gave way to an historic number of sacks for quarterback Ryan Tannehill, gave way to sweeping changes up front.

At first, at least, those changes were not necessarily improvements. But now, given more than a year to their devices, the Dolphins seem to have settled on their solutions on the offensive line. There is one spot where the Dolphins have some uncertainty on the line, but the team has made moves at each position that needed addressing (all except center). Now, it's time to put that plan into action. 

Position	Player	Ht	Wt	Exp
LT	Branden Albert	6'5"	310	7
LG	Jamil Douglas	6'4"	304	R
C	Mike Pouncey	6'5"	305	4
RG	Billy Turner	6'4"	313	1
RT	Ja'Wuan James	6'6"	318	1

Branden Albert was arguably the best thing going for the Dolphins offense last year before his season-ending knee injury in Week 10; he earned the highest cumulative Pro Football Focus grade of any Dolphins offensive player, despite playing in only nine games, and yielded only nine total quarterback pressures in his nine games (five hurries, one hit, three sacks). 

Ja'Wuan James was off to a solid start at right tackle, but a move to the less comfortable left side commenced a comedown in Week 10, when Albert was injured. James isn't quite quick enough to man the left side, with strength and a mauling style that is better suited to the right tackle position, and Albert's return to the lineup should restore some order to the Dolphins' edge protection.

Mike Pouncey kicked over to guard after he returned from injury in Week 6, after the Dolphins spent much of training camp searching for someone, anyone, who could complete the simple task of snapping the ball to the quarterback. Once they found Samson Satele, they decided it would be easier to keep him in at center and have Pouncey play guard, where they've been short on talent.

Which brings us to the least stable spot on the Dolphins offensive line. 

Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin came to Miami with a vision for a zone-blocking offensive line. One problem: The previous regime had built in the mold of a power-blocking scheme based on "bigger, stronger" offensive linemen, in the famous words of former head coach Tony Sparano. That left Philbin with no recourse but to hope that two round pegs in Richie Incognito and John Jerry would fit into the square holes that Philbin's scheme had created.

Three years later, the Dolphins have finally found their men—they think.

In 2013, the Dolphins drafted Dallas Thomas, a tackle at Tennessee, and hoped to move him to guard. In 2014, those hopes were dashed as Thomas graded 58th out of 78 qualifying guards (52nd in pass protection, 64th in run blocking) at Pro Football Focus. 

In 2014, the Dolphins drafted Billy Turner, a tackle at North Dakota State, in hopes of moving him to guard. Despite Thomas' struggles, Turner played in only one game all season: the meaningless finale. Even then, he only earned 17 snaps.

In 2015, Thomas and Turner should be battling for the starting job at one of the two guard spots. 

Arizona State guard Jamil Douglas should be considered a front-runner for the other spot. The Dolphins may make the rookie compete for the job—as a fourth-round pick, it would only make sense that nothing will be handed to Douglas.

He'll be ready to fight for any job the Dolphins want him to fight for, but he'll be a perfect fit for their offense at guard.

NFL.com's Lance Zierlein called him a "finesse, left guard-only prospect," but in two sentences, Zierlein summed up why Douglas is everything the Dolphins have been missing at guard for years, and everything they need right now: "Can pull, turn corner and find targets. Effective blocker in screen game with ability to adjust to moving targets in space."

Scouting reports are often based on projections, but if Douglas shows even the slightest ability to do what Zierlein says he can do, it would be hard to create a compelling argument as to why he shouldn't start as a rookie. 

Last year, the Dolphins went through some massive changes on the line by fielding four brand-new starters. This year, that number is down to two, but it will be equally important for those pieces to mesh with the carryover players from last year. 

The pieces are in place, and now, it's time to see if this offensive line can become a unit in the truest sense of the word. 

Unless otherwise noted, all advanced statistics obtained via Pro Football Focus.