In 2019, the Miami Dolphins roster was considered paper thin — and seemingly every week brought a new injury that exposed a new weakness to the team and forced the Dolphins to play a street free agent or waiver wire addition into the fray as a starter. The rebuild of 2020 has helped to ease over those issues, however — as the Dolphins will replace approximately half of their roster this year. But not everything can be addressed in one offseason — not when you have as much ground to cover as the Miami Dolphins did. And while that is perfectly okay, defining which position groups still need additional reinforcements down the road will help provide a clear path to the Dolphins finalizing their rebuild in the coming year or two.
With that in mind, here are the three position groups on the Miami Dolphins’ current roster that are still ‘under construction’.
Offensive Tackle
The good news is there are two rookies in house that will help fortify this group between Austin Jackson and presumably Robert Hunt (who is also potentially a guard). But Jackson is a bit raw as a player and the remaining depth to play tackle is filled with players who wouldn’t roster for other NFL teams.
Yes, Jesse Davis has tackle experience, but between he and Hunt, both will likely be starters between RG and RT — so he shouldn’t be counted on as depth. Backup left tackle Julien Davenport was one of the worst graded pass protectors in football last season.
Wide Receiver
The Dolphins didn’t touch this group this offseason — which is a testament to how the unit was a better unit on last year’s roster. The Dolphins are obviously thrilled with the development of DeVante Parker; but look at the rest of the landscape. Preston Williams is a promising young talent but coming off a mid-season ACL tear in 2019. Albert Wilson is in a contract year and looked like a shell of his former self for much of the year after a hip injury in 2018. Jakeem Grant has missed the end of the last two seasons and been placed on injured reserve both times. Add in Allen Hurns, Isaiah Ford, Mack Hollins and an unproven former 4th-round pick in Gary Jennings?
The Dolphins have competent bodies for their wide receiver room but most of their talent is ideally a WR3 or a WR4.
Safety
The Dolphins added Brandon Jones in the 3rd-round of the 2020 NFL Draft — but part of the issue with the lack of depth at safety is that they haven’t really pooled a lot of true safety players to begin with. Both projected starters are cornerback converts in Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe. Jones figures to be a prominent third safety and play in “big nickel” situations. But there’s still a missing presence of a true “single high” option at the top — which would further unlock the potential of Brian Flores’ defense.