Miami Dolphins rookie right tackle Robert Hunt wasn’t one of the youngsters to get the call to open the Dolphins’ season against the New England Patriots as a starting offensive lineman. He made sure the Patriots knew what they were fortunate enough to miss out on the second time around when these two teams met in Week 15. Because this time around, Hunt was comfortably secured as the Dolphins’ starting right tackle and had approximately half a season’s worth of starts under his belt at the NFL level.
It showed.
Because Hunt, who was the Dolphins’ fourth draft choice in the 2020 NFL Draft at No. 39 overall, was everywhere against the Patriots, proving to be a key presence for the Dolphins as they mauled New England for 250 yards on the ground in a 22-12 victory; eliminating the Patriots from playoff contention in the process. And while Week 15 against New England felt like the arrival of Hunt for how much he wiped the floor with any Patriots defender lined up across from him, the flashes have been present for weeks. Hunt has been making splash blocks on the ground going back to his reinsertion into the starting five against the New York Jets back in November.
ALMOST THAT TIME AGAIN. Will be interested to see what the OL looks like with Kindley dressing. I’m hoping they keep Robert Hunt in at RT no matter what. He had some awesome reps vs Jets. pic.twitter.com/L0BybcKIQl
— Locked On Dolphins (@LockedOnPhins) December 6, 2020
Hunt’s ability to play forward and win the edge for the Dolphins has been a critical layer for a team that has struggled to consistently run the football and find big plays on the ground. Myles Gaskins’ 27-yard scamper against the Bengals? It came off Hunt’s hip and out the back door to the right. Salvon Ahmed’s 31-yard jaunt this past weekend against New England? You guessed it — right off Hunt’s edge courtesy of Hunt bullying Patriots defensive end Chase Winovich five yards down the field.
RT Robert Hunt gets some nice movement and a little shove on a second defender plus some good blocking from the WR leads to a nice bounce and gain for Ahmed pic.twitter.com/50EK2YVbhZ
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) December 21, 2020
Hunt is the Dolphins’ offensive lineman most likely to collect more than one block on any given play; something he did against the Jets on a handful of occasions and was doing once again versus the Patriots during Miami’s big second half romp to a ninth win this season.
Also, key block for Robert Hunt on this 3rd & 8 conversion by RB Patrick Laird on the draw play. pic.twitter.com/c6y9AAjCJa
— Chris Kouffman (@ckparrot) December 23, 2020
Dolphins running back Myles Gaskin averaged more yards running off the right side this season (5.9 yards per carry) than any other gap according to the charting of Pro Football Focus. Ahmed averages 6.1 per carry working off the right side to the perimeter. And Hunt has tallied 566 snaps at right tackle this season (with an addition 10 as an extra right end). The past month has seen a dramatic uptick in his play and, as a result, a dramatic uptick in the Dolphins’ ability to run the football. Miami as a team has rushed for 104, 110, 80 and 250 yards in their last four contests; nearly matching the number of 100 yard rushing performances the team crafted in their prior ten games this season (4).
If Robert Hunt is the straw that stirs the run game drink, then the Las Vegas Raiders better come prepared on Saturday — because odds are we’ll see the Dolphins continuing to see how much they can push their rookie right tackle into pushing the ground game to new heights.