The Dolphins have made plenty of aggressive investments into becoming a team that can control the trenches under the direction of Brian Flores and Chris Grier over the past two years. And there has been a direct correlation between how much Miami is willing to spend in dollars and how much success they’ve had dictating play up front. Miami charged out the gates hard in 2020 and paid a number of massive contracts to defensive front-seven players — and the unit obliged by transforming into a top-6 scoring defense in 2020. (Never mind that the unit was 1st in points allowed entering Week 17.)
But Miami’s investments into the offense side of the line were largely made in the NFL Draft. Michael Deiter in 2019 and Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt and Solomon Kindley in 2020 brought plenty of youth to Miami’s offensive line — but the team still has yet to see dividends paid out proportionately.
Perhaps that is to be expected with the nature of the draft. But, at the very least, Miami’s patience is expected to be wearing thin — this is a team that in many ways appears poised to contend. Which is what makes the report that Green Bay Packers center Corey Linsley is expected to hit free agency next month. Linsley, who has played with the Packers since 2014 and was named an All-Pro center in 2020 with the Packers, can be a significant addition this offseason for someone.
“The expectation is that Linsley will be playing elsewhere in 2021 and the Packers will be looking to replace their starting center from the past seven seasons.
While there is time to work out a deal with Linsley, it seems unlikely to happen. The Packers had all season to engage in talks with Linsley, and the season ended almost exactly one month ago.” – Bill Huber, Sports Illustrated
Could Linsley be a fit for the Dolphins? Of course. He’d be an upgrade over Ted Karras in the heart of the line, but Miami will need to tread carefully here. Linsley will be leaving a team led by an MVP quarterback in Aaron Rodgers and Linsley will be 30 years old before the start of the 2021 season. The Dolphins would need to be certain that he has significant life left in his legs and that he will be worth the contract he’s going to cost. Because the Dolphins learned the hard way in 2020 what paying a premium in free agency for offensive lineman will cost — the Dolphins signed Ereck Flowers to a 3-year, $30M contract and Flowers struggled to live up to that price point throughout the entire season.
Yes, Flowers was a good leader for the unit. But his play was average at best — and Miami will have a hard time transitioning away from the guaranteed money they gave him for this season; making him a likely returner up front.
If Miami pays big for Linsley and gets less than what they paid for, the Dolphins will find themselves in familiar positioning: overpaying for underperforming talent. Only the Dolphins can take inventory on Linsley’s forecast moving forward and make a judgement call. They’ll likely be interested. But cost could, or rather should, be prohibitive here to finding a potential agreement.