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The Miami Dolphins have been more content to boost the personnel on the defensive side of the football to start the NFL’s legal tampering period this week. Miami has made prominent additions to both the front seven (Shaq Lawson, Emmanuel Ogbah, Kyle Van Noy) and to the secondary (Byron Jones) in the NFL’s sanctioned negotiations period. But with the NFL window formally set the open this afternoon, Miami’s commitments to the offensive side of the ball are quietly more telling.
The Dolphins have agreed to terms with OG Ereck Flowers and RB Jordan Howard thus far — which provides Dolphins fans some needed context as far as what to expect from the Miami offense under the leadership of new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey in 2020.
Both Howard and Flowers play the same brand of football — the kind that punches you in the mouth and dares you to stop them from plowing forward and resetting the line of scrimmage. Howard is at his best as a runner when he’s square to the line of scrimmage and carrying momentum through the hole. Flowers? He’s a power oriented player who will do his best work when he’s charged with driving defenders off the line of scrimmage to create gaps. It’s a bit of a departure from what Miami seemed to find some marginal success with in 2019 — inside zone concepts. But the Dolphins’ 2019 rushing attack was so broken that taking a different direction shouldn’t be an issue at all.
What this does provide? A chance to zero in on some power players up front that will continue to compliment what Miami seems to be trending towards. If you’re looking for candidates to step into the Dolphins’ starting lineup, the first question to ask would be whether or not he’s got the power to reset the line of scrimmage.