It appears left guard Dallas Thomas is the most viable option to start at left tackle for Saturday's preseason game against Atlanta, considering Jason Fox (concussion) and Branden Albert (knee) are unlikely to play. But coach Joe Philbin raised another interesting possibility Thursday: Ja'Wuan James. "Ja'Wuan James has played tackle," Philbin said. "Dallas Thomas has played tackle in NFL games, [Jeff] Linkenbach has played tackle in NFL games and [Aundrey] Walker and [Donald] Hawkins have played left tackle. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dolphins-news-0828-20150827-story.html ---- Uh, coach, didn't we try that last year? Really good RT was turned into a bad LT, sound familiar?
Philbin is setting the blocks for his dismissal. So disappointing. That said, GO DOLPHINS #phins4life
I'm no expert but I'd prefer Dallas Thomas, Mike Pouncey and Juwuan James stay stay in their places from here on out for the sake of continuity. I'm intrigued by the notion of a line that goes: Turner - Douglas - Pouncey - Thomas - James
You want Thomas to stay where he is for the sake of continuity, yet go on to say you want to see him at RG?
I'm concerned about Tannehill as anyone heading into this utterly meaningless game. However do keep in mind, this scenario can easily happen during the regular season. Albert may not play Gm 1, Fox is not exactly Jumbo Elliot, Tannehill will have to adapt and overcome now or during the regular season. My problem is, James is a RT atm, may take him a couple of yrs to develop physically to play LT. The false alternative is Dallas Thomas, who has proven to be John Jerry ineffective, these are some really crappy choices for Philbin
I think some people are taking these decisions a little too seriously. It's a preseason game, fellas. This is when you try different things out to test your team that you normally would never do during an actual game. No one is going at it 100%. Both teams are viable playoff contenders, and everyone wants to stay healthy. Our OL is unsettled at the moment. Everyone knows that. So, the coaches are trying something out in a meaningless preseason game to see how it works so they can decide whether or not Thomas could be a viable option as a #3 LT if he is ever needed. It's probably based upon Thomas' progress in practice, which none of us have been privy to experiencing. I mean... isn't the point of the preseason to develop these players, and the team as a whole?
It's going to be Dallas Thomas. He practiced at LT all week. It's a preseason game and it doesn't matter, but Dallas Thomas is finally playing well at his optimal position and has finally gained confidence. It's not like he's already cemented this great track record at LG. This has all happened over the past couple of weeks. So it's a bummer that he's been moved out of there for a week and into a position of failure. I guess it's a fear of messing with something that feels so perilous. Or I'm just impatient and can't bear the thought of his growth being stunted a whole week.
I'd rather see Thomas stay at LG, put Aundrey Walker out there and see what he can do, pull Tannehill quickly out of the game and let Moore and the other QBs get some playing time. Imo Donald Hawkins will be waived and good chance Walker as well, the FO will poach a couple of backup OTs off of practice squads or go to the waiver wire. I can't think of an NFL team that has worse OL depth than us, so we should be able to help ourselves when other teams trim their rosters before the regular season. I'd still like to see what Billy Turner can do at LT, should have been there all along imo. If if falters at Guard during the season they should move him to OT asafp, especially considering the horrendous depth we have at the Tackle position. Give Jamil Douglas a shot at Guard and groom Turner at LT, the athleticism is there.
The thing is, if he can't play OG then he definitely can't play OT, OT is a more difficult position to play, in all aspects, they have to do everything an OG has to do, and more, which is why LT is by far the most drafted Oline position from college, but MOST are not even drafted to play LT, because they aren't good enough to play the position in the NFL, and they end up as OGs and RTs. J James would be a probowl caliber OG, but that would be a waste of his talent.
I think we need to spend 10 more high draft picks and 100 million dollars more on the line. Maybe we can get a complete line that way. I can't think of a team that has spent more resources and money on their oline only to be scrambling to fill positions on almost a weekly basis.
I just don't agree with that. If you go back and look at the film of Turner at NDSU, his standout attributes were his ridiculously good feet and his overall athleticism at his position of Left Tackle. Why try to turn this guy into a Guard? Said it before last year and this year many times, if we wanted a pure Guard last year Trai Turner was staring us in the face. We could have stayed put in the 3rd rd, grafted Trai Turner (who is starting for Carolina and by all accounts doing really well) saved the 4th we used to trade up for Billy Turner and drafted Martavis Bryant with that pick. Tackle is Turner's natural position, imo it made it harder not easier for him by converting him into a Guard. To me it's a similar head scratcher as converting an obvious OLB in Dion Jordan to DE and messing him all up, although he dis a pretty good job of that himself. As to James, he's a solid and steady RT where he belongs, but no monster in the running game, I don't see him as a Pro Bowl caliber OG. He's right where he belongs at RT and last year showed us that's where he should stay.
What the FO needs to learn how to do is draft quality OL after the first round. Jake Long and Pouncey were layups, Jake the #1 overall pick and Pouncey the highest drafted Center in about fifty years. James was a RT drafted #19 overall, historically pretty high for a RT. All the early-mid round flops over the years took their toll, along did missing the boat on guys who did well after we cut them loose like Evan Mathis, Donald Thomas and Wade Smith. Samson Satele was never all that as a 2nd rd pick and in that round Jonathan Martin as well- the irony is that Pro Bowl Center Ryan Kalil was taken one pick before Satele and Cordy Glenn was taken one pick before Martin. Then to top it off the Bills stole Santreal Henderson in the 7th round last year.
Because he's not good enough to be an OT, if he's such a good athlete as you say, why is he whiffing on blocks? You seriously think that if you put him in even more space he'd actually be able to pick those blocks up that he's whiffing on in less space? Forget what he did in college, this is the NFL, "we're not in Kansas anymore".
Why do you say that he's not good enough to be an OT? He's whiffing on blocks at a new position, we haven't gotten a chance to see what he can do at OT where his feet and athleticism were remarkable for a player on any level. My best guess is that he's whiffing on blocks because he's an experienced OT making plenty of mental mistakes since being switched to Guard.
