Sportsnaut
The Dolphins are now down with the preseason slate and are preparing for a Week 1 matchup with the Colts. Before that, though, the team must go from around 90 players to just 53 before Tuesday’s deadline.
There will undoubtedly be some familiar names who get the boot, while others cling on for dear life. One of the areas of the team that will be most interesting to watch is the offensive line. The five starter seem set, with Patrick Paul, Jonah Savaiinaea, Aaron Brewer, James Daniels, and Austin Jackson starting from left to right. That’s a solid unit, but the depth behind those five is concerning.
Still, the hope is that the backup linemen won’t be needed much this year. And if the starters stay healthy, this could actually be a solid group. Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun Sentinel recently published his key observations from this summer, and he named two offensive linemen among the team’s top performers.
Perkins said if he had to pick a “Most Outstanding Player” of camp, it would be left tackle Patrick Paul. Center Aaron Brewer would also be in the running for the award according to Perkins.
“Left tackle Patrick Paul might have been training camp’s Most Outstanding Player, meaning the best performer, as opposed to Most Valuable Player, meaning, for this purpose, the most key/needed performer,” Perkins explained. “Among other top performers were inside linebacker Willie Gay Jr., wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, edge rushers Chop Robinson and Derrick McLendon, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Malik Washington and center Aaron Brewer.”
Paul being among the best performers on the team is some of the best news Dolphins fans could hope to hear. The Houston product didn’t get off to the best start in his pro career, but it seems like he’s on the right track now.
After being selected in the 2nd round of the 2024 draft, Paul played just 338 snaps during his rookie campaign. It wasn’t a large sample size, but the tackle struggled to a 44.9 Pro Football Focus grade, was penalized five times, and allowed three sacks.
With Terron Armstead retiring this offseason, the Dolphins are fully counting on Paul to be the player he was drafted to be. Fortunately, it appears like that has been the case so far.
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