Miami Dolphins should pursue free agent center Nick Mangold
One area on the Miami Dolphins roster that still concerns me is that of the offensive line. While the unit had its best season in a very long time in terms of protection, the line was still extremely thin and frail. Once a couple players suffered some injuries, the rest of the line looked to begin to fall apart.
The biggest problem on the line last season was the constant hip problems suffered by center Mike Pouncey. With limited help along the offensive line, Pouncey put the Dolphins in a tough setup where any other offensive line injury drastically hurt its performance. While moving Pouncey to the guard position wouldn’t help this immediately, I do think it could help the team in the long run.
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Considering the fact that the Dolphins are in need of at least one more starting guard, shifting Mike Pouncey over to one of these positions in not that farfetched. After all, he was a two-year starter at guard in college before shifting to the center position his senior year. The move back to the guard position would also allow Miami to pursue one of the better offensive lineman available in free agency.
Released by the rival New York Jets after missing half of last season due to injury, the Miami Dolphins have a perfect offensive line addition staring them in the face right now. That player is center Nick Mangold. An 11-year veteran of the league, Mangold is a player that will provide the Miami Dolphins with a short term upgrade at the center position.
Lining up Mangold at Center and Pouncey at one of the two guard positions would also boost the performance of the offensive line. With James and Tunsil at the two tackle positions, the Dolphins would have a talented bunch along its front line. Such a move would also allow Miami a chance to test out Pouncey at his more natural guard position as well as seeing if the positional switch helps with his chronic hip injuries.
Overall, this move would bring some immediate short term gains to the Miami Dolphins roster. Depending on its outcome though, this move could prove to give the team some long term stability and success on the offensive line.
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