Omar Kelly: Dolphins offensive line has transformed this team and season

MIAMI — Any challenge that arises can be seen as soil which can be used to birth something new, or foster growth.

That’s the best way to describe how the Miami Dolphins offensive line transformed itself from the weakest link on the 2025 team in the first half of the season into one of its strengths, which has produced four wins in a row and Miami winning five of the last six.

Everyone in that unit seemingly used their early season struggles as fertilizer.

“Everyone is finally on the same page, and we want to go out there and dominate,” left tackle Patrick Paul said, pointing out that before Austin Jackson returned to his starting role the line had started eight straight games with Cole Strange as the starting right guard.

Very few people, or groups get to pick the nicknames people refer to them as. Nicknames — not abbreviated names — usually happen organically.

In 2016, I called the offensive line of that 10-6 playoff team “The Unicorns” because they were as mythical as the horned flying horse, since all five of that line’s intended starters — Branden Albert, Laremy Tunsil, Mike Pouncey, Jermon Bushrod and Ja’Wuan James — were rarely ever healthy enough to start and finish the same game together.

But when healthy that unit mowed down defenses, paving the way for Jay Ajayi to put together a Pro Bowl season.

This year’s unit hasn’t reached those heights, but it’s coming close to deserving a nickname, and I’d call them “The Leftovers,” because that’s what every player who has started a game on the 2025 offensive line is.

Jackson was viewed as the last decent starting offensive tackle in the 2020 NFL draft, so Miami selected him 18th overall that year.

Jonah Savaiinaea was the last of the 10 offensive linemen viewed as Day 1 rookie starters in the 2025 draft, which is why the Dolphins traded a 2025 second-, third- and fourth-round pick to move up 11 spots in the second round to select him and acquire a fifth-round pick.

The Patriots got mocked for drafting Strange in the first round of the 2022 Draft. Injuries led to his decline, and eventual release from New England. The Dolphins claimed him off the Browns’ practice squad, and he has been a solid starting guard for Miami, which lost James Daniels, the team’s top free agent addition, three snaps into the regular season.

Aaron Brewer was an undersized, undrafted linemen who blossomed into a starting center for the Tennessee Titans. But the Titans let him leave as a free agent two offseasons ago, which led to him signing a three-year, $21 million deal with the Dolphins.

Paul was the best of what was left in the second round of the 2024 draft, so the Dolphins selected the massive project from the University of Houston hoping he would benefit from a year of working behind Terron Armstead.

Larry Borom was one of the worst-rated offensive linemen on the worst line (Chicago Bears) in the NFL in 2024, and somehow the Dolphins turned him into a decent spot starter and a key reserve.

In 2023, which is the last season the Dolphins had a forceful rushing attack, I praised Butch Barry for transforming that unit into a force.

I often say “in Butch Barry I trust” based on the results he produced, which was an offensive line that paved the way for 2,308 rushing yards and 27 rushing touchdowns and allowed just 31 sacks.

“The standard is the standard,” Barry consistently says.

He has never wavered when it comes to demanding “the standard” from his players, even during the unit’s struggles in 2024, a season where Miami’s run game was struggling so bad the coaches often opted for short passing plays as its replacement.

It has taken a minute — actually half the season — but the Dolphins’ offensive line, which has been praised consistently as the hardest-working unit on the team, is finally playing up “the standard.”

Coach Mike McDaniel has often been fond of the run game. That’s actually how he worked his way up the coaching ranks, as a run game specialist in Atlanta and San Francisco.

With Tyreek Hill gone, few receivers stepping up and Tua Tagovailoa struggling this season, Miami’s become a run-first team.

Since Week 10, which was the 30-13 win over the Buffalo Bills, the Dolphins lead the NFL in rushing yards averaged per game (192.3), and Miami’s 5.7 yards-per-carry rushing average is second best in the NFL, only behind the Detroit Lions (6.1).

Miami’s 4.9 yards-per-carry average ranks fifth best in the league heading into Monday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which are allowing 4.4 rushing yards per attempt, and 125.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks the Steelers 21st.

“Your desire and want to to succeed at that has to outshine the opponent’s desire to stop,” McDaniel said, referring to Miami’s playcalling balance, and shift to abandon his pass-happy approach.

During that stretch Borom improved, Strange settled in and Brewer blossomed. Savaiinaea has struggled a ton during his rookie season, but even he has shown steady improvement, which was the goal for him this season. And Paul has showcased elite ability, entering the stratosphere of dominant NFL offensive linemen.

When they’re put all together, The Leftovers have been pretty appetizing.

“It’s the same identity we had in 2023. We had a lot of older guys on that line, but our coach had the same standard for us in the run game,” Jackson said. “Now that we have a different line, we’re finally getting everyone on the same wavelength.”

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