PFF is saying our offensive line is holding back Waddle

[CF DolFan]

It's easy to overlook how much Waddle is missing out on with all of his success but I think they are right. He could be a lot better given more time for plays to develop.

PICK NO. 6: WR JAYLEN WADDLE, MIAMI DOLPHINS
Overall Rookie Grade: 81.4 (Rank: 1/27)
Week 16 Grade: 87.7
Waddle was once again the player who the Miami offense was built upon against the Saints on Monday Night Football. He caught 10 of the 12 passes thrown his way for 92 yards and a touchdown. His average depth of target was just 6.0 yards downfield, as the Dolphins continued to use him on quick passes to offset the disastrous offensive line in front of Tua Tagovailoa.

Waddle moved the chains six times for first downs and gained 57 yards after the catch. He has been a huge addition to this offense as a high-volume receiver, but he needs a better offensive line to become a true all-around threat at the position.

[Pappy13]

They are holding the entire offense back, but I do believe they are getting better. It would have been hard for them not to get better though as they were horrible to start the year. They are young and there is talent there, they just have to keep them together and keep them moving forward and the line will be ok eventually. Might not ever be great, but ok is enough to win games especially how Miami want's to do it under Flores with good to great defense and a solid if unspectacular offense.

[EDGECRUSHER]

PFF ranks our O-Line as worst in the league and it's historically bad too. Might be the worst O-Line since we've been watching and that's saying a lot.

[fyo]

I'm not sure our offensive line is really getting that much better. I think a large part of it is Tua making it look a lot better in ways Jacoby Brissett just couldn't.

According to ESPN's advanced stats, the Dolphins have the 32nd ranked offensive line when it comes to pass blocking, with the largest jump in the table being from #31 to #32. PFF is, if possible, even more damning. Along with a last place ranking, this is the most recent description of our line that accompanied it:

Miami's offensive line isn't just the worst in the NFL; it is a historically bad unit. The group is allowing the highest pressure rate in the league (43.3%), despite being well protected with RPOs and quick passing. Tua Tagovailoa's average depth of target is just 6.9 yards downfield, the second-lowest in the league. Miami rosters three of the NFL's 10 worst offensive linemen this season in terms of total pressures surrendered, and nobody boasts an overall PFF grade higher than 63.0 overall. It is a minor miracle that Tagovailoa looks functional behind this line.

Not only is the line bad overall, NO ONE on it is playing well.

Are the players on our offensive line really that bad? Is it scheme? Coaching?

With regards to coaching, it's not like we haven't tried to replace the o-line coach. The current one is Jeanpierre. Last season it was Marshall. In 2019 DeGuglielmo replaced Flaherty four days into camp because Flaherty wasn't doing a good job of implementing whatever brilliant scheme Flores / OC-of-the-day wanted.

That's four offensive line coaches in three years. I think that matches the number of offensive coordinators we've had.

At some point, Flores has to find a coordinator and an offensive line coach and just stick with them. His most recent co-coordinator choice was, I sh*t you not, in part to give the offensive line more continuity. Either they sucked big time or the only thing that was managed was continuity in a broken system.

Either way, hard to imagine the line would have done worse than "historically bad".

Sorry, had to get that rant off my chest.

[Dolfanalyst]

I'm a firm believer in that teams need only an average range offensive line to be Super Bowl-caliber if the other necessary pieces of a team are in place, but I'm also a firm believer in the ball and chain effect on a team an extremely poor offensive line can have.

You don't need a 1990s Dallas Cowboys' offensive line to win a Super Bowl, but you have to have one significantly better than this one.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I'm a firm believer in that teams need only an average range offensive line to be Super Bowl-caliber if the other necessary pieces of a team are in place, but I'm also a firm believer in the ball and chain effect on a team an extremely poor offensive line can have.

You don't need a 1990s Dallas Cowboys' offensive line to win a Super Bowl, but you have to have one significantly better than this one.

Agreed, it has to be competent enough where you can have the running back get the ball without being tackled behind the line of scrimmage. I think we have stretched out the compensation for the O-Line as far as it can go with Tua's short passes and Waddle's great play. We won't be able to pull this trick much longer without improved O-Line play.

[Dolfanalyst]

Agreed, it has to be competent enough where you can have the running back get the ball without being tackled behind the line of scrimmage. I think we have stretched out the compensation for the O-Line as far as it can go with Tua's short passes and Waddle's great play. We won't be able to pull this trick much longer without improved O-Line play.

The offense looked almost completely inept on Monday.  They're good at getting people open in the short area and having Tua hit them with very good accuracy, but it's very difficult to score the points needed against good teams without the chunk plays we saw them get on the TD drive in the third quarter.  Those have to become far more regular for them to beat Tennessee and New England.

One thing this team has to absolutely stop doing is going to an empty set on 3rd and 4 to 6.  They can't reveal to the opposing defense they're passing and let them pin their ears back, with no additional blocker in the backfield.  If you're good at getting 4 to 6 yards with your standard offense, then continue to use your standard offense on 3rd and 4 to 6.  Run the same RPOs you run on 1st and 10 that get you 4 to 6 yards and convert those 3rd downs, rather than having errant passes and sacks due to pressure.

[masterfins]

I don't think that the O-line is holding back Waddle all that much.  Waddle is more the slant receiver over the middle, quick pass type guy; which is what the O-line allows Tua most of the time.  The lack of outside receivers due to a laundry list of injuries this year has allowed defenses to focus more on him, this has probably hurt his yardage more than anything because they don't have to defend against the #1 or #2 receivers because they aren't on the field.  Positives and negatives have probably offset to put Waddle right where he should be; which by the way is the #1 rookie receiver in the league. 

[Spider-Dan]

I don't think that the O-line is holding back Waddle all that much.  Waddle is more the slant receiver over the middle, quick pass type guy; which is what the O-line allows Tua most of the time.

But that is "holding Waddle back."

Waddle has absolutely elite speed, yet the Dolphins terrible O-line forces them to use him as Jarvis Landry instead of using him as Tyreek Hill.  Imagine a version of the Dolphins where Waddle has time to run real downfield routes.

[masterfins]

But that is "holding Waddle back."

Waddle has absolutely elite speed, yet the Dolphins terrible O-line forces them to use him as Jarvis Landry instead of using him as Tyreek Hill.  Imagine a version of the Dolphins where Waddle has time to run real downfield routes.

Maybe I'm wrong but my impression of what Waddle was going to be used for, before the season started, was that he was going to be a Jarvis Landry type ONLY with the ability to pickup yards after the catch (more so than Landry did) because of his speed.  It was my belief that Fuller and Parker were going to be the speed guys to stretch the field.  forgive me if I'm wrong about that.  Now if you want to say that since Parker, Fuller, and all the other WR's aren't there and it became Waddle's job to be that guy, then yes you can say the O-line is holding him back, just as they could be accused of holding Parker or the other long WR's back when they occasionally feel well enough to take the field.  But, my comment about him not being held back was based on what I believed he was originally intended to do, not the role he was thrust into.

[Spider-Dan]

Parker has never been a "speed guy," and I think Fuller's availability was always an open question.

But setting that aside: Waddle was always expected to be the burner of burners.  If anyone was expected to take the top off the defense, it was him.