The Miami Dolphins’ offensive line overhaul could best be classified as a “work in progress”. Miami brings back a number of young rookies from their 2020 class and, when mixing and matching between the 2019 and 2021 draft classes, could potentially see all five starters arrive via the top-125 picks of three combined draft classes.
One of the contenders looking to stave off that reality is center Matt Skura, who the Dolphins signed to a one-year contract this offseason to compete for the starting center role. To this point in training camp, Skura appears to be patiently waiting for his first look to wrangle away that role from third-year lineman Michael Deiter — who appears to be in the driver’s seat for the job as things currently stand.
But training camp is a marathon, not a sprint. And Skura has plenty of starting experience; although some of his time in Baltimore was tarnished by some snapping issues in 2020. Part of his push for a starting role at center will be determined by how much he can prove the issues with the snap in 2020 were an anomaly and not a trend.
According to Skura, amending the issue has been a daily labor since January.
“I would say probably a week after our last game at Baltimore against the Bills, I was back home snapping. I wiped the slate clean. Go back to the most basic fundamentals of my stance, technique. It’s kind of like a golf swing, just going back to the very basics,” said Skura on Tuesday.
“Pretty much since January, almost every day, I’m trying to get snaps just because yeah, it was an issue last year. I felt like going into this camp, I’ve definitely been able to turn that corner and now I can just focus on playing football and having fun. It’s definitely been something I’ve been working on and something that I just want to continue to be consistent with.”
The good news?
There were no issues with the snap once the pads came on for the first time on Tuesday. But now we’ll need to see if Miami is willing to let Skura push for the job and, if they do, how he handles himself there.
