When One Door Closes, Another One Opens

If this is the last we’ve seen of Terron Armstead, Patrick Paul may be ready to fill his shoes.

MIAMI GARDENS – As the Miami Dolphins celebrate their 32-26 overtime win over division archrival New York Jets, it comes as a bittersweet moment.

Yes, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins won a win-or-go-home-type game in walk-off fashion, keeping their playoff hopes alive for another week, but it came at the cost of their best offensive lineman.

Star left tackle Terron Armstead suffered a knee injury in the first quarter and never returned. A year where it felt like it was Armstead’s magical last ride, ended up slamming the brakes and signaled its final stop a few games early. It’s been a hall-of-fame career, but it ended short of where he wanted his story to end.

You could see and feel the pain and tears he was holding back, being that same leader the players have looked to since he arrived in 2022. There’s a moment in every player’s career when Father Time comes knocking, and this seems to be Armstead’s moment.

As of right now, Armstead is still being examined with no concrete reports on a return date so there’s always a chance he could come back in a few weeks. It could be soreness or anything else minor that allows him to return before the end of the season, but judging from that video, I don’t see him making his way back and expect that we’ve already seen Armstead’s last snap as a Dolphin or in the NFL.

If that is the case, he’s had a fantastic career with an All-Pro nod in 2018 and five consecutive Pro Bowls stretching from 2018-2023. That Pro Bowl streak can still extend itself to this year if Armstead can come back, and possibly get his second All-Pro consideration with how high he’s graded this year.

PFF has Armstead graded as the second-best tackle in the NFL, with an overall grade of 91.2, a pass-blocking grade of 87.5, and a run-blocking grade of 86.7. Although his season has possibly ended early, he’s been as good as it gets during his final ride.

The Student Becomes The Master… Hopefully

With Terron Armstead’s injury timeline unclear, the Dolphins will turn to 2024 second-round rookie left tackle Patrick Paul. Paul has been soaking everything up under the guidance of Armstead and offensive line coach Butch Barry, and it’s paid off, at least so far.

The rookie tackle played seemingly the whole game, and the Dolphins offense operated as if Armstead never came off the field.

The sign of a good game for an offensive lineman is never seeing him, and I didn’t unless it was a highlight of him putting a Jets defender in jail.

I have personally campaigned for getting Paul in the lineup at guard when the offense was struggling, but it looks as if the weekly preparation at left tackle has been the best course of option for him long-term.

The next step is if Paul can keep the level of play we saw on Sunday consistently over the final stretch of the season, and he’ll get high-level competition next week when the Dolphins travel to Texas to play the Houston Texans.

Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter are both PFF graded in the top 15 of edge rushers, and they will be the ones coming off the edge so that matchup with Paul and Kendall Lamm will be something to watch.

End Of An Era

Though Terron Armstead may have only been with the Dolphins for three years, fans went three years knowing if he was healthy the left side was not a concern.

He brought leadership to a team starving for it and has mentored up the Dolphins next generation of tackles in Paul and Austin Jackson.

Armstead is a class act, deserving of a beautiful sendoff when he feels it’s time to hang up his cleats. It might be now or after the season, but when he does, he should know he left a lasting impact on the organization and fans.

With that said, Patrick Paul, you’re up.