Colledge determined to keep Tannehill upright

Written by Luis Sung | Twitter: @FLSportDebater
When it was revealed that center Mike Pouncey would be out for approximately one month, the Miami Dolphins went searching for someone who could come in to help bolster the offensive line, and they found that help in a man who Joe Philbin is very familiar with thanks to his time in Green Bay. Nine-year veteran guard Daryn Colledge was signed and he's stabilized the left side of the offensive line since the moment he got here.

Colledge has been a starter for 124 games in his career, including being durable enough to start all sixteen games for the past six seasons for the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers, and Colledge has stated that he intends to make sure quarterback Ryan Tannehill doesn't have to face another season of getting knocked down almost every other play.

“Well, I think everybody knows what happened here last year, but nobody was here last year,” Colledge explained. “So it's a matter of us, I mean, that can't happen on any team. So I think we all know that there's a certain standard that's among professionals that you just can't be that guy. You don't want to be the last team in the league in sacks.” 

With Colledge and Branden Albert protecting Tannehill's blind side, the left side of the offensive line stands to be the strength of that unit, and Colledge is working on gaining chemistry with Albert in order to do their job effectively.

"The good thing about me and Branden is we've both got a lot of experience. So we know what each other wants to see out there,” Colledge said. “It's just a matter of us knowing exactly what we want on each play. Once we have that down, we can kind of start taking the communication stuff out of it and a lot of it becomes nonverbal, which helps out me and him. We're getting to that point.”

With Colledge and Albert on the left, the only questions marks left on the line are in the middle at center, which should stop being a problem once Pouncey returns, and the right side which currently features first-round draft pick Ja'Wuan James and either second-year player Dallas Thomas, rookie Billy Turner, or signed free agent Shelley Smith. Either way, the line already looks much stronger compared to last year.

---