If the Miami Dolphins are going to turn it around offensively under coach Mike McDaniel, it’ll have to start with the offensive line play.
Despite general manager Chris Grier’s efforts, exhausting a series of early draft picks on offensive linemen throughout the three years he was tied to ex-coach Brian Flores, it has remained a significant position of need, likely the Dolphins’ most dire this offseason.
The man tasked with transforming Miami’s fledgling unit in 2022 is Matt Applebaum, who is on a fast track in his coaching career of late. He gets the offensive line coach role with the Dolphins after two years with Boston College, where he had a successful tenure since arriving there from Towson.
Applebaum had seven All-ACC selections from his veteran line in those two seasons with the Eagles. Four of his players are NFL draft prospects this year.
“What he did with me was awesome,” said center Alec Lindstrom, who is working out in Miami with trainer Pete Bommarito ahead of next week’s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “I had him for two years. The way he took my zone-running ability and using that, using my strengths as a more athletic, undersized guy, using his techniques and his coaching, how to really master the outside zone, inside zone, all kind of zone schemes, to then my pass protection.”
For Applebaum, he called it “brand new” being around the Dolphins since McDaniel’s coaching staff was finalized last week. He has had to figure out what he has with his linemen on the roster, determine where the Dolphins can address needs on the line in free agency beginning March 16 and what he likes out of the draft, which will run from April 28-30.
One thing working in his favor is his familiarity with what McDaniel and new Miami offensive coordinator Frank Smith want their offensive linemen to do. McDaniel ran the outside zone plenty in his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers last year as offensive coordinator and before that as run-game coordinator. Smith was just offensive line coach for the Los Angeles Chargers, so he can offer additional guidance for Applebaum.
“From a scheme perspective, there’s some carryover,” said Applebaum on Wednesday at Dolphins’ facilities. “We ran a very pro-style attack at BC, but other college jobs I had, we didn’t, so maybe some of that stuff can get dabbled in. I’m one to just try to pull from all my experiences and use them moving forward.”
Lindstrom, who is the younger brother of Atlanta Falcons guard Chris Lindstrom, believes Applebaum is a good fit with the Dolphins based on scheme.
“Coach Applebaum is like me. Outside zone is his thing. It’s my thing,” Alec Lindstrom told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Coach McDaniel, he came from San Francisco, and they run the outside-zone play really well. Coach Applebaum is a big outside-zone guy, and he knows the O-line coach for San Francisco [Chris Foerster].”
Also working for Applebaum, he comes from coaching an experienced, veteran college line at Boston College to now leading a young NFL line in Miami, depending on how much is changed in free agency. The age of players he’s teaching won’t be much different.
“He’s very relatable to the guys about, ‘Hey, I know this is hard,’ and just being a good coach and having a conversation with you about how to work, how you can fix it and staying after, doing extra with you,” Lindstrom said.
Added Applebaum: “I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation that I was just at a college program and we’ve got some young guys, but maybe it will play out that way.”
Ben Petrula, the BC tackle who is also heading to the NFL, along with Eagles linemates Zion Johnson and Tyler Vrabel, said Applebaum would give players freedom and leniency and listen to them, but it was ultimately his word that was the final say.
“The culture and atmosphere that we had in the O-line room at BC was awesome,” Lindstrom said. “He was very open to [ideas]. We did some things one way with our old staff. He had some things. We all knew that, obviously, what he said was going to go, but he always was very lenient and was very democratic talking about schemes and techniques. What you like better, what you think helps you better and kind of giving you the option.”
Lindstrom said Applebaum didn’t just have a set way that he taught every lineman, but that he was capable of mixing footwork and punch combinations for different players.
Lindstrom feels Applebaum is adept at coaching all three positions on the line in tackle, guard and center because he played all of them in college at Connecticut. He brought a heightened emphasis on pass protection to Boston College linemen when he arrived in 2020, as the Eagles began throwing more in the transition from Steve Addazio to Jeff Hafley as coach that year.
Applebaum hasn’t gone in depth yet with an evaluation of his current linemen with the Dolphins, but said: “I have watched some. I feel like there’s some guys in the room that have ability, and I’m just excited to get my hands on them.”
Aside from being a college coach, Applebaum has previous NFL experience with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an offensive assistant in 2014 and three previous seasons with Washington as pro personnel assistant, college personnel assistant and finally as an offensive coaching assistant, changing roles every season.
Among his college stops, Applebaum was also a graduate assistant at the University of Miami in Al Golden’s first two seasons as coach of the Hurricanes in 2011 and 2012.
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