The chicken vs. the egg debate has plagued Miami Dolphins fans for the better part of former quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s tenure with the team. Was the team ineffective passing the ball deep because Tannehill didn’t see it and was reluctant want to throw it, or is it because the team’s offensive line didn’t give Tannehill the necessary time to survey the field and make his reads?

In all honesty, the answer is likely a little bit of both. When the offensive line did provide Tannehill with the needed time, he didn’t always expect it to be there — especially towards the end of his run as the starter in Miami.

But now that Ryan Tannehill has been traded to Tennessee, the Dolphins have a lot of work to do if they want to bring the deep ball back to South Florida. This isn’t just a matter of changing the quarterback and expecting fresh results — if only it were that easy. No, now the Dolphins have to address their porous offensive line, and it is essential that things get better this year.

How bad was the Dolphins line in pass protection last year? Pro Football Focus took every team’s deep pass plays from 2018 and rated their offensive lines on pass block efficiency on only those plays. The Dolphins line is pretty easy to find, just scroll all the way to the bottom.

Ranking all 32 NFL offensive lines by pass-blocking efficiency on long-developing plays. PFF's NFL editor @PFF_Chichester highlights 2018's best o-lines when we take away the quick passing game 🔒: https://t.co/vQoNeYlMXw pic.twitter.com/6x20s0ACYd — PFF (@PFF) June 26, 2019

According to the analysis, Adam Gase’s Dolphins offense called only 50 deep set passing plays in all of 2018 — and the offensive line gave up nine sacks, six hits and 22 hurries on those 50 plays. With a pressure rate of 74%, the Dolphins offensive line, in short, stunk out loud.

With Josh Rosen now entering the picture, Miami will need to recruit more pass protection on such concepts and hope the changes it has made along the line will help provide a better protection set for Rosen. In Arizona last year, Rosen experienced pressure on 69% of his deep-set passes; the Dolphins were the only team in the NFL worse last year.

There are no easy answers to fix the Dolphins’ offense. But getting the line right, as has been the case for the last several years, would sure be a great place to start.