Behind enemy lines: Jaguars vs. Dolphins Q&A with Dolphins Wire

Jacksonville and Miami combined to commit $487.4 million to their quarterbacks over long-term contract extensions this offseason, Trevor Lawrence with the Jaguars and Tua Tagovailoa with the Dolphins.

Stating their belief in their franchise passers, the top-dollar extensions were the biggest drops in Jacksonville and Miami’s offseason spending buckets, with both teams adding a handful of new starters in free agency to support their quarterbacks this year and into the future.

The Jaguars’ and Dolphins’ busy, headline-generating offseasons set the table for one of Week 1’s most intriguing matchups, scheduled for 1 pm ET Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

This is the best preview of Jacksonville vs. Miami, Jaguars Wire has gone behind enemy lines with Dolphins Wire’s Adam Stites (who you may remember as our former managing editor) for a question-and-answer session, our first in a season-long series with input from sister sites at the USA TODAY Sports Wire network.

Like Jacksonville, Miami was one of the NFL’s biggest spenders this offseason across the board. A massive quarterback extension will do that, but aside from Tua Tagovailoa’s deal, what do you make of the Dolphins’ moves?

Much of the Dolphins’ offseason centered around finding cheap replacements for players who were too expensive to keep. Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt received two of the biggest contracts in all of free agency from the Raiders and Panthers, respectively, while none of the Dolphins’ long list of acquisitions signed a deal worth even $9 million per year.

On the other hand, Miami added several experienced and proven veterans (Calais Campbell, Jordan Poyer, Odell Beckham Jr., to name a few), who could certainly be stop-gap solutions. All in all, it was an offseason that should keep the Dolphins on track as a contender in the AFC.

What were your impressions of Tagovailoa’s deal and the negotiations that went into it?

In a perfect world, the contract would’ve been done about a week earlier making it so Tagovailoa wouldn’t have to navigate an awkward “hold-in” with some part-time practice reps. But a deal was always inevitable and it came at a pretty reasonable price, considering the market. It remains to be seen if Tagovailoa can take the Dolphins to the next level, but he’s shown he can lead an uber-efficient, elite offense. That’s worth committing to him for at least a few more years.

What is the next step for Tagovailoa and Miami’s offense to take?

Many will point to cold weather and January, but Miami’s failures at the end of the last two seasons probably had more to do with ill-timed injury avalanches than anything else.

The more concerning issue for the fully healthy version of the Dolphins is the vanishing act they pulled against good teams. Miami was the only team in the NFL to average more than 400 yards per game, but it failed to reach 300 yards in a trio of regular season losses against the Chiefs, Eagles, and Bills. A little more diversity to their attack — perhaps from newly added tight end Jonnu Smith or versatile back De’Von Achane — would do the trick.

What should the Jaguars expect to see from first-round edge rusher Chop Robinson in place of Bradley Chubb, and how impactful do you believe Jaelan Phillips can be in his return from his late-2023 Achilles tear?

The pass rush might be the Dolphins’ biggest concern early in the year. Chop Robinson has an incredible first step and showed plenty of flashes of his ability, but it became clear in preseason that he’s not ready to provide much of anything against the run right now. Both Robinson and fifth-round rookie Mohamed Kamara are projects and it’s hard to imagine they’ll get many snaps right away.

It’s also hard to imagine the Dolphins want to heap a full helping on Jaelan Phillips’ plate after he sat out all of preseason and got limited reps in camp. Expect to see a lot of Emmanuel Ogbah and Quinton Bell at outside linebacker, which is certainly less than ideal.

Are there any other Dolphins injury concerns you’re eyeing at this point?

There may be some hand-wringing about the minor injuries for Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, but it’s Aaron Brewer who is the bigger concern.

The former Titans center was signed in the offseason to anchor the middle of Miami’s line, but he’s been out for weeks with a hand injury. He should be back in practice this week, but Brewer has had very little time working with Tagovailoa and he’s got a lot of catching up to do in a short period of time. If he doesn’t play Sunday, an already subpar Dolphins interior offensive line will be even worse.

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Behind enemy lines: Jaguars vs. Dolphins Q&A with Dolphins Wire