Report: Dolphins spoke to Dalton Risner before he re-signed with Vikings

The Miami Dolphins were reportedly in touch with guard Dalton Risner prior to his decision to re-sign with the Minnesota Vikings on a one-year deal, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Risner played 15 games (11 starts) with the Vikings in the 2023 regular season after spending the first four seasons of his NFL career with the Denver Broncos, who selected him with the No. 41 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

The 28-year-old has limited his mistakes so far in his stint in the NFL in terms of penalties, as he has racked up just nine total offensive line penalties across 77 regular-season games played in the league.

Additionally, Risner was called for just two penalties during the 2023 regular season.

So far this offseason, the Dolphins haven’t made any major acquisitions at the guard spots, and considering the success that Miami’s offensive line enjoyed during the 2023 regular season, it’s easy to see why that is the case.

The Dolphins’ signal-callers were sacked an average of just 1.8 times per game in the 2023 campaign, which ranks as the fourth-fewest sacks allowed per contest of any team in the NFL behind only the Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.

The work put in by the Dolphins’ offensive line allowed Tua Tagovailoa to play at an incredibly high level during the 2023 regular season. He started all 17 of Miami’s regular-season contests and totaled 4,624 passing yards (a career-high and league-high) plus 29 passing touchdowns and 222 first downs passings.

Tagovailoa also averaged 11.9 yards gained per pass completion, 8.3 yards gained per pass attempt and 272.0 passing yards per contest in his fourth season in the NFL and with the Dolphins organization.

While Risner is an established pro who would have given Miami more depth on its offensive line, the Dolphins still had one of the better offensive lines in the NFL during the 2023 campaign, so fans of the team shouldn’t worry too much about the fact that the squad missed out on signing him.