The Miami Dolphins have a plan, and it appears that regardless of the circumstances that surround first-round pick Kadyn Proctor, they’re sticking to it.When the Dolphins drafted Proctor with the 12th pick in the first round of the 2026 draft, conventional wisdom was that Proctor was drafted to play tackle.That line of thinking makes sense. Proctor was a tackle in college, and tackle is considered a more valuable position than guard. The only problem with that line of thinking is that the Dolphins have two established players set to start for them to bookend their offensive line. Patrick Paul has emerged as a potential budding star at left tackle, and Austin Jackson has been solid when he’s been available for the team. Shortly after Proctor was drafted, the Dolphins’ new regime of Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan announced that Proctor would begin his career at left guard, although they hoped to cross-train him at other positions throughout his first offseason as a pro.DOLPHINS PLAYING THE LONG GAME WITH PROCTORPerhaps there will come a day where Proctor moves around on the offensive line, but for now the Dolphins appear content to play the long game with their first-round pick.There is sound reasoning behind what they’re thinking, and they’ve signaled a desire to try and make things easier on their young players as they transition from college to the pros. One example last year that went poorly was with Jonah Savaiinaea, who moved from the right side, his position in college, to the left side of the offensive line. “Proctor, you'll see on one side right now, Jonah (Savaiinaea), you'll see on one side right now, and we'll just keep him on those sides and let them get comfortable,” Hafley said. "So it's case by case, and I think that's our job as coaches is to figure that out. Some guys, we're still not sure yet. Practice has been limited. Team reps have been limited, and we'll figure that out in training camp.”This offseason, the Dolphins are focused on keeping Savaiinaea comfortable, which has trickled into their thinking with Proctor. Savaiinaea struggled last season transitioning from one side of the offensive line to the other. "I think he's going to be better and have more confidence switching back over to the right," new offensive line coach Zach Yenser said a couple of weeks ago. "He has a lot of built-up reps on the right side. And that's what we're going to do right now. I know Sully (GM Jon-Eric Sullivan) made that comment that we're going to keep Kadyn at left and move (Jonah). That was a big part of the whole draft process too. That was a conversation we had with Jonah when we first got here of like, hey man, you played on the right side. I mean, he was excited to be able to have an opportunity if we drafted the right guy to move back over to the right side."Former Dolphins offensive lineman Josh Sitton once hilariously compared moving sides up front to another daily function.It’s like wiping your ass with a different hand -Josh SittonSome people can do it and others can’t. https://t.co/vIQv2HOodT— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) September 20, 2021That philosophy was put to the test almost instantly with Proctor present for OTAs last week, but Austin Jackson sidelined with an injury.STICKING WITH THE PLANWith Jackson sidelined, the temptation could have existed to move Proctor to tackle to allow him to get his feet wet at a position that is likely to be his long-term position.The Dolphins coaching staff resisted the temptation, and instead focused on allowing Proctor to remain locked in on one position on one side of the offensive lnie. "Yeah, there's things we can do in individual and do that, so he's working the fundamentals and the technique, whether it's pass protection, whether it's in the run game," Hafley said, "but when we're just talking about schematically learning the playbook, we believe that it's his best bet not to overload him."Proctor, like any other rookie is adjusting to new life as a professional athlete. Even though college football has changed dramatically in recent years, it still does not resemble the full time job that is being a professional football player.Rookies are often highly touted coming out of college, but most of them struggle trying to find their way in their first season as a pro. It appears the Dolphins are leaning into that approach, and trying to keep things simple for their young players.That includes, and perhaps even emphasizes their top draft choice. “Like we were just talking about to try to learn too much, and then when it comes down to actually having to play it, you're not ready to play anything," Hafley said. "I've been a part of and I've even made the mistake in my past, of you take one player and you say, all right, I'm going to teach him this position, this position. Then you start playing him and it's like, man, that's not fair what we just did to that guy. He's not ready to play. "He didn't get all those reps over and over again. We're really limited in what we can do right now. OTAs is not training camp. I mean, you guys saw practice. It is what it is. I respect the rules and we're going to follow the rules of OTAs, but this isn't like let's go run the ball and be physical and get all those reps. So the minimal reps that we get, we just believe it's best to get them comfortable playing football again, and then we can certainly do that. I respect the question. I think it's a good question, but we got to be mindful of how much to throw on these guys right now.” There may come a day where Proctor is starting at tackle for the Dolphins. That might even be the hope that he’s a long-term solution for the team across from Patrick Paul. For now, however, there’s a plan in place and for now that plan is for Proctor to stay on the left side at one position.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow