MIAMI GARDENS — Perhaps the biggest point of contention and consternation for Dolphins fans over the past two decades has been the line of scrimmage, the so-called trenches.

Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley have boldly declared that they want to be strong in the trenches.

“We’ll build this from the inside out,” Sullivan said at his introductory news conference in January. “I think you have to do that.”

So how is the Dolphins’ mission to be strong in the trenches going through three days of training camp?

Truthfully, it’s going slowly. The Dolphins’ offensive and defensive lines have a long way to go before they’re considered anything approaching being dominant. Or even good.

But every now and then we see signs that their trench dream might come to fruition.

During Thursday’s practice there was a series of impressive exchanges between left tackle Patrick Paul and defensive end Chop Robinson that saw Robinson record a sack, Paul record a pancake block and then Robinson come back to either record a sack or force an interception with his pass rush (it’s tough to say for sure which was the case).

It was a healthy back-and-forth that hinted both sides of the line of scrimmage have shown promise.

“Me and Chop have been going at it for three years now,” Paul said. “That’s my guy. We came in the same draft class, so I think the biggest thing is just competing. And me and Chop, we’re always going to do that regardless.”

You regularly see quality plays in the trenches from All Pro center Aaron Brewer and veteran defensive tackle Zach Sieler. But the youngsters are still learning.

In that respect, being strong in the trenches is a big test for the Dolphins’ newly-adopted draft-and-develop philosophy.

Miami’s offensive line was ranked No. 29 last season by Pro Football Focus.

Miami’s defensive line was ranked No. 32, dead last, by PF .

In the past three years the Dolphins have used five of their seven first- and second-round picks on offensive and defensive linemen, and 10 of their 28 draft picks on offensive or defensive linemen.

Atop the list are Robinson, the 2024 first-round pick; Paul, the 2024 second-round pick; defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, the 2025 first-round pick; right guard Jonah Savaiinaea, the 2025 second-round pick; left guard Kadyn Proctor, the 2026 first-round pick.

But there’s also defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, the 2025 fifth-round pick, defensive lineman Zeek Biggers, the 2025 seventh-round pick, guard D.J. Campbell, the 2026 sixth-round pick and defensive end Max Llewellyn, the 2026 seventh-round pick.

We’ll see if this works.

Kansas City and New England are examples of teams that lost recent Super Bowls because their offensive lines were suspect. Philadelphia is an example of a team that won a recent Super Bowl because its defensive line was able to dominate.

Looking at the bigger picture, Detroit and Philadelphia are recent examples of teams that were strong on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Philadelphia’s offensive line was ranked No. 1 last year by PFF and its defensive line was ranked No. 9.

Detroit’s offensive line was No. 4 and its defensive line was ranked No. 6.

The Dolphins would love to be able to enjoy such lofty rankings.

Instead, they’ve had either their offensive or defensive line mired in the lower third of the league on a regular basis.

There’s a chance that happier times are coming for the Dolphins on both sides of the line of scrimmage. And if their draft and develop strategy becomes reality, it’s almost a guarantee they’ll be strong in the trenches. Once that happens, the sky is the limit. Grant knows the importance of being in the trenches.

“It brings juice to everybody, honestly,” he said “It starts with the D-line. You don’t hear, ’It starts in the secondary.’  You don’t hear that. It starts with the D-line, it starts with the offensive line. So we’ve got to be the guys to get everybody going, we’ve got to bring the juice every day and everybody will follow along.”