Dolphins add guard Kraig Urbik

The Miami Dolphins on Tuesday added veteran guard Kraig Urbik, the team announced. Urbik, a Chicago native, was drafted in the third round of the 2009 Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Wisconsin. He has appeared in 84 games in the first six years of his career, starting 57 games.

Urbik, who moved to the Buffalo Bills after one year with the Steelers, will likely compete with Dallas Thomas, Billy Turner, and Jamil Douglas for one starting guard position. The team seems to consider the recently signed Jermon Bushrod, who has only played tackle in his career, the other starting guard heading into the offseason training program. Miami has also signed tackle Sam Young, who is expected to work in the swing-tackle, reserve role for the team, and Jacques McClendon, who will likely start training camp as the backup behind Pro Bowl center Mike Pouncey, who had offseason hip surgery in January.

"We feel like the first step we made was by promoting Dave [Puloka, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach]," Dolphins head coach Adam Gase said on Tuesday during the NFL Coaches Breakfast about how the team will address the offensive line. "[We] put him in charge and we talked about it ... we said let's get back to some old, ‘Let's lift.' Let's spend our two hours in the weight room. Let's get these guys bigger and stronger and faster. That's been a big focus. I want to try to give him as much time allotted that he is allowed to get these guys in the position to when we do start, we can see a difference. We can see a difference physically in our guys as far as their strength and being able to come off the ball and move people."

The Dolphins are also considering compensatory draft picks in their signings this offseason. The team lost defensive end Olivier Vernon and running back Lamar Miller, which could, according to Over the Cap's projection, provide Miami with a third- and a fifth-round compensatory pick. Compensatory picks will have additional value in 2017, when the NFL allows them to be traded for the first time. Ubrik, who was waived by the Bills, will not impact the Dolphins' compensatory picks, which are only calculated using free agents who had expiring contracts and the team did not (or could not) re-sign.