Dolphins Draft Recap

Miami has the Dolphins! The greatest football team! We take the ball from goal to goal! And kick field goals like a dream!

My poor, poor Dolphins. In search of hope. With nothing but a famous running back and Canadian pass rusher to hold onto.

The draft was just what they needed. Something to bring in hope, sell tickets, and raise expectations.

I’ll be honest with you, they reeled me in. This is the Dolphins draft I’ve wanted for 10 years. They got me a quarterback. They spent a high pick on a pass rusher. They drafted a pass catching tight end!

I laughed as I monitored Facebook and Twitter during the draft. Most of my fellow Dolfans were pushing for Ireland to get fired, yet were struggling to hide their excitement with this draft. There were a lot of backhanded compliments and optimistic posts ending with potshots at Ireland to save face.

So is the plight of the Dolphin fan.

Let’s just be honest. This draft is exciting. For the most part we focused on high impact positions. That’s all I care about. Yes, the draft is an unknown venture that is impossible to quantify for several years. But that won’t stop me from trying!

Boom! Draft recap!

1st pick- Ryan Tannehill

Ireland must really like this guy. Or he’s been saying he likes this guy to save face about whiffing on Peyton, RG3, and Luck. Either way, I’m excited. Word was leaked that the Dolphins’ brass thought Tannehill was the best QB prospect they had seen in 10 years. I’m gonna have to call BS on that, but I like the effort. The PR spin is in full effect, but you know what, we will love that coded language if the Dolphins are winning Superbowls while holding everything close to the vest.

Anyways, on to Tannehill himself. As a prospect, I didn’t love him. He played receiver most of his college career. It took him until his senior year to beat out Jerrod Johnson. Ask any Texas A&M fan about that, who has watched Jerrod Johnson fire five yard flare routes into the dirt, and they will tell you that its not a good omen for Tanny. He wasn’t elite in the Big 12. He didn’t win any significant games against top teams. He wasn’t near the leaderboards for any major passing category. But overall I like the pick.

Why?

Oh, I’ll tell you why.

We had to pull the trigger eventually! Ever since Marino retired, all I’ve heard is that this isn’t the year to draft a QB. Next year is a much better crop. Then we get to next year and they say the same bleeping thing. I’m tired of it. Every year we wait on a QB. Sign a retread, or draft a project in a later round. Then they try to sell me on the value. Now anyone who has seen me buy half my wardrobe at Goodwill will tell you that I love value. However, it doesn’t work at QB. Look at all the QB’s in the playoffs last year. Brady is a once an era exception. Brees was the first pick in the second round, and everyone else was a first round pick.

Teams pick quarterbacks in the first round, because first round quarterbacks win. At least more than any other type of quarterback.

I definitely thought we reached for Tannehill. And he may not have been a first round pick if the Dolphins weren’t picking there. If I had to guess, I would lean towards him being a bust. But I don’t care. I’m glad we took a chance. We could have drafted a solid guard to fill out another offensive line spot for a decade. But having an All-Pro guard doesn’t win you big games. Just ask Blindside.

All the talking heads like to make football sound really complicated. And it is an intricate game. But most of the players at most of the positions are pretty equal. And the difference between having an All-Pro guard instead of a journeyman probably isn’t a single win. But the difference between having an All-Pro quarterback instead of a journeyman is probably 6-8 wins. Do you see what I’m saying? Is there a way we can hire an economist to run the Dolphins? He would agree with me. Or she! Sorry ladies.

Quarterback is a high impact position where difference makers don’t become available. You have to draft quarterbacks to get a good one. Rarely does a team let one go. The other positions like that are DE/OLB (whoever rushes the passer), TE (Gronk isn’t going anywhere), CB, WR (name me all the big WR signings that have worked in the past 5 years, go talk to a Seahawks fan), and maybe LT (I think Jake Long is a stud but you can normally find a good tackle late in his career who will still play at a high level). Bottom line, you have to draft and develop your own difference makers. That’s why the Steelers have won so many games in the history of their existence.

The most high impact of all the high impact positions is quarterback. A good QB can cover up a lot of other deficiencies. So if we hit on a good QB, most of our problems are solved. The bulk of the improvement will be done and we can fill in the pieces around him. It is so cliche to call a quarterback the cornerstone of a franchise. But its true. You need a good one to build around, or else you’re just dressing up a Motel 6.

I wasn’t high on Tanny as a prospect. But I like him as a person. After he was drafted, I stalked his and his wife’s Twitter page. They are likable people. This was the first draft where I felt like these guys were normal guys. Not market trained, over saturated, media icons. Tanny’s Twitter felt like a normal person’s Twitter. Not a successful athlete who makes a page and starts interacting with 50,000 fans. Tannehill and his wife sound like average college kids who were tweeting to 300 of their friends about going to dinner and cramming for finals.

I understand that has nothing to do with football. But I will definitely be rooting for Tanny to succeed.

2nd pick- Jonathan Martin

I don’t know anything about this guy. I don’t watch a lot of left coast football, and when I did, my eyes were glued to Andrew Luck and Oregon’s chrome helmets. But I didn’t see Andrew Luck get knocked around a lot, so I guess I gotta give props to this kid. We had a hole with Vernon Carey leaving. A 300 lb donut eating hole on the right side of the line that this kid can fill. Sadly, I don’t know if he will ever have as much swag as Carey.

3rd pick- Oliver Vernon

The Dolphins are picking Hurricanes again? After all the Pro Bowlers left? Oh well.

I liked the Vernon pick as well. Mostly based on my high impact preference of drafting. I like anytime my team picks a pass rusher. He is undersized but very quick. Just like every other UM linebacker since Ray Lewis. But if this guy can move off the edge and bring some pressure, it will be splendid. Boom or bust? I have no idea. But keep picking QB’s and pass rushers, Ireland!

4th pick- Michael Egnew

Ok, some things you don’t know about Craig.

1. I’ve listened to Call Me Maybe more than once in the past 24 hours.

2. I’ve been wearing track pants all week.

3. I’ve been a Michael Egnew fan for years!

I was so hyped about this pick. Egnew can ball. The kid is a freak athlete at tight end. We haven’t had a TE like this since skinny Randy McMichael, before he started drinking a lot and beating his wife.

As much as I hate to admit it, Belichick got ahead of the curve. Remember when I was pushing for us to hire Chud? It was because I loved two tight end sets, and now I think the NFL does, too. The future of the NFL are players like Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski. Large tree trunk shaped monsters that can jump really high and catch touchdowns.

Egnew can be that guy. He is 6’5 252 lbs and ran a 4.6. This guy has the physical tools, and more than that he’s proven. Jimmy Graham was an unknown commodity when he entered the league. Michael Egnew was an ALL AMERICAN!

I almost feel bad for Egnew. My expectations are so high for him, that unless he is the second coming of Shannon Sharpe, I’m going to be disappointed.

But its hope!

Hope!

5th pick- Lamar Miller

I liked the Lamar Miller pick, too. I like how we were aggressive and traded up for a falling prospect. Biased homers down in South Florida had him being a fringe first round pick. While I don’t think he should have been that, he was still great value in the 5th round.

As a Gator fan, I spent many a Saturday rooting against Lamar Miller and watching him burst through holes in the line and chalk up first down after first down. The guy has talent, but is an injury concern.

He could be a non factor or he could be the next Frank Gore. That is the obvious comparison, and I can’t think of a better type of player to take a flyer on.

6th pick- Josh Kannu

Oregon’s primary pass rusher. Oregon didn’t have a great D, but I think that had a lot to do with the pace of their offense as well. So we should cut Kannu some slack. This guy has potential but I’m no expert on him. However, I remember he had a high rating in NCAA Football 12. So that’s a good sign.

7th pick- BJ Cunningham

He broke all the school records at Michigan St. He’s not big for his position (6’1) or extraordinarily fast (4.5), but he produced in college. And what’s left of the Trifecta loves production. Charles Rogers and anyone that Jeff Smoker threw to has turned me off of Michigan St. receivers. Prove me wrong, BJ! Prove me wrong!

8th pick- Kheeston Randall

Big nose tackle from Texas. He is a project and will get limited snaps behind Solai. Meh.

9th pick- Rishard Matthews

Never heard of him. Who cares?

I’ll use this space instead to link you to this hilarious article about Jimmy Clausen’s misadventure to Supercuts.

All in all, I am pumped about this draft. I don’t expect the Dolphins to rise above their purgatory of mediocrity this season, but if Tanny shines, we all shine together. And we finally rolled the dice on a QB. That’s all I can ask. If it doesn’t work out, take another one. Keep taking them until we find a good one. If you load your team up with talent at the high impact positions, and fill in the rest through free agency, that’s how you win consistently. It is through that type of building, that the Dolphins can reclaim our highest franchise win percentage from the Steelers. I’m gunnin’ for you Pittsburgh.

C-Note out.