Usually, I invest a significant amount of time and energy in breaking down Dolphins drafts (as you can see here), which usually ends up making me sad and somewhat pissed off. This year, I don’t which makes me sadder: another Miami draft or the ongoing lockout.
Anyway, I thought I’d give a quick rundown of the newest Dolphins before heading off to the bar. After all, if nothing else, a Miami draft reinvigorates the prospect of a drinking problem.
First Round: Mike Pouncey, C/G, FloridaAn unofficial NFL drafting rule of thumb is that you don’t take a center this high (15th overall), but despite some warts, I don’t have a problem with this pick (well, except for maybe his jewelry; that’s his watch up there … *sigh*). Pouncey’s early-season snapping for the Gators was the fodder of late-night comedians, but he bounced back fairly well. By all accounts, he’s not as good as his twin brother, Markice (Pittsburgh), but this has been a huge problem area for Miami. My philosophy of football allows me to almost never be pissed off at the drafting of an impressive offensive lineman.
Second Round: Daniel Thomas, RB, Kansas StateI admittedly didn’t know too much about Thomas, but my immediate impression from the initial clips was that he ran way too upright. Further research led me to believe that the Dolphins traded up (for the price of third-, fifth- and seventh-rounders) for an unintelligent, upright, cone-headed runner with fumbling issues and a lack of breakaway speed. But hey, he’s run the Wildcat before, which may automatically make him more accurate than Chad Henne.
Fourth Round: Edmond Gates, WR, Abilene ChristianMy favorite pick of Miami's draft, Gates is a legit burner and return man from the school that produced Chicago Bears speedster Johnnie Knox. Gates could give the Dolphins the downhill threat that Ned Ginn never could, making him a great fit. I can envision Henne underthrowing him for years and years.
Sixth Round: Charles Gray, FB/TE, TulsaA hybrid, H-back type with good hands, Gray seemed to attract a lot of attention from the Miami media after his selection (hey, fellas, let’s remember this is a sixth-round pick). The staff must have really liked him considering the fact that what the Dolphins really need is a road-grader, blocking tight end, but hey, here’s another dude with Wildcat experience—which may offer further proof that Dan Henning and David Lee could be haunting this franchise from beyond the grave.
Seventh Round: Frank Kearse, DT, Alabama A&MMiami seems to like small-school defensive linemen, so Kearse’s selection here isn’t exactly surprising. He’s a widebody who has been tabbed as something of an underachiever, but who knows—the Dolphins need interior help on defense, so Kearse will certainly get all the opportunities he needs to impress. The measuring stick for Miami rookie defensive linemen these days is whether they can make it through training camp without sobbing, so the bar isn’t set too high here.
Seventh Round: Jimmy Wilson, DB, MontanaAs a general rule, I usually don’t like seeing words like “once murdered someone” in draft bios. But hey, if you’re going to roll the dice on a murderer, it’s best that they rehab their image somewhere like South Beach, right? Yeah … this can’t end well.
So there you have it … all in all, not a very inspired draft by general manager Jeff Ireland and his crew. Most of the storylines will center around Miami electing not to trade up for a quarterback, but choosing to do so for a relatively nondescript running back. Personally, I would have preferred to see a late-round signal-caller picked purely for competition reasons, but beyond that, it looked like the Dolphins drafted a little more for need this year than usual. For a braintrust that could be in lame-duck mode, one had to expect Miami to play it relatively safe on Draft Day(s).
As usual, barring the early outs such as Pat White or Patrick Turner, ask me in three years about this draft—the only question will be whether either Ireland or coach Tony Sparano will be around by then?
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