Over the years, the draft has been an area of deep pain and frustration for Dolphins fans (as extensively documented here). So -- and stay with me here -- why not just, like, skip the draft by packaging your picks for players who are already proven? That's exactly what Miami finally did this year, following the L.A. Rams model by shipping essentially an entire draft to Kansas City for Tyreek Hill. While that sounded like a stellar idea on the day the trade was announced, reality set in in late April when the 'Fins picked zero players on Day 1 and a single player on Day 2 to prepare for a boon of three picks on the final day of the draft.
The pluses: After the scant Day 2 result, Miami had three picks on the final day of the draft. Not ideal -- especially since the strength of this draft was deemed to be in the middle rounds -- but this was the hand the 'Fins dealt themselves. At 6-2, 209 pounds, fourth-rounder Erik Ezukanma of Texas Tech gives the team a potential replacement for DeVante Parker as a physical wideout with size. The seventh-rounders -- edge Cameron Goode of California and quarterback Skylar Thompson of Kansas State -- play high-value positions, making them worthy flyers at the draft's back end. The Dolphins need to keep hammering the pass rush spots, while I've long been a fan of taking a signal-caller every year, especially since it's a position the franchise has paid dearly for ignoring for years at a stretch.
The negatives: Look, there was not a lot of draft ammunition here; we all get that. However, landing a reach wideout when you just mortgaged the draft for a receiver and signed another in free agency feels like a luxury pick. Ezukanma was rated as the No. 171 player in the draft by The Athletic guru Dane Brugler, and Miami picked him at No. 125. Considered a "predictable route runner" with average speed and fourth/fifth receiver development potential, Ezukanma was a questionable direction to go in with needs along the offensive line and in the defensive secondary. Continuing the theme, neither Goode (picked at No. 224) nor Thompson (No. 247) was listed among Brugler's top 300 prospects.
The bottom line: The decision to trade for Tyreek Hill came with consequences, and this was part of that fallout. Emerging from an entire draft without a single starter is one way to continue a lengthy streak without a playoff win, and that appears to be the case this year. I don't feel Miami was one player away, but I'm perfectly willing to be wrong. As far as the draft goes, you never want to be completely reactive during the selection process, but that's where the Dolphins put themselves. It's possible Channing Tindall or Ezukanma emerges as a standout for the team, but as things stand now, it was an uneventful and low-impact draft for a franchise that has tied so many (lost) hopes to these days in the past.
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