A recent article by Armando Salguero, of the Miami Herald, hints at the possibility that Miami could take an outside line backer at number 12 (with a bit of advice from ESPN's Todd McShay). According to McShay's insight, Derrick Morgan (Georgia Tech) and Jason Pierre-Paul (South Florida) are the best "bang for your buck" picks with the 12th pick. Salguero inquired into other options at OLB like Brandon Graham (Michigan), Sergio Kindle (Texas) and Jerry Hughes (TCU), but McShay cautioned that those options may not be worthy of such a high draft selection.
Various analysts believe that neither Morgan nor Pierre-Paul will be available when Miami goes on the clock, but the uncertainty of draft trends could disprove those beliefs. Nevertheless, OLB is just one of the areas that the Dolphins must address, leaving a plethora of possibilities still open.
The Sun-Sentinel's Omar Kelly laid out 10 "possible targets" that he believes Miami will choose from in the first round. They are as follows:
Tennessee DT Dan Williams; Texas DE/OLBer Sergio Kindle; Michigan DE/OLBer Brandon Graham (MVP of the Senior Bowl); Georgia Tech DE/OLBer Derrick Morgan; Tennessee FS Eric Berry; Texas FS Earl Thomas; Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant; Clemson RB C.J. Spiller, Oklahoma TE Jermaine Gresham; and Florida CB Joe Haden.There is some overlap in the list provided by Kelly with the players mentioned in Salguero's article, but in this case there are a multitude of positions beyond OLB. Just another finger pointing in a different direction. Correction: 10 different directions.
Rounding out the Tri-County area of South Florida was Edgar Thompson, of the Palm Beach Post, who furthered the point that there is no consensus in sight regarding the Dolphins first pick of the draft. In his own words, "[a]mong 14 mock drafts, eight different players were projected to land in South Florida." Simply put, analysts, writers and draft junkies alike are all clearly divided on this issue.
Thompson's mock draft list labels familiar names, like Williams, Kindle, Graham, Pierre-Paul, Spiller and Bryant, but also adds DE Jared Odrick (Penn State) and S Taylor Mays (USC) into the equation.
These three writers alone provide over a dozen potential draftees, while countless sources include even more prospects to the discussion. Thus, we are left with a blur of Miami's future.
On a comical note, while we continue to assume the role of the Dolphins front office, the decision-makers themselves have not likely decided on a short list of players themselves. But with football season out of reach (September is just so far away), we will continue to entertain our minds with this great draft debate.
2 comments:
They could always spin a wheel with all the choices, but I'd be happy with Dez Bryant or Dan Williams.
@ AnHonestFraud: I think what should really matter here is who will be available past the first round and which positions can they address in the later rounds. For instance, if they believe that OT can be addressed in the 2nd or 3rd, but WR is lacking depth in the later rounds, then they should draft Dez Bryant (if available).
What we need to remind ourselves of is that the draft is seven rounds and this administrations likes to draft value deep into the second day. They probably know how deep this draft class is and I'm confident that they will address the right position at #12 and beyond, given the circumstances.
Thanks for your input.
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