The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I am notorious a crappy contributor around draft time because I don't really watch mainstream college football outside of my individual school, which is not nationally relevant.  We have had a few NFL players all-time, but not guys that go early in the draft.

Because of this, (and because I think the draft is kind of a crap-shoot) I don't know who we should be targeting.

Postionwise, even that's hard -- I think we probably want to put a premium on defense -- maybe Linebacker and D-linemen.  Thoughts for tonight?  What should I be looking for?

It is a great class for WR, O-line (all pos), CB and DL. The DL class is crazy top-heavy.

I'm guessing Miami goes with OT with their first rounder. Same with SF.

We need to bolster our offensive line. With all the yards we had we couldn't run inside on 3rd and 4th down when it mattered and our passing rating was one of the worst in the league. If Tua didn't hit his man quickly he had no shot.

The way I see it we have a few options ...

I hope they draft a Tackle/Guard who can play guard this year and replace Armstead next year like Graham Barton from Duke but I could see him going to center.

Rumor has it McDaniel loves the speedy WR Xavier Worthy who broke all 40 times so there is that.

We could also look to replace Wilkins or add help for Chubb and Phillips.

With all this said we have no 3rd or 4th rounders so we could trade down to add picks

we have a comp pic for wilkins don't we ?

nope, we're projected to get 3 in 2025 draft however

I expect either DT or DE because offense is going off the board every pick.

Miami is on the clock.   Jer'zhan (Johnny) Newton is the best DT on the board.   Graham Barton is thebest OL, though he is primarily a G/C.  The guy I like, despite it not being a major need, is CB Cooper Dejean from Iowa. Ultimate ballhawk DB who can also be your return man.

Pick coming...

Wow...  Chop Robinson, DE. Crazy-fast edge rusher.

Interesting

I really wish they selected Graham Barton to play center, getting a long term center would really solidify the line and help the guards.  But I'm okay with Chop Robinson, I think he's a solid pick; and he helps with the loss of Van Ginkel and Wilkins.  I'm just glad they didn't waste a pick on a WR.

I hope they can draft a decent center in Rd #2.

I get the pick but I personally feel our biggest weakness last year was not being able to run when it is 3rd or 4th down and it matters nor did we have anyone we could throw to when we had a short field like the red zone. Fades to Tyreek went poorly even though we kept on trying. For both of these reasons we are thought of as being soft.

It doesn't help when the play call is behind the line or a slow misdirection. It's a chicken and egg though. Did the staff know there was an issue so they tried to be cute or did being cute cause the issue? Memory feels like I was frustrated with the call more than anything.

Miami only has one more "you can count on it" pick in this draft. After round 2, it's a long wait until  the 5th round.   I am sincerely hoping that Miami addresses the O-line with the 2nd rounder...

The bad play calling came after many failed attempts. It was apparent that after criticism he went back to calling their numbers again in short yardage and they continued to get stuffed. We literally had nothing and it showed against good teams.

I agree with this but I'm not sure how much of the issue was roster talent, as opposed to scheming or just putting guys on the field that did this.  How much talent do you need to run for 2 yards?  We were always trying to get cute.  We didn't just run an I-formation with a forward push...ever.

MIA had a healthy starting offensive line for exactly one game; a game in which they ran for 350 yards.

We didn't get cute until other stuff wasn't working. When everyone was complaining about playcalling we had been failing trying to do it the normal way. We have no one to throw to in the end zone. We had ZERO TDs to our Tight Ends.

Here's an article from Adam Beasley stating that's our biggest shortfall. As of November 21, 2023 the Dolphins had come up short on 31 of their 55 3rd- or 4th-and-1 tries since Mike McDaniel took over in 2022. We never got better at it.

He wrote ... "Teams confident in their ability to pick up a tough yard usually don’t throw screen passes to their 5’10”, 191-pound deep threat on 4th-and-1 near the goal line.

So Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel’s play call early in the second quarter in Week 11 told us plenty about his view of the team’s ability to move the pile.

It wasn’t a surprise that the Tyreek Hill screen-pass gambit failed. But at this point, the Dolphins are willing to try anything in short yardage.

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/an-outside-the-box-solution-to-miami-dolphins-short-yardage-woes/[/b]

Alright,well what you guys think about Patrick Paul?

Big boy...long arms. Like the raw tools...hope he can turn into a decent starter.

Miami is back on the clock at 120 overall (4.20), after a trade using their 2025 3rd rounder.

Miami takes Tennessee RB Jaylen Wright. More speed for the track team...

Trade, btw, was with the Eagles.

Another nugget on new Dolphins RB, Jaylen Wright. One of the ways they rate players is known as the NGS (next gen stats) Athleticism Test.

Jaylen Wright actually finished #2 in this RB class with a score of 93.


...only reason that nugget was unearthed is because the 49ers just drafted the #1 on that list, Isaac Guerendo, from Louisville.

Miami just selected at #158 (5.23) Edge rusher Mohamed Kamara out of Colorado State. A hair undersized for the D-line, but crazy fast, so probably looked at as an OLB.

^^^ I checked to see if there was any relation between Mohamed Kamara and NFL RB Alvin Kamara. There isn't, but I did note that he has a brother who also plays college DL. The brother's name?  

Amara Kamara.

What parent does that to a child?

WR and RB are not NEEDS for this team so I'm a bit disappointed picks were used on those positions.  Another O-line player (preferably a center) and a DB are what is needed.  This doesn't mean I don't like the players selected, it's just that THIS team needed to select certain position players; IMO it isn't a pick the best player available year.

It can be good depth for future years when they lose guys to FA because they don't want to pay guys.

Well more speed with the RB kinda odd but we’ll see.

Also undrafted free agent STORM DUCK

Seems like they decided to go for best player available. Not necessarily a bad thing. Need picks can be very deceiving as sometimes positions get filled unexpectedly and other positions that were seemingly not needed suddenly are needed because of injury. I'm ok with drafting best player available on your board. If you've done the work and they are ranked appropriately then you should get lots of value and there are posts in Reddit which suggest that Miami had the second best draft as far as value goes.

 

For others who were wondering:

https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/1784364888170598771

I've seen that going round and believe it's pretty bogus IMO.

We drafted two guys who are projects in the first and second round when we need starters. That's akin to Miami saying we are good with what we have and are looing to the future. Chop is not strong and gets blown out on runs so at best he is a situational third down guy. Patrick Paul has a lot of technique to learn. Both guys were picked because of potential which isn't horrible but it doesn't bode well for a team with so many holes. They did much better in the lower rounds. Listening to Joe Rose and Dave Hyde discuss the draft this morning it sounds like they are feeling the same way.

I’m actually pretty impressed over all with the draft.

Kamara out of Colorado State is going to be a steat, I think one of the Washington’s will be our 3rd receiver and Chop and Paul both have a lot of potential.

I wish we would have maybe addressed our short yardage woes with a bruiser running back or FB but McDaniel knows running backs so adding another speedster can make us lethal.

I hope McDaniel will at least get a full five years ( unless we go 1-16 this or something )

It’s Miami so I’m used to the let down but I still have more faith in the team than pretty much anytime since I’ve been a fan.

Go Dolphins, forever!

I don't know shit from Shinola when it comes to draft eval, but I do like our first pick.  I like edge rushers, I think we need it, and the guy's highlights package was impressive.  I don't know about criticisms against his run stopping, but I like the idea of not having these QBs stand back and pick us apart.

As for the O-lineman, I'm always good with that.

It's the speedy undersized RB that's confusing.  It feels like we have that box checked.

One of the things we aren't good at is getting 1 yard when we need 1 yard -- pounding the ball for short yardage.  That doesn't seem to have been addressed with this personnel. 

Chop Robinson's highlight reel looks good but his stats aren't great. This past year he started 10 games at defensive end...Finished with 15 tackles (12 solo), 7.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, a pass breakup and five quarterback hurries.

I think it was Dave Hyde that said over the last 60 something edge rushers drafted only about 11 have gotten more sacks in the NFL than they did in college.

Yeah I’m worried about short yardage the most. That’s why I was a homer for bringing in Henry. I wish we could just bring prime Lou Polite back.

Yeah, I'm feeling a whole lot of meh about our draft, but then we didn't have a lot of draft capital to address what we lost in the offseason.

In the draft we didn't address the interior OL issues, totally ignored LB again, and used what could only be described as luxury picks at RB & WR.

If there were any doubts that McDaniel totally undervalues the TE position, there shouldn't be now. We are effectively a run-and-shoot offense.

I wouldn't say that.  MIA made a reasonable upgrade at TE in free agency:

https://www.miamidolphins.com/news/five-things-jonnu-smith

People's opinions about the draft are one of two in my opinion. Either they judge it off the "potential" of what could be or they judge it off of what it is now. For instance ... our first pick has a quick release off the line but only had 15 tackles in 11 games last season. That isn't much to get excited about if you are looking where he is right now. If you're more focused on what he "might" turn into then you could see it as a positive thing.

I honestly expect Chris to do some more signings and or trading based on his history. I can't see him being confident where we are right not.

The main issue is the rest of our team is geared up for right now. Not the season after that, or the season after that.

The bulk of the players we lost in this free agency we drafted and developed, and who after 4-6 years should be nearing their peak - and replaced them with veterans who mostly have a year, maybe two to three left in them. Tua's contract is coming up which will eat up a lot of cap space... and I'm already resigned to the thought of Javon Holland (another first round pick who should be approaching his prime) walking out on the team this time next year.

I can understand letting X go and replacing him with Fuller, he was the oldest of the bunch and it was time to change.  But the rest of the losses really sting - especially Wilkins and Hunt. It was really dumb not to franchise tag one of those guys, but we screwed up our cap management madly putting all of our poker chips in for this year, and we blew it.

Don't expect much in the way of high profile signings to fill the gaps, even with the recent contract restructures, we just don't have the money. So we were left with the draft... and this is what we ended up with. A couple of players with future potential, and a few luxury picks. Adds up to a whole lot of meh for me.

Sorry, but he's an upgrade? Are you taking the piss?  ???

He has a total of 20 career TDs over 7 seasons (107 games played).

Only four TDs in the last three seasons (and three fumbles).

I just can't see anything to get remotely excited about.

You gotta get away from evaluating TEs as firsthand offensive production in this offense.  That's not how McDaniel uses TEs.  We have a team built for speed, both in 40 times and in how long it takes plays to develop.  We don't want to be using our downs throwing to TEs when you have so many better options with the ball in their hands.  Also, the TE needs to be used for scheming and blocking.  We're not trying to reproduce Gronk with a TE on this team.  We saw how ineffective a decent pass-catcher TE like Gesicki was.  Once in a while, we'll use a TE as a change of pace or outlet, but we aren't going to dial up plays for a TE when you have the fastest guys in the world on one team.

Over a similar time period (95 games, last 3 seasons) Durham Smythe has 3 total TDs, 1 in the last three seasons.  So yes, I think he's an upgrade.

https://twitter.com/houtz/status/1785675762248388685?

Some film of him here - he is a big lad, but from this it looks like there's a bit of work to do.

He seems to struggle with genuine speed rushes from the edge (and the NFL is a lot quicker than College. This is McDaniel coaching, so he ain't gonna get any help from RBs to block additional blitzers either). His use of his hands at time is far from ideal, and his positioning in rushing plays you would have to call at best average.

Like I said, he totally undervalues the position. It's a big surprise in a way, given how important Kittle is to the 49ers, but his time here says otherwise. It's just an additional blocker 99% of the time.

We may as well not have them at all - McDaniel would have got as much by keeping Hunt, and using him as an occasional designated receiver. Not that it matters.

We are a run and shoot offense with McDaniel as Coach. We can expect to go as far as those have in the past... which is not much beyond making the playoffs (if that).

Reading posts like this makes me feel like I've been wasting decades thinking stuff like "I hope Cam Cameron turns the Dolphins into one of the top offenses in the league" or "I hope Ryan Tannehill is able to lead the league in passing with his new weapons."  Because it turns out that even if that happens, the fanbase will react exactly the same as when the offense was Jay Fiedler and Lamar Smith barely grinding out yards.  None of it matters.

I remember what this offense looked like two years ago under Brian Flores.  It has made huge improvements each year under McDaniel.  Perhaps some more optimism is warranted.

I'm down with this offense, Give McDaniel a 10 year contract extension and lock him up for a while. Consistency in the NFL is how you get better as a team.