Day 3 Draft

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OK...my thoughts on Miami's draft:

Round 1, Pick No. 5:  Tua Tagavailoa, QB, Alabama

No surprise...I've been flossing with Tua's jock since he was in High School, and was all for taking the risk for the possibility of greatness. If Tua stays healthy and develops as I think he will, he will be considered one of the top QBs in the game by year 3.

Most of us are very happy we have the most effecient QB in FBS history as the face of the franchise.  I was so relieved when the name they called wasn't Herbert.  Hot take: Tua will be on the cover of Madden at some point.

Round 1, Pick No. 18:  Austin Jackson, OT, USC

Tackles went fast in this draft, and while #18 was a little higher than I had my #5 OT, Miami definitely needed to land one in round one, so I'm good with it.

Yeah, we needed a tackle and we tried to trade up with the 49ers for Wirfs, but Tampa only had to trade up one spot for him which sucks.  I do like Jackson as a consolation prize though.  He's talented and is a high character guy, sacrificing his football future to save his sister's life.  I'd like to think we'd all do that to save a family member, but he walked the walk.  Give him a year and I think he'll be a fine anchor for our team.

Round 1, Pick No. 30:  Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Auburn

Another pick that I liked, but thought it was a hair early, as I had Igbinoghene with a mid-late 2nd round grade. Sensing a theme at this point about "high character" players. Also...hard to argue genetics, and the Igbinoghene family is chock-full of phenomenal athletes.

You're right, maybe a hair early to draft him, but his specialty is what our defense plays:  press man-to-man coverage.  It's a great insurance policy if Howard gets hurt again, or has more legal issues, and he excels in the slot.  Miami is a no fly zone.

Round 2, Pick No. 39:  Robert Hunt, G, Louisiana-Lafayette

I literally stood up and cheered when this pick crossed my screen. I love Hunt, and rated him as my #2 OG in this class. I expect that he'll be a mainstay on Miami's O-line for a very long time.

Agreed completely.  Love the early and often olinemen drafted.

Round 2, Pick No. 56:  Raekwon Davis, DT, Alabama

Another excellent pick...big, beefy and plays with a mean streak...just how I like my D-linemen.

This is probably my favorite pick that isn't Tua.  He looks like a defensive end until you realize he's 6-7 311 lbs of pure muscle.  When he applies himself, he's unstoppable. That's the only thing I worry about with him, not playing hard every down.

Round 3, Pick No. 70:  Brandon Jones, S, Texas

A bit of a head scratcher for me, as he went a full 2-3 rounds ahead of where I had him. There were at least 3-4 other safeties still on the board that I would've grabbed instead.

I agree a little, but I do love he's another high character player.  He had a shoulder injury and couldn't participate in combine drills, so he asked every team in the league for film.  He watched 4 games for every team, 128 hours of footage, and created a binder dissecting every teams defense and presented it to the teams interviewing him at the combine.  I want a guy like that on my team, above and beyond.

Round 4, Pick No. 111:  Solomon Kindley, G, Georgia

Another pick of a player that I mocked to Miami on many occasions. Since I never mocked Miami past round 3, I'll take Kindley's 4th round price tag as good value.

Agreed, good value.  If he can lose a bit of weight and tighten up his technique a bit, look out.

Round 5, Pick No. 154:  Jason Strowbridge, DE, North Carolina

Another quality D-linemen...you have to love how Miami is focusing on the lines.

I don't know much about him, but I do like spending picks on Dline.

Round 5, Pick No. 164:  Curtis Weaver, OLB, Boise State

Not a prototypical DE, but the guy was productive in college and has good speed. Hopefully he can be coached into a serviceable rotation guy for the line.

A lot of draft grades gave us an A+ on this pick because he was so productive in college and we got him at fantastic value in the 5th round.

Round 6, Pick No. 185:  Blake Ferguson, LS, LSU

I can honestly say that, in all of the player-research and mock drafting I did this year, I never once even thought about long snappers. Ferguson appears to be good at long snapping, and Miami had a shit-ton of draft picks, so I guess throwing a 6th rounder at that position isn't that bad...

He will be the leader of our special teams unit, highly respected at LSU.

Round 7, Pick No. 246:  Malcolm Perry, WR, Navy

Decent dart throw on a utility guy who can play RB or WR, and has enough QB experience that he could be used on some gadget plays. Might not make roster, but if he does, he has the character (there's that word again) to stick.

I was at the USF/Navy game in Annapolis, Maryland, which is a beautiful city with awesome crab cakes.  He made USF look silly, I'm glad we got him.  Hopefully he can make the roster and contribute...it'll be nice to have a modern day Slash on our roster.

Overall, I give Miami an A grade...and was very impressed. This is a team that is building a roster from the ground up, and they got a lot of good material for that construction out of this draft class.

We're on the same page bud, I also give them an A grade.  Phins up!

[Sunstroke]

And I didn't even include the draft pick Miami traded for Matt Breida...and if Breida can stay healthy, that dude can run through people before they realize he's gone past them.

[fyo]

And I didn't even include the draft pick Miami traded for Matt Breida...and if Breida can stay healthy, that dude can run through people before they realize he's gone past them.

Stroke, you're a 49ers guy... Pulling up every play Breida had on Pro Football Reference, he was a beast in the first half, but pretty bad in the second. Any reason for this? 49ers just running him into the line killing clock or something?

[EDGECRUSHER]

And I didn't even include the draft pick Miami traded for Matt Breida...and if Breida can stay healthy, that dude can run through people before they realize he's gone past them.

Only issue I have with Breida is that he is only signed for 1 year. So, let's say he does a great job, now he wants to get paid and you should never pay top dollar for a running back.

[Tenshot13]

Only issue I have with Breida is that he is only signed for 1 year. So, let's say he does a great job, now he wants to get paid and you should never pay top dollar for a running back.

I think we're the type of team to let him walk...It's not like he's going to be the next Zeke Elliot or anything.

[CF DolFan]

Round 6, Pick No. 185:  Blake Ferguson, LS, LSU

I can honestly say that, in all of the player-research and mock drafting I did this year, I never once even thought about long snappers. Ferguson appears to be good at long snapping, and Miami had a shit-ton of draft picks, so I guess throwing a 6th rounder at that position isn't that bad...

I say this with all the humor I can muster but I swear my first thought was they needed a token white guy so they selected a long snapper.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I think we're the type of team to let him walk...It's not like he's going to be the next Zeke Elliot or anything.

We definitely would, but that just begs the question why we traded a 5th rounder for a RB in a year where we probably won't compete anyway? Should've just drafted a RB with that pick.

[Sunstroke]

Stroke, you're a 49ers guy... Pulling up every play Breida had on Pro Football Reference, he was a beast in the first half, but pretty bad in the second. Any reason for this? 49ers just running him into the line killing clock or something?

I like Breida, but he is the type of RB who really needs to get into a rhythm in the running game. With the platoon system that SF uses, Breida simply wasn't getting used enough. He also has had a tendency to get nicked up a bit, so a lot of the sporadic usage comes from Shanny trying to keep him healthy.

[Tenshot13]

I think Breida is the perfect RB for Howard.  Howard wears them down by grinding, then we bring in Breida who busts the long runs when the defense is tired.  I think Breida is going to be a #2 RB, so we can probably keep him for cheap.

[Downunder Dolphan]

OK...my thoughts on Miami's draft:

Round 1, Pick No. 5:  Tua Tagavailoa, QB, Alabama

No surprise...I've been flossing with Tua's jock since he was in High School, and was all for taking the risk for the possibility of greatness. If Tua stays healthy and develops as I think he will, he will be considered one of the top QBs in the game by year 3.

Round 1, Pick No. 18:  Austin Jackson, OT, USC

Tackles went fast in this draft, and while #18 was a little higher than I had my #5 OT, Miami definitely needed to land one in round one, so I'm good with it.

Round 1, Pick No. 30:  Noah Igbinoghene, CB, Auburn

Another pick that I liked, but thought it was a hair early, as I had Igbinoghene with a mid-late 2nd round grade. Sensing a theme at this point about "high character" players. Also...hard to argue genetics, and the Igbinoghene family is chock-full of phenomenal athletes.

Round 2, Pick No. 39:  Robert Hunt, G, Louisiana-Lafayette

I literally stood up and cheered when this pick crossed my screen. I love Hunt, and rated him as my #2 OG in this class. I expect that he'll be a mainstay on Miami's O-line for a very long time.

Round 2, Pick No. 56:  Raekwon Davis, DT, Alabama

Another excellent pick...big, beefy and plays with a mean streak...just how I like my D-linemen.

Round 3, Pick No. 70:  Brandon Jones, S, Texas

A bit of a head scratcher for me, as he went a full 2-3 rounds ahead of where I had him. There were at least 3-4 other safeties still on the board that I would've grabbed instead.

Round 4, Pick No. 111:  Solomon Kindley, G, Georgia

Another pick of a player that I mocked to Miami on many occasions. Since I never mocked Miami past round 3, I'll take Kindley's 4th round price tag as good value.

Round 5, Pick No. 154:  Jason Strowbridge, DE, North Carolina

Another quality D-linemen...you have to love how Miami is focusing on the lines.

Round 5, Pick No. 164:  Curtis Weaver, OLB, Boise State

Not a prototypical DE, but the guy was productive in college and has good speed. Hopefully he can be coached into a serviceable rotation guy for the line.

Round 6, Pick No. 185:  Blake Ferguson, LS, LSU

I can honestly say that, in all of the player-research and mock drafting I did this year, I never once even thought about long snappers. Ferguson appears to be good at long snapping, and Miami had a shit-ton of draft picks, so I guess throwing a 6th rounder at that position isn't that bad...

Round 7, Pick No. 246:  Malcolm Perry, WR, Navy

Decent dart throw on a utility guy who can play RB or WR, and has enough QB experience that he could be used on some gadget plays. Might not make roster, but if he does, he has the character (there's that word again) to stick.

Overall, I give Miami an A grade...and was very impressed. This is a team that is building a roster from the ground up, and they got a lot of good material for that construction out of this draft class.

Overall I am pretty much in agreement for the positivity of this draft, if maybe not for the same reasons as others...

We are basically building from the ground up, everything was detonated at the beginning of last year, but somehow we got some positive traction from the ruins to get to 5 wins against most expectations (including mine).

This draft was basically day one of the new era - I am not expecting a huge bounce back to playoffs in 2020 . This maybe is the first step to building the foundations to something substantial from 2021 or 2022 onward, anything before that is a huge bonus to me.

I don't mind taking a flyer on Tua at QB without having to trade up. It could be like Marino falling into our lap all over again, a guy with all the skills but with question marks over his versatility that proved to be totally wrong. If it doesn't pan out that's fine, but if it does, we will be grinning ear to ear for the next decade. We have Fitz as a mentor, Rosen as a backup, if there is anytime to do something like this it is now.

I like that we are picking raw talent that fits Flores system and also good character guys that can grow together and lead the new recruits from the next drafts. I get the feeling this is all about sustained long term thinking, not quick fixes. That's the overall message I get from this draft.

Adding new beef to the offensive line is a good strategy - traditionally there are two ways that succeed, either you draft them until you get the right mix (ie. The Hogs of the 80s-early 90s Redskins) or you get in players cut from other teams with a point to prove (ie. the '72 Dolphins) until you you get a group that gels to form a complete unit that absolutely trusts each other and would kill for each other. For the last decade we have tried mixing and matching high draft picks with high priced free agents and it has failed badly, the OL has been our weak point for years - something had to change. We seem to be going the Patriots way - get plenty of talented bodies in there and go cheap until it's right, then pay them to stay.

Trading for Breida was an unexpected surprise, but I like it - there was a quick run on the top RBs after the first pick in the second round, and I got the feeling they pulled the trigger on the move after their choice was gone. He should be a good fit and complementary back in our system to Howard, and we have up to a year to decide if he fits our system to warrant an extension. To me it's a no lose situation, he was a great runner for the 49ers the start of last year and it could end up being a huge win.