NFL Draft Thread

[DenverFinFan]

Kid had concussion issues and wrist surgeries. The talent is all there, kid is a beast who will dominate IF he stays healthy, but we have a bad track record with those guys. I would rather a healthier guy with a lower ceiling. This isn't a lottery ticket but we may have a lot of 10-11 game seasons for this guy.

Waddle I feel like I will grow to love and he is a great kick returner so we can dump Grant. But, I don't think he will be Chase or Pitts and we are going to be reminded of that every year.

I’ll leave it to the experts.  I agree with you. It’s not the choice I would have made here but it is what it is. If you’re gonna gamble I’d prefer it be on offense but we will see. Still a lot a cause for optimism with this team.

What’s worse, always sucking or squandering a team with 10-12 wins because you can’t get it just right?

[EDGECRUSHER]

I’ll leave it to the experts.  I agree with you. It’s not the choice I would have made here but it is what it is. If you’re gonna gamble I’d prefer it be on offense but we will see. Still a lot a cause for optimism with this team.

What’s worse, always sucking or squandering a team with 10-12 wins because you can’t get it just right?

Hope we don't find out the answer to that one. I think Waddle has a zero chance of busting but I am hoping that Jaelen matures and stays healthy. If so, we are in very good shape so far. Onto the 2nd round where we will be getting a RT or Center.

[ArtieChokePhin]

This pick proves we screwed up. We selected Jaylen Waddle who I am happy with and he makes our team better and he knows Tua but this pick shows we were going to go WR no matter what and we screwed up by trading back too far and this was our third choice at best.

From here on out, I have no idea what we are going to do with 18 or if we even stay at 18. So, we'll see.

If only we had held onto that 3rd pick then faked interest in Pitts.  Could've fleeced Atlanta

[EDGECRUSHER]

If only we had held onto that 3rd pick then faked interest in Pitts.  Could've fleeced Atlanta

Yeah, seems like we didn't make a good move in the end but it's not franchise killing. It's just buying a stock at 10 and selling it at 40 when it kept going up to 70. You still made money but you could've done better.

[Spider-Dan]

Very disappointing night.

It was looking like a potential disaster earlier in the day, with rumors that Rodgers may be headed to SF (which would devastate the value of their next two first-rounders).  Thankfully, that crisis seems to have been avoided; the fact that SF doesn't have a first-rounder until 2024 may have helped.

With Pitts and Chase off the board, I would have been content with a selection of Smith (or even Sewell), but picking Waddle is just too cute by half.  It's who Al Davis would have picked.  The pick at 18 feels like Dion Jordan all over again, but somehow with a worse medical history.

It doesn't matter how many picks you collected for Laremy Tunsil if they were all wasted.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Very disappointing night.

It was looking like a potential disaster earlier in the day, with rumors that Rodgers may be headed to SF (which would devastate the value of their next two first-rounders).  Thankfully, that crisis seems to have been avoided; the fact that SF doesn't have a first-rounder until 2024 may have helped.

With Pitts and Chase off the board, I would have been content with a selection of Smith (or even Sewell), but picking Waddle is just too cute by half.  It's who Al Davis would have picked.  The pick at 18 feels like Dion Jordan all over again, but somehow with a worse medical history.

It doesn't matter how many picks you collected for Laremy Tunsil if they were all wasted.

I'm totally cool with Waddle as a player and he will make us much better, but he is no Chase or Pitts. I think he will be a lot of guy's favorite player.

Phillips......we know where I stand. If he stays healthy, we are sitting pretty but that seems to be 50-50 at best.

I just want us to move up for one last 1st round pick and get the jump on guys tomorrow.

[Spider-Dan]

At this point, if MIA can get Najee Harris at 36 I'll be enthusiastic, but if not, I'm definitely a lot less optimistic about the Dolphins than I was a week ago.

[dolphins4life]

I’ll leave it to the experts.  I agree with you. It’s not the choice I would have made here but it is what it is. If you’re gonna gamble I’d prefer it be on offense but we will see. Still a lot a cause for optimism with this team.

What’s worse, always sucking or squandering a team with 10-12 wins because you can’t get it just right?

   Depends on whether the ten or twelve win team reaches the postseason

[EDGECRUSHER]

At this point, if MIA can get Najee Harris at 36 I'll be enthusiastic, but if not, I'm definitely a lot less optimistic about the Dolphins than I was a week ago.

Steelers took him and then the Jags took the Clemson RB so we probably won't be getting a RB. Next pick is probably a Center and then whatever is left.

[Spider-Dan]

Yeah, this draft was not very encouraging at all.  How long until Opening Day?
sigh

[Spider-Dan]

Silver lining from today: at least the Dolphins didn't pick Waddle at 3

[Dolphster]

Although I'm disappointed that Chase was gone, I'm happy with Round 1.   With Chase gone, Waddle was my next best WR on my "board".   Multiple football heads who are smarter than me have compared him to Tyreek Hill.  I think they could have traded back 2 or 3 spots and still gotten Waddle, but that would depend on both a willing trade partner AND the big assumption that Waddle would still be there.   

As for Phillips, I've said numerous times on here that he is who I wanted at #18.  I know some of you are sour on him because of the concussions and the short term "retirement" during college.  And I can understand that.  I think most college players have probably had at least one concussion but they are often not diagnosed.  So I don't see that as a HUGE concern, although it is definitely something to be mindful.  The "retirement" thing doesn't concern me at all.  He was a young kid and it was probably a panic stricken parent or family member who scared him into it.  At The U, he gave absolute 100% effort, worked hard, and got in amazing shape for his Pro Day.  To me that doesn't sound like someone who is lukewarm on playing football.  I think all of you will be pleasantly surprised by Phillips.

With both Harris and Etienne surprisingly off the board in the 1st round, I REALLY hope that the Dolphins go Javonte Williams with the #4 pick in the 2nd round.  That is the RB that I have said on here that I really wanted of the three of them anyway.  If they take Williams, they will then have taken 2 of the 3 guys I wanted with the first 3 picks. 

[Downunder Dolphan]

Draft Day 1 musings after viewing the draft coverage and mulling it over a freshly made Veiux Carre...

Okay, for the majority of us, that was a bit unexpected. Well, maybe not a huge surprise that Cincy did (IMHO) the stupid thing and picked Chase instead of protecting their mauled young Quarterback, but that was always a 50/50 chance.

So at #6 we had the choice between Sewell, Smith, Parsons and Waddle, and we went for the one I probably coveted the least. That said, we needed a home run threat at receiver and I read somewhere of a comparison to Tyreek Hill (which fits the bill). If Tua had some input of deciding between Waddle and Smith, that's fair enough too. Still, Smith had a hell of a year and consistently had that knack of coming up with the big game winning plays, and that's what I look for in a key offensive starter...

Looking at the big picture, once we pulled the trigger with the pick swap with the Niners, we had to trade back up to get one of these top three receivers - Smith was the last one gone at #10. Neither would have lasted until #12 let alone #18 (although as we saw, it is a deep WR draft with others also being taken up earlier than expected). If we did not make the subsequent trade with the Eagles, the only one of who I pegged above who could have lasted to #12 would have been Parsons (which incidentally I would have been very happy with).

So the question to be answered in the next two years will be: would we have been better off staying at #3 and picking Pitts or Chase, keeping the two firsts we got from the Niners and settling for Parsons at #12, or what we did today?

Speaking of what-ifs?, #18 opens that door right up too. At the time I thought the choice was pretty clear, Paye or Harris - there was a lot of chatter that Tua was heavily lobbying for Harris (and it pays to keep your starting QB happy, just ask Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson) and if we did not pick him at #18 you just knew the Steelers would do it a few picks later.

So we went for the first edge rusher off the board (even though I personally thought LB and RB were much bigger needs) and it was Phillips instead of Paye. OK, the skill set on tape looks crazy good, but the concussion history scares me - this is a real boom or bust pick here, and comparisons to Dion Jordan don't exactly help. Paye was picked soon after and during the coverage something came out about a red flag being dropped on him due to high troponin levels at one time - that's a bomb in itself and I can see why we passed. Plus there was a late run on EDGE players with the last two picks of the draft - if we were convinced enough by the skills and confident enough the injuries are behind him, I can understand why they did it. But it's a hell of a risk, especially as we still have critical needs and RB and LB.

[EDGECRUSHER]

At the end of the day, we traded Chase/Pitts for Waddle and a 2023 1st Rounder that is likely to be in the 20's. Right now, if we offered Waddle and the draft pick to Cincy for Chase, would they take it? Would Atlanta? That tells you that we lost the trade.

We are still a better team than before with Waddle, much better actually, but we took an L on this trade back and trade up.

[Downunder Dolphan]

As for Phillips, I've said numerous times on here that he is who I wanted at #18.  I know some of you are sour on him because of the concussions and the short term "retirement" during college.  And I can understand that.  I think most college players have probably had at least one concussion but they are often not diagnosed.  So I don't see that as a HUGE concern, although it is definitely something to be mindful.  The "retirement" thing doesn't concern me at all.  He was a young kid and it was probably a panic stricken parent or family member who scared him into it.  At The U, he gave absolute 100% effort, worked hard, and got in amazing shape for his Pro Day.  To me that doesn't sound like someone who is lukewarm on playing football.  I think all of you will be pleasantly surprised by Phillips.

With both Harris and Etienne surprisingly off the board in the 1st round, I REALLY hope that the Dolphins go Javonte Williams with the #4 pick in the 2nd round.  That is the RB that I have said on here that I really wanted of the three of them anyway.  If they take Williams, they will then have taken 2 of the 3 guys I wanted with the first 3 picks.  

Yeah I saw the NFL draft coverage on television raving about Phillips Pro Day workout, and they nailed that we would pick him at #18. They actually had a surprisingly accurate hit rate once the draft got rolling, especially compared to the ridiculous mocks leading up.

Etienne being picked right after Harris scares the hell out of me, because there's a chance Williams will be gone before our pick at #36. There's no way he lasts until #50. If we do miss out on him, this will be two years in a row we miss out on the RB we should be getting because we are being to smart (ie. dumb) for our own good... if we really wanted Harris we should have bit the bullet and got him at #18. Now we're shitting broken glass hoping Williams will still be there for us...

Which is a dilemma in itself, because we still have to address the linebacker situation - it's been a weakness for too long, specifically a guy to cover tight ends which has killed us over and over again, highlighted yet again against the Raiders last season.

For some reason Owusu-Koramoah has lasted until the second round - is there some kind of red flag on this guy? Maybe it's just because of the big run on QB, WR and CB, OT & then EDGE late in round 1. If he's there he's a great pick, but like Williams he won't be there at #50. Same deal with Trevon Moehrig even though he's a Safety - top player at his position and a clear upgrade on McCain, but will he fit that bill?

Then there's the issue of a possible upgrade at C, Humphrey may be there at #50, but he could be gone well before then too...

I love the NFL draft... and I hate the NFL draft.