What positions do you think the Dolphins should address in rounds 1-3 of the draft, which is where you expect to get the starters who will contribute meaningfully to the 2011 season. Limit yourself to three positions. Mine in my order of need, not the order I expect them to be drafted. 1) RB - Can't see Ricky and Ronnie together and perfomring well for the 'phins in 2011. 2) Interior Line. - We need more cattle up front. 3) WR with outside speed. No speed means we're playing wannyball. It would be nice if he had good hands blah blah blah, but something to draw the safeties away from Brandon and let him make plays. Not sure about QB, IMO that depends more on the new OC than Chad. I still think burning a high pick on a safety wouldn't be a sin either.
Over the first 3 picks (so as of now first 4 rounds): I'm looking at RB, Interior OL, and TE as players who can come in and make big impacts as rookies. There are only a few QBs I really like that are worth high(er) picks (Gabbert, Newton, Ponder) and chances are we'll not being able to get anyone of value without trading up (which I won't predict here). I really like a ton of the top WRs and wouldn't complain one bit if we grabbed one, but I think we might be better served going with someone like Titus Young or Denarius Moore later on. Of course I could easily change my mind if FA happens before the draft.
Ponder worries me, man. Very talented player but he's had a shoulder injury and his elbow drained of fluid twice this season.
Was unaware of the fluid. I'm really looking forward to Senior Bowl week to see what he can do in that environment.
Careful. Boomer won’t stand for such talk. Anyway, draft needs. Quarterback highest, obviously. If a CBA is miraculously signed sooner rather than later, we can address the OL in free agency, so I don’t rate that too highly as a draft need. Same with TE. RB would be the second-highest draft need, and I’d like to pair a veteran acquisition with at least one rookie (a good rookie, none of this Lex Hilliard/Jalen Parmele type drafting). After that, safety. From there we can pretty much draft BPA.
I only voted for QB. I'd use all three picks on that position if I had to. Incidentally there are some dang good backs going to be available pretty late in this Draft.
Darren Evans, Dion Lewis (maybe late, 4th?), Jamie Harper, Evan Royster, and Bilal Powell. Are these some of your good late(r) guys? And give me DeAndre Brown, WR in the 6th or 7th please. I'll roll the dice on that personally.
What do you think about Shane Vereen and Dion Lewis, and do you think they be around in the 3rd and 4th rounds, or do you think they might be gone by then?
Oh who is in the senior bowl this year? I'm hoping we trade down and go 1st-Center/Guard 2nd-RB 3rd-TE
Do you think Henne is that bad? I haven't seen as much as you have, but my thoughts were that I'd like to see what Henne could do with an OC that believed in him and played to his strengths. Your analysis on the play action reinforced my belief that there might be something salvageable with Henne. It seemed to me that Henne and Henning lost faith in each other which contributed to sub-par performances from both of them.
Lewis reminds me of a more powerful version of D Sproiles, but imho he goes off in the 4th-5th rd area, Royster maybe slides into the 6th rd area or so, and I do like him but Scott from LSU had a great resume as well and slid waay back in the draft. Ryan Williams running mate from VaTech, Evans, is another good catch in the later rounds, maybe even UDFA area. And this yr, we really need a Returner type, Bess is consistent, but not explosive, Nolan Carroll will not last as a Returner.
When I look at the Ravens, I see what the Dolphins should be. I actually see similar teams except for a few key differences in the areas that most affect winning. I listed those differences as my picks in the poll, although really I don't think they need to be draft picks. And I also would add TE to the list. Just to get it out of the way, I listed S. I don't see it as such a weak area, but it has become the defensive play making position in the NFL. I don't think its any coincidence that the Ravens and Steelers excel when their elite play making Ss are on the field or that NO won the SB when they got a great year out of their S. We had a chance to get one last year, but we passed. And, shockingly, the team that did take him made the playoffs with a less talented team (albeit in a weaker division). In fact, both teams who took the top play making Ss in last year's draft were surprise playoff participants. Unfortunately, I don't see anybody at that level available this year. QB is obviously a need. I actually think that Henne could easily have played as well as Flacco has this year if he had Cameron as his OC instead of Henning. I think Flacco has more upside, but at this point in their development, Flacco isn't playing better than what Henne is capable of. RB is one of those positions I hate to use a #1 on. I see some nice options after the first round and in FA, but its also possible that Ingram may just be the best player when it comes time to draft in the first. We actually need a couple of backs. One should be a receiving type like Rice is for Baltimore. IMO Brown should have been used that way more often this season. He's not Rice, but he would have provided a similar safety valve. TE, the better teams have realized that an athletic TE that can threaten the seam is one of those critical mismatch positions. Its what Baltimore has now that Heap is back and what NE did with Hernandez. It should have been obvious to the Dolphins with the amount of difficulty we had against TEs the previous year, but again we passed. Interior OL is a need, but I'm not sure if we need a C or G. I prefer to have a great pivot as I think that has the biggest impact on the running game, but improved G play would probably help enough. I actually don't think our OL was all that bad this year. I see the bigger culprit as the running back play and that in turn was a victim of the horrid play calling.
Harper is a good talent. His vision is not great IMO but its good enough. Evan Royster, I like. Darren Evans is talented too as is Lewis and I like Chad Spann late.
Really surprised not to see TE in the poll!? Otherwise, need oline, QB, and probably RB. Would like a Safety that can catch the ball too, but willing to give Clemons and Jones at least one more year before I say we NEED a S.
