1. Barkevious “Kiki” Mingo, DE/OLB, LSU, Junior (6040 E, 231 E and 4.55 E): While there is no debate as to Mingo’s athleticism, there definitely is a split as to where he should be drafted and how successful he can be in the NFL. An explosive athlete with rare first step quickness, Mingo can get to the turn point in a flash and has the athleticism to beat OT inside and out. However, more than a few scouts I spoke to wondered why he did not make an impact in every game he played and wasn’t LSU’s most productive pass rusher. 3. Vance McDonald, TE, Rice, Senior (6041, 262 and 4.70 E): With nearly all the tight end talk centering around Zach Ertz and Tyler Eifert, McDonald was flying under the radar until he stood out in Mobile. Speaking with NFL personnel after the week in Mobile, there was clearly an excitement about McDonald’s ability to be a good match-up play-maker who could align in various spots to make plays catching the ball. Although he lacks top end speed, he displayed enough of everything else to have scouts tell me that he reminds them of Rob Gronkowski. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/February-6th-Draft-Rumblings.html
Vance McDonald was a player I was hoping would fall into the Dolphins' laps in Round Three. McDonald easily creates separation , has soft-hands, and can get yards after the catch.
This is just a good TE class even after the top 2. Besides E&E we have also the San Jose State kid, the Florida kid, the Cincinnati kid...
Jesus man, guys look at Cyrpriens body in that one photo, if that is all real, we better keep a close eye on our hometown boy..my goodness he looks mature.
yeah 6'6 260... at 20 yrs old, genius. McDonald is 22 (soon to be 23). So do me a favor and ditch your exclamation point after the "?". Gronk is 2 inches taller, carries more weight, has nearly an inch bigger hands, and has a wingspan of 7 feet plus.... and as far as utter physicality goes, he's unsurpassed. If you think this difference is negligible at the next level, you'd be mistaken. BTW, Gronk is only a year older than McDonald, so at the same age (22) Gronk was putting up the most impressive & dominating season a TE has ever seen, McDonald was still playing college ball, so if you want to physically compare McDonald to Gronk, you need to compare him to 2011 Gronk who caught 1327 yards & 17 TDs and was already one of the league's best run blockers. Put them side by side and tell me McDonald = Gronk.
I'm confused, are you saying he doesn't deserve the minigronk label because you think he's that good?
What Deej, do you think it's an insult to McDonald to say he's not physically equal to one of the biggest and most physical TEs in the NFL, the best in the game? I'd say calling him a mini Gronk is a compliment.... as well as is appropriate since he'll never become Gronk 2.0.
I'm going to have to agree with you here. This Vance McDonald stuff is running away with itself. He's 6'4" and 260 lbs and his estimated campus 40 time is in the 4.8's. Yeah, he compares to Gronkowski. Dan Gronkowski.
What on earth? Where the hell did I say that he was like Gronkowski? At all? Or that you saying he was mini gronk was this massive negative or insult?
I was simply asking because I thought it was a literal comparison, as in calling him a smaller Gronkowski. That's all. At least you asked versus jumping to conclusions and getting all uppity, so I thank you!
It was the "MINI Gronk?!" statement. How else is it interpreted when you capitalize mini and add on an exclamation point? That insinuates disagreement but in an abrasive way, as if you're saying "How the hell can you call him a mini Gronk". You might wanna check the TOS before calling me a jackass.
LOL. yeah ok. Perhaps if you asked it w/o the capitalized word and exclamation point it wouldn't have sounded off-putting. You then threw in Gronk's measureables for good measure as if saying I'm crazy to call McDonald a mini Gronk.
I was disagreeing with you, but not in the sense you seemed to take it. You're saying it is abrasive? That's fine. That's your opinion of it. But...that's absolute conjecture on your part. There's no evidence that "?!?" is the universal sign for abrasiveness. It was my version of a SHOCKED response, because I didn't think he was a SMALL version of Gronkowski. And TOS is just fine, because I'll stand by it, you were being a complete jackass to me for little reason. Take the statement at face value and it's incredibly harmless, yet it was met with incredible angst. Seriously, it was direct correlation to his size, and being said in a surprised tone. I apologize you misunderstood my post. You realize you can use exclamation points for more than anger or abrasiveness, right? They can also be used for surprise. I know! Ironically this may be a surprise to you but that's just how it goes! This might be the silliest yet most confusing debate I've ever been involved in. You're adding infliction to my words which just aren't there. I mean, ****, I flat out asked "Wasn't Gronk 6'6 260?" which may give the impression that I'm discussing, I don't know, his size? In the end - This is a Draft forum for the Miami Dolphins. We're all Dolphins fans. You may have felt slighted for whatever reason but I'll just ask you to please stop and realize that maybe just maybe you misinterpreted a simple statement and post and understand your anger filled response may have been a bit much. I was ASKING. I come to this forum for draft tips and knowledge on the upcoming players. I sadly don't have the time to dedicate to this draft that I've had in the past. I don't come here to argue - I do enough of that every day, for the very reason I can't get into the draft like I used to be able to. I blame this short form merger, but hey, gotta pay the bills. Again, sorry for the misunderstanding, and I'm glad that this will hopefully lead to none of that in the future!
You didn't flat out ask it; you obviously meant it rhetorically or else you wouldn't have first said "MINI Gronk?!", emphasis on capitalizing "MINI" and the exclamation point for good measure. If you were truly asking me you would've asked it without all the emphasis <like "Mini Gronk?">. From now on just don't respond to my posts.
By all means, throw me on ignore, because the day I start picking and choosing who I do and don't respond to on an internet website is... a sad day indeed. I have real life to bring drama and tension into my life, not a Dolphins message board. If I meant that, I'd say I did. I have literally zero reason to lie to you. I mean, where's the logic in lying to you? It doesn't exist. Seriously. Zero reason for so much angst. Regardless, as this will be our parting ways, I suppose best of luck to you, Fellow Dolfan I'd love if we could get this thread back on track, though! I apologize to everyone else for my part in all this, I was just hoping to air this out and see what the hell caused so much hostility, but I'm apparently barking up the wrong tree, and there's no reasoning here so, time to just agree to disagree and move on!
In other news.... [video=youtube;shM3g5vK1Eg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shM3g5vK1Eg[/video] Jimmy Graham lite. Blocking is -_______-
You will learn really quickly that people will jump down your throat for practically no reason on this sub-forum. Gavin Escobar's blocking isn't anything to write home about, but it certainly doesn't look like anything compared to Michael Egnew's horrible blocking by my naked eye, and we took him in the 3rd round.
Actually, my mistake. Otten isn't highly rated. I meant to say San Diego St, Escobar. I think he'll end the 3rd TE off the board when it's all said and done. Perhaps he won't but it is a fair chance he can be.
Damn, I go away for a few minutes and all hell breaks loose. What is an old pappy to do? If either of ya feels a little tense, maybe ya need more poon, and if it ain't available in your current circumstances, then literally, take matters into your own hands. I suggest grabbing it with both hands, like a baseball bat, and beat it against your forehead. Works for me!!!
IMO, you see more blocking from Escobar in that 7 min video than you will see from Eifert or Ertz in a month of games. Both of them are far behind Escobar in blocking technique and effort. JMO. Though they do have the physical tools to all be very good blockers. On the subject of TEs, saw a new 1st round mock draft today that has Kelce going 30th and the 1st TE off the board.
By the way any statement of mine having to do with shock/disbelief that Vance McDonald is being compared to Rob Gronkowski was purely related to Russ Lande's note.
