What's your favorite Miami Dolphin Draft Class of all time? This has probably been done before in other places, but let's do it here. Just throwing out some notables and not covering everyone in each draft class (the older ones had far more rounds) or even all the ones that made the team. I've highlighted some of those years that I thought were better, but that's just my opinion. 1967: Bob Griese, Larry Seiple 1968: Larry Csonka, Doug Crusan, Dick Anderson, Jim Kiick, Randall Edmunds (just mentioning him because somehow I had his football card later on 0 I was only 1 in '68) 1969: Bill Stanfill, Bob Heinz, Mercury Morris, Lloyd Mumphord 1970: (traded our # 1 to Cleveland for Warfield), Jim Mandich, Tim Foley, Curtis Johnson, Jake Scott, Mike Kolen (from AUBURN!!!) 1971: (traded # 1 to Baltimore for Coach Don Shula), Vern Den Herder 1972: (traded # 2 to Cleveland for Bob Matheson), Charlie Babb 1973: (traded # 1 to Buffalo for Marlin Briscoe), Don Strock, Ed Newman 1974: Don Reese, Benny Malone, Nat Moore, Randy Crowder 1975: Darryl Carlton, Freddie Solomon, Stan Winfrey 1976: Larry Gordon, Kim Bokamper, Duriel Harris 1977: AJ Duhe, Bob Bahmhower, Leroy Harris 1978: (traded # 1 to San Fran for Delvin Williams), Guy Benjamin, Jimmy Cefalo, Gerald Small, Eric Laakso, Doug Betters, Bruce Hardy, Mark Dennard 1979: Jon Giesler, Jeff Toews, Tony Nathan, Ronnie Lee, Uwe Von Schamann, Glenn Blackwood, Mike Kozlowski 1980: Don McNeal, Dwight Stevenson, Bill Barnett, Joe Rose, David Woodley 1981: David Overstreet, (traded # 2 to Los Angeles for Bob Brudzinski), Andra Franklin, Tommy Vigorito, Fulton Walker, William Judson 1982: Roy Foster, Mark Duper, Paul Lankford, Charles Bowser, Dan Johnson 1983: Dan Marino (YES!!!!!!!! More of these please!!!), Mike Charles, Charles Benson, Reggie Roby, Mark Clayton 1984: Jackie Shipp, Jay Brophy, Joe Carter, Bud Brown - this ranks with the All-Time Bad of Wannstedt/Spielmanian proportions and launched a series of so-so to bad drafts 1985: Lorenzo Hampton, George Little, Mike Smith, Jeff Dellenbach, Ron Davenport, Fuad Reveiz 1986: (traded # 1 and # 2a to Tampa Bay for Hugh Green), John Offerdahl, TJ Turner, James Pruitt, Larry Kolic, Renya Thompson 1987: John Bosa, Rick Graf, Scott Schwedes, Troy Stradford, Mark Dennis 1988: Eric Kumerow (noooooo!!!!! don't do this again!!!!!) , Jarvis Williams, Ferrell Edmunds, Harry Galbreath, Jeff Cross (not bad for the 9th round), Brian Kinchen 1989: Sammie Smith, Louis Oliver, Jeff Uhlenhake, Pete Stoyanovich, JB Brown 1990: Richmond Webb, Keith Sims, Alfred Oglesby, Scott Mitchell (we were off to a good start with Webb/Simms although it foreshadows a disaster later on with Milner/Greene) 1991: Randall Hill, Aaron Craver, Bryan Cox, Scott Miller 1992: Troy Vincent, Marco Coleman, Eddie Blake (worst AU pick ever), Larry Webster, Dwight Hollier 1993: OJ McDuffie, Terry Kirby, Chris Gray (very mediocre AU pick), David Merritt 1994: Tim Bowens, Aubrey Beavers, Tim Ruddy, William Gaines, Brant Boyer, Sean hill 1995: (UGGGGGH!!!!!) Billy Milner, Andrew Greene, Norman Hand (Pete Mitchell didn't even play for us but went on to be pretty decent in Jax) 1996: Darryl Gardener, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Stanley Pritchett, Jerris McPhail, Shane Borton, Zach Thomas (yes!!!), Shawn Wooden 1997: Yatil Green, Sam Madison, Jason Taylor, Derrick Rogers, Brent Smith, Ed Perry (this one had real potential had Green not been injured) We're about to hit the Locust Years, and these two preceding them are nothing to write home about... 1998: John Avery (sigh), Patrick Surtain (good pick), Kenny Mixon, Larry Shannon, Lorenzo Brommell 1999: JJ Johnson, Rob Konrad, Grey Ruegamer, Cecil Collins, Jermaine Haley And here we are: 2000: Todd Wade, Deon Dyer, Arturo Freeman 2001: Jamar Fletcher, Chris Chambers, Travis Minor, Morlon Greenwood 2002: (traded # 1 for Ricky Williams), Seth McKinney, Randy McMichael 2003: (traded # 1 for Ricky Williams), Eddie Moore, Wade Smith, Taylor Whitney, Donald Lee, JR Tolver, Yeremiah Bell - aside from its part to get Williams and YBell, I'd rate this one ALL-TIME WORST 2004: Vernon Carey, Will Poole, Rex hadnot, Derrick Pope 2005: Ronnie Brown (War Damn Eagle!), Matt Roth, Channing Crowder, Travis Daniels, Anthony Alabi, Kevin Vickerson 2006: Jason Allen, Derek Hagan (terrible, terrible, terrible draft - I don't need 5 years) 2007: Ted Ginn, Jr., John Beck, Samson Satele, Lorenzo Booker, Paul Soliai, Reagan Mauia, Brandon Fields, Abe Wright My goodness, just going through this exercise, it's hard for me to see just how the Dolphins obtained such a great tradition. It doesn't seem like all of it came through the drafts. Being an inexact science, I'm sure a lot of other teams have a similar success/fail rate, but again, my goodness. You do notice how one or two main cogs (a Marino, for instance) can keep your team afloat or better for a long while. So which one is your favorite? Hopefully, it's 2008. But if I had to pick just one, mine would be the: CLASS OF '83 Not a lot of quantity, but getting Marino and Clayton (along with Csonka and Ronnie Brown, my favorite Dolphins of all-time) in the same draft... I'll take it. Now, if I had to say which is the best... it might be a different answer. What do you think?
Wow. 2000 - 2006 makes me want to puke (besides Ronnie). Despite the mistake of not taking Quinn, 2007 looks brilliant in comparison.
How can you NOT highlight 77 and 90. Without a doubt up there in the top draft boards.. Nice research btw EDIT: You mention Milner/Greene but fail to mention Webb, Simms and Scott Mitchell. I only wish we could have another draft of that magnitude....
Yeah, you only need one hand... less if you want to name the guys still on the team from those drafts. Vernon and YBell... and Ricky Williams, if you want to count the trade. Like I said, Locust Years. And that's a HUUUUUGE reason, maybe the biggest, we are where we are today.
83 was great with Marino and Clayton.... Actually I like last years draft alot....i think we got a great return man/WR and an anchor for our OL for years to come. Also I think Booker has "Dave Meggett" written all over him.
Well, to be sure, I was typing this up in a hurry and I sort of got bleary-eyed looking at year after year of draft picks. But that's a reason for paying customers such as yourself - to highlight them for me, which you have, so thankyouverymuch. Also, I do have Webb/Sims/Oglesby/Mitchell listed in my 1990... I even mentioned that we were off to a good start with Webbs and Sims... but then it foreshadowed the Milner/Greene debacle to come.
You guys are gonna beat me within inches of my life, but I would throw Paul Solai into somebody that I think is gonna, in time, be very serviceable....
Yeah, I don't think we're gonna get a lot of argument from anyone that 2000-2006 were anything but a disaster - although I looooove the Ronnie pick - lest they be Bills/Pats/Jets fans, who might think those Dolphin drafts look pretty good.
Looks like the pickin's are slim for you there. You're young. I often am amazed, when I talk about something I take as everyday, say 80s music, and will talk to young girls at my work and mention Duran Duran, and they look at me like a dog watching television. I'll ask, "You know, Duran Duran. Hungry Like the Wolf? Rio? Girls on Film? Union of the Snake?" No clue. Anyway, it's something similar with football. I'd just like to tell you... it wasn't always this bad!!!
Great research bro It's hard not to look at 83 for someone my age. '86 has a near and dear spot in my heart too
i hear you i like Ronnie alot myself... i can't believe how bad the phins picked when you look back at 2000 to 2006
Dude, don't foget Girls on Film! I was the same way a few years ago, was talking to some young chick I was trying to get with about old school music, and she said "oh like the Chronic and Doggystyle and stuff?" And I'm like, no, is that old school? And she replied, "oh you mean YOUR old school." That's when I knew I got old. Dang I was only 26 or so ... For me, it's 1983. We got the best QB ever!
well looking at the drafts from 2000-2006 you can tell why we have been as bad as we have been man i miss richmond webb that guy was a beast but the 68 draft looked like a great one 83 was great so probably those 2 i also have high hopes for the 2007 class looks like satele is the center we have been looking for
That's hilarious! I'm 40 now. What is Old School for me? Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds? Terry Jacks singing Seasons in the Sun and other bad 70s music? Badfinger? Ten CC? Kansas/Boston or any other group with a city or state name? Fleetwood Mac (before Buckingham Nicks)? Or can I claim the 80s? I'll take The Cars and early U2 as my old school, then. And yeah, Marino clinches it for why I like '83.
Yep, Fast Times! And then there were the Midnight Movies - Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" that ran over and over. Shock Theater on Friday Night TV. And old Saturday Night Live. But then... this is a Dolphins forum, and I've strayed the course. Sooner or later, I'm gonna get modified or moderated, methinks... so yeah, CLASS OF '83 - favorite. Best is probably... hmm...
