Yes, I Will Repeat it Once More

If you are wondering why I choose this image to accompany this post, it’s because I am going to beat a dead horse right now.

We have mentioned before how Dave Wannstedt has ruined this franchise, we’ve mentioned before that we’re 0-56 from 1998 to 2003 with the draft and right I’m going to beat that motionless horse again and mention how important the draft really is.

If there’s one sport where you need to drat well, it’s the NFL. It’s easier to acquire free agents and makes trades in baseball and the NBA and “buy” a championship than it is in the NFL. Just ask the Redskins. They try every season and fail miserably every time out.

In the NFL, you need to draft and you need to drat well. If you look at the top teams out there, most of them have drafted well over the years and their core players have come via the draft.

Indy, San Diego, Pittsburgh, New England (to a certain extent), the Giants, Jacksonville etc etc have all drafted their core players. The Bills and Browns are rebuilding by drafting well and even though they’re struggling now, the Bengals also became relevant again by drafting well, especially on offense.

During the Monday Night Game last night, Baltimore and Pittsburgh fielded two teams that also fit into this theory. If you have read the book “Next Man Up“, where author John Feinstein spends an entire season with the Ravens, you will see how they drafted their star players like Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis and others.

And when I saw the Steelers dominate last night, I imagined that that is how I want my Dolphins to be. There was Big Ben. A guy who lead them to a 15-1 record in his rookie year and who won a Super Bowl in his second year. Something I’m sure we’d want John Beck to emulate.

There was Hines Ward, one of the best receivers in the league (drafted) and he’s teaming up and passing the torch to Santonio Holmes (drafted). You know Santonio Holmes right. He was Ted Ginn‘s running mate at Ohio State and we will all be very happy if Ted can become the player that Holmes is becoming.

There was Willie Parker running behind an offensive line that was built throughout the draft. A fierce defense with guys Casey Hampton, Larry Foote and Troy Polamalu, three main guys that were drafted. Troy Polamalu was what we invisioned when we took Jason Allen and what we’re hoping that Allen can become.

The NFL Fanhouse had a post a few days ago that mentioned how bad the Rams have drafted since their Super Bowl winning year. Over the past 8 years, the Rams are 1 for 63 with their drafts. If there’s one team that has drafted as bad as Miami has over that period, it’s the Rams.

And who are the two worst teams in football right now? St. Louis and Miami. Now I know that injuries played a very big part in that as well, but when you draft decently, you may at least have some depth to deal with these injuries and that is something that Miami and St. Louis can’t really say.

So like I said before, next April will be huge for this team. Our ’05 draft was good. It’s still too soon to judge ’06 and ’07 but ’08 will be one of the most important ever. If not the most important.

I’m going to post a question a bit later for you guys regarding next April’s draft because I’m really interested in reading your take on that so stay tuned for it.