Undrafted Free Agents — What about Pat Devlin?

When the lockout is finally over, the first order of business for Jeff Ireland and the Miami Dolphins will be fill out their roster with Undrafted Free Agents (UFA).  These are players who did not get drafted in the 2011 NFL Draft and, in a normal year, some would have gotten picked up by NFL teams in the hours following the draft.  I suggest that you do not ignore the significance of these pick-ups — please remember Dan Carpenter and Devone Bess were both UFAs.

So, who are some of the UFAs the Dolphins should be looking at?  Well, what about Pat Devlin?  Devlin is a 6′ 3″ and 225 pound QB out of the University of Delaware.  This is the same FCS school that produced the Ravens’ Joe Flacco.  Devlin has an arm length of 32 inches and hand size of 9 7/8 inches.  At the NFL Combine, he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.86 seconds and the three cone drill in 7.08 seconds.  He had a vertical leap of 33 inches and a broad jump of 116 inches.  It should be noted that all these measureables are a little below average amongst other QBs in the year’s draft.

Let’s take a look at Pat Devlin in comparison to other QBs in the 2011 NFL Draft.  In the table below, I have compared Devlin’s 2010 stats with the top six QBs selected.

I like to pay particular attention to those stats which are highlighted in blue.  Pat Devlin has the highest completion percentage (68.0%) — he is very accurate.  He has an average number of TDs per attempt (5.73%) — he is just okay with his deadliness.  He has the lowest number of interceptions per attempt (0.78%) — he does not make many mistakes.  But, he has a relatively high number of sacks per attempt (6.25%) — he holds on to the ball a little too long.  Overall, he kind of reminds me of a Chad Pennington that needs to learn to throw the ball away — he needs to have his internal release timer speeded up to pull the trigger more quickly — this can be learned.

The Dolphins already have Chad Henne and Tom Brandstater currently on the roster with Tyler Thigpen in limbo as a restricted free agent.  And, the rumors are flying that the Dolphins will pick up a veteran free agent. 

Do you think the Dolphins should sign Pat Devlin to a short term contract and bring him into camp to compete for the starting (or backup) QB job?