Dolphins Primed To Move Down Draft Board
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins were the front runners for Stanford’s Andrew Luck. Starting the season 0-7 it was a simple matter of mathematics. Indy needed to squeak out a couple of wins and the Dolphins needed to lose which wasn’t a problem at the time and voila’ the Dolphins are sitting pretty for the best college QB in this years draft. Then they won. Not one, not two, but three games. Good-bye Andrew Luck.
O.k., not a really big deal. Luck is not a guaranteed franchise savior. He is a single entity who would still need quality support and coaching. So we save a little money, drop down a few spots and let the Colts who are still winless decide whether to draft the QB to be “heir Manning” or trade the pick and reap a bundle. The Dolphins as of today would pick between four and six depending on who’s math regarding strength of schedule you believe more. NFL.com has Miami picking 4th overall. From there, they are primed to start moving down.
Fourth overall? Not a bad spot to land the next big name. Maybe Matt Barkley of USC or Landry Jones of Oklahoma. Maybe even that RGIII guy from Baylor. Hey we can live with that. Heck, with five games to go who knows, maybe we move up to the number two spot and have our pick. But alas, that won’t happen. See, the Miami Dolphins have no luck. No not Andrew Luck, real luck. If it weren’t for bad luck they would have no luck at all. Why? The Raiders, the Eagles, and Bills…that’s why.
The Raiders face the Dolphins this week without their most talented running back Darren McFadden and slew of injuries. They face the Raiders who while leading the AFC Weak division (west), they are probably the worst statistical division leader in the NFL. They can’t stop the pass, can’t stop the run, can generate the run, but are up and down throwing the ball. Add to that a trip across country and the Dolphins eleven days to prepare…4-8. Draft slot…moves down.
The following “weak” if you will, brings the match-up of “dream teams”, oh wait, we already know what happened to Miami’s dream team and the dream team in Philly was grounded as quickly as the Miami Dolphins season. Although for my money, the Miami Heat dream team could give the Philly Eagles a run for their money. The Eagles are a mess. They have a QB who threw as many completions to the defense than to his stud WR DeSean Jackson who decided to chat it up with the opposing team during pre-game and not warm up with his WR group. Then he sat on the bench and ignored the rest of his team throughout the game.
They have a misguided defense who lost Nnamdi Asomugha in the first half which really isn’t a huge loss considering he didn’t do much when he was in the game. Add to that the myriad of social infighting, the loss of their dream season and the cat calls for the head of Andy Reid and it adds up nicely for what should be win number 5. Move the draft peg down a little further. Good-bye Matt Barkley.
By this time the Dolphins should be comfortably sitting behind teams like Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns, and Kansas City Chiefs. All teams that will likely be looking to draft a QB high next April. Yet, the Dolphins are not set to simply lay down and draft somewhere in the 10 to 12 range. They still have the Buffalo Bills on their schedule.
The Bills were manhandled by the Dolphins three weeks ago. It was an ugly route and since then the Bills haven’t managed to get any better or focus their attention. My best friend high-school messaged me after the game, “that killed me.” He’s a Bills fan. I told him I don’t sympathize. Sorry. So meeting two should really have the same result unless in the upcoming three weeks they find a way to make Ryan Fitzpatrick throw with accuracy and CJ Spiller actually becomes someone worth watching.
In other words? Win number five. That should put the Dolphins around the 15 to 17 spot and likely behind the Seattle Seahawks who will be hunting for a new QB as well. So if Landry Jones heeds the advice of some Oklahoma regional scouts and stays in school or doesn’t and joins the draft where he could slide out of round one, the Dolphins will likely be looking at, ummmm, well, hmmmm, no first round QB talents which means that thanks to the Bills, Eagles, and Raiders, and a lovely 0-7 start to the season, the Miami Dolphins wasted a perfectly good season by finishing just below mediocre.
Unless of course they can beat both the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Then they make it to average.