Should Dolphins fans take stock in Senior Bowl?

The Miami Dolphins have a small contingent at this weeks Senior Bowl and I wonder if fans should really be all that interested in who they speak with. While Mike Tannenbaum and Chris Grier are in attendance, Adam Gase is back in Miami.

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With Adam Gase not in attendance some fans have already began to complain but the reality is little is accomplished by a new head coach at the event. Consider that for the entire 2015 season, Gase probably didn’t look at a single college athlete unless he watched them on television. He didn’t scout the players himself because the Bears have a scouting department. What could he possibly add to the conversation?

Tannenbaum however has been studying the players and so has general manager Chris Grier so Gase’s absence is no big deal. So should it matter to the fans who Tannenbaum and Grier meet with or watch? Not really. No.

Twitter is alive and kicking with all the small chatter regarding who each team will visit and which team will meet with what player but reality is it doesn’t matter. Teams will watch players but more often than not, meeting a player at the Senior Bowl does not mean a team has genuine interest in that player. When I see that the Dolphins have interest in North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, I tend to dismiss it.

Very few coaches ore general managers will say they are not interested in a player and if they did, they likely would draft him. Instead, many will say they have some degree of interest. It’s the start of “BullS&&t” season afterall. Welcome to the four month lead up to the NFL Draft.

While teams will get good looks at players especially practice habits and even speak with some of them, the real X’s and O’s questions come later in the process and for some teams those questions are never asked of the players they select. Instead teams tend to hold their impressions pretty close to the chest.

What I would look for is how the team watches specific positions. Those will give you clues as to what they may be looking at down the road. Are the Dolphins watching corners or linebackers? Offensive lineman or safeties? Quarterbacks too.

I guess the purpose of this is simply this, don’t let talk of Dolphins interest in a quarterback or a lineman or any other player get you excited because rarely does it mean anything. Especially this week. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still a lot of fun to watch the players play the game and really get a good look at how they impress. I just wouldn’t put a hole lot of stock in the rumors of who is watching whom.