Miami Dolphins need cornerstone talent not defensive line

The Miami Dolphins draft needs to produce a cornerstone talent more than a defensive lineman in order to fix a first round trend.

Vita Vea is a good player and maybe someday he will be a great player. Da’Ron Payne is a good player and maybe he too will someday be a great player. Miami could definitely use either one of them if they were drafting at the end of round one or had no other needs on the roster. They are not and they do not.

What Miami lacks is a cornerstone talent that they can build around. A missing piece that should be a player the team can envision playing for the next decade and not the next four or five years. The Dolphins tend to draft the latter instead of the former. They put their draft picks into players that are interchangeable and easy to replace down the road when the rookie contracts end.

Miami dumped a lot of money into the lap of Ndamukong Suh and they got nothing to show for it. The problem isn’t spending the money to replace players the problem is finding players that fit, perform, and lead. Miami says they want a new locker room culture and that is great but now you have to draft players that will be leaders and plug and play adaptation in a rotation.

Defensive tackle isn’t a huge need. The Dolphins rotate their defensive line so much that any player could see two or three snaps a series. Drafting a defensive lineman early isn’t going to win any awards. Miami needs a player that will make an immediate impact for entire series, entire games, and an entire season.

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Who that player is however is the entire drama of the NFL Draft. Then properly coaching that player and finding the right dynamic in the locker room. Several player fit that profile this year and Miami may or may not have a chance to draft one of them. Roquan Smith stands out in this regard and so do Minkah Fitzpatrick and Derwin James.

The Dolphins need to fill holes and they do need to find players that can get the job done but those players need to come in the late first round or the second and third. With a top 12 pick the Dolphins need far more than just a contributor. They need a potential game changer. Finding leadership is hard and finding a player that will stick around beyond the first contract seems to be harder for the Dolphins.

Looking back over the last 10 first round draft picks only Ryan Tannehill and Mike Pouncey received a second extension. Ja’Wuan James is playing on his 5th year option. This is a trend that the Dolphins must stop. Perhaps Laremy Tunsil and Charles Harris will buck this trend eventually but it is too early to tell. DeVante Parker doesn’t appear to be one that will.

Why is this a problem? Because the Dolphins tend to draft players that fill a specific need in a rotation or with the hopes of fixing a problem on the roster. This year the Dolphins have a chance to stop that bleed. Miami may not need a Fitzpatrick or a James or maybe not even a Denzel Ward but they are the best talents that may be on the board when Miami picks and taking a player strictly to fill a hole isn’t going to be a solution, it is only going to add to the problem.