Yahoo Sports goes deep inside the Miami Dolphins draft process

For any Miami Dolphins fan the new feature from Yahoo Sports is a must read. It takes you deep into the process of the Miami Dolphins draft.

Unknown to most, a journalist from Yahoo Sports went along for the ride with Dolphins scouts as they worked towards the 2018 NFL Draft. Pete Thamel spent almost an entire year with the Dolphins scouting department in an unprecedented opening of the Dolphins processes.

Yahoo has released the five-part series now that the NFL Draft has concluded and his insight on what transpired over the course of the last 10 months is amazing. It is a must read cornerstone series that every fan should read. Visit the link above.

The draft process is not as simple as visiting with prospects or attending the Scouting Combine. It is more than watching college tape and hosting players at the training facility. Several years ago I spoke with Jeff Ireland who missed a Dolphins Web Weekend event that he normally attended. He was scouting.

Ireland loved that part of his job. It was where he came from. On that WW event weekend he was doing what he enjoyed. Traveling talking with kids who would become NFL football players. He said that the time spent was always worth it.

My conversation was brief, a one or two sentence conversation but it was one of those conversations that make you realize what we as fans see on the surface is so much more detailed behind the scenes. The draft he was scouting for was still a year away.

Over the last 11 years and a few months I have seen some of those behind the scene things. Some I can freely talk about and others I will take to my grave. All of them interesting. You start to view the team and the sport differently from both the player and the team perspectives.

After reading this you also get a better idea of why teams more often than not keep their scouting department through coaching and executive changes. Even if it is just for that first draft.

This time we can learn even more. Thamel brings 10 months of ride alongs and meeting rooms to the page and for the first time fans can get a look at what goes into preparing for an NFL Draft. Again, it is a must read. Not just for Miami Dolphins fans but for NFL fans and football fans alike.

Take the time and read it here.