5 Players the Miami Dolphins will draft because I don’t like them
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins have a history of drafting players that this writer is not a big fan of so should that be a foretelling of Thursday’s draft?
When the Miami Dolphins are on the clock there is a good chance that several players that I am not thrilled with will be sitting on the clock waiting to hear themselves called at the podium by Commissioner Roger Goodell. Those players that will make me turn in my chair.
Over the last decade the Dolphins have done a great job getting players that I was hoping would end up on another team. Dion Jordan, Charles Harris, Jake Long, Ted Ginn, Jr. and even some players that turned out good like Mike Pouncey. The point is it is a rarity that I get what I hope for. In fact the last time I can recall pounding the table for someone and seeing them in Miami was Jason Taylor.
Yes, that was a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Thursday is going to be different I keep telling myself. Miami will draft Jeffery Simmons or Christian Wilkins. They will draft Clelin Ferrel or maybe even Ed Oliver if he falls. Reality is always something different so here are the five players that I don’t want to see drafted by the Dolphins which means one of them likely will.
Dwayne Haskins and Kyler Murray
I put them together because to me they are one in the same. Hyped players that come with question marks enough to make me wonder if the Dolphins will cement their basement status for another six years until they realize these guys are not it.
Haskins is the better of the two but I don’t think he will be much better than Jameis Winston without the off-field issues. I see his ceiling as a high as Cam Newton. Newton is good but he isn’t great. He can’t carry the team and that is what I see in Haskins. A Joe Flacco type who will enough if the supporting cast around him can support him.
Murray? I see a selfish kid who won’t lead by example and will lose the locker room when he can’t lift the team.
The kid has some skills but I see a guy who climbed up after the combine and frankly, I’m not a fan of combine wonders. Is he a guy that can take over a defense and make it over in his own image? A Jason Taylor type that will dominate the edge for the next decade or more? I don’t see that. I see a guy who will be o.k. A Robert Quinn type that will have inconsistent games and seasons. I simply don’t buy the hype.
Taylor is going to be a top 15 pick but there is a better than not chance another tackle like Jonah Williams will also be there and I see far more upside there. I would take Garrett Bradbury or Cody Ford long before I would consider Taylor. That is not to say that he won’t be a good football player I just don’t see him as being great.
This one is hard because I am big Michigan Wolverine fan and seeing a Wolverine in Miami would thrill me but Gary comes across as needing a solid secondary to create time for him to get around big lineman. His first step is good but in my view he lacks the resources to power through or make the deep dip to slide out of the block. I don’t see him as “the” guy on the edge that will solidify the position for a long time.
Miami needs another corner back but frankly, I would wait until round two or three at the earliest. I see better value at 13 than I do with Williams. The Dolphins have had marginal first round success with drafting corners and while Brian Flores needs a solid group to run the dime packages he will employ, I think Miami can do better than Williams. That being said, of these “six” players, Williams would give the least amount of grief.