Miami Dolphins can afford to wait on a quarterback until 2021
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are not on the clock and won’t be for a while but QB is the dominating position of need in most mock drafts. They can wait for 2021.
Miami is in a unique position that they don’t have to draft a quarterback in the 2020 draft. Not if they don’t want to. Not if the player they covet isn’t there or too costly to move up for, not if they look at what is there and determine that the class next year is better.
The Miami Dolphins can wait. They can wait because they have Ryan Fitzpatrick. Not because he is the future, but simply because he is here. The Dolphins will likely win as many games next year with him or without him.
In 2020 the Miami Dolphins will have somewhere between 10 and 13 draft picks. Three in round one and two in the second. They can control the draft up and down. They would be smart to package the plethora of late-round picks for mid-round picks or mid-round picks for day two picks. They would be smart to move one of their three first-round selections for another first in 2021.
The key is they need to be smart.
Yes, the quarterback is a need and yes the Dolphins could draft Tua Tagovailoa at pick five or Justin Herbert, or Jacob Eason, or any other quarterback that fans have fallen in love with. Or they can use the draft picks to build their offensive line and secondary. Add pieces not addressed in free agency.
In other words, the Dolphins could use the massive haul of draft picks this year to fill in every hole, gap, crevice, and crack on the roster that doesn’t start with a “Q”. Supplemented with free agency, the Dolphins could turn around the franchise in a single off-season and spend the 2020 season getting to know the system, each other, and learn how to work in the Brian Flores system.
Then, in 2021 the franchise QB is drafted and joins a team that has a full year more experience and can help that QB develop.
This is not to say that the Dolphins should pass on a QB. They should not if the player they believe is the right guy is on the board when the select. They should not if they view that player as a franchise-changing guy who will be around in another 10 years managing the offense. A bona fide leader. You don’t pass on that. You only have to be prepared to not have that opportunity. You have to be prepared to risk your jobs, career, and those of your coaches and staff as well if you are wrong.
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The 2021 class is going to be just as good as this year, maybe better depending on who declares. Waiting for a year isn’t ideal but it is an option. Ryan Fitzpatrick is under contract for another season and there is no suggestion that he is done. He isn’t taking the Dolphins to a playoff game but he can lead by example and he has shown that this year alone.
He is a perfect mentor which also brings up the argument that having a rookie this year to work under him makes more sense and that is an argument that is hard to debate against. Miami also has Josh Rosen and seeing what he can do or what the team’s plans are for him are interesting. The Dolphins did invest a 2nd round pick on him last year and they had film to see what they were getting. That tells me they see more of him than the rest of us.
This off-season will be critical for the long-term success of this rebuild and finding the right pieces are as important as finding the right quarterback. Luckily, the Dolphins can afford to wait another season and it might be smart if they have uncertainty surrounding their choices.