Should the Miami Dolphins go “all In” to draft Joe Burrow
By Marco Moor
The ongoing debate is what will the Miami Dolphins do at quarterback and should they go “all-in” on LSU signal-caller Joe Burrow?
We all know how hard it is to draft players in the NFL, especially quarterbacks. But, the Miami Dolphins need a quarterback and come hell or high water they are probably going to daft one in 2020, maybe even Joe Burrow.
The big question surrounding this draft is should we use Draft Capital to move up for Joe Burrow? If we move up, do we get Peyton Manning or Jamarcus Russell? If we stay at five do we land Patrick Mahomes or Akili Smith?
If the dolphins think Joe Burrow is the next Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, or similar talent they need to go all in and move up. Would you give up two first-round draft picks and a second for a young Dan Marino, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? The answer is, hell yes.
What about those draft picks and our team needs you say. Well, an elite quarterback can hide a lot of holes on your team.
Look, we just got rid of a talented quarterback (Ryan Tannehill) who won’t lose you games, but he can’t win you games on a consistent basis either. Tannehill just landed a massive contract with the Titans and won comeback player of the year.
If you are a Dolphin’s fan you have watched Tannehill take sacks he shouldn’t, hold onto the ball longer than he should, not find the wide-open receiver, etc. Maybe the Dolphins made a mistake getting rid of Tannehill, but I don’t think so.
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Don’t get me wrong I think Tannehill is a great person and an above-average quarterback, I just don’t think he is elite. I don’t think he can carry a team when he needs to. I don’t think he helps hide any hole in your team.
If you think I’m wrong, ask yourself this. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Devante Parker had a break out year, the year Tannehill is gone? Do you think our record is any better with Tannehill at the helm? Didn’t Fitzpatrick look better than Tannehill and we still want to replace Fitzpatrick? Look, it’s just too hard to win a super bowl with a game manager, even a good one.
In today’s NFL, you need a quarterback that can put the team on his back if he needs to and if you don’t have one you need to keep looking. I say keep drafting quarterbacks until we find our Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, or Tom Brady. I’ve had it with good but not good enough quarterback play. I want elite!
Let’s take a look at the history of the quarterbacks drafted in round one since 1998 to see what Grier and the Dolphins are up against.
Draft positions noted below are from NFL.com
1998
#1 Peyton Manning – The Colts (according to stories) almost drafted Ryan Leaf
#2 Ryan Leaf
1999
#1 Tim Couch
#2 Donovan Mcnabb
#3 Akili Smith
#11 Daunte Culpepper
#12 Cade McNown
2000
#18 Chad Pennington
SIDE NOTE #199 Tom Brady
2001
#1 Michael Vick
#32 Drew Brees
2002
#1 David Carr
#3 Joey Harrington
#32 Pat Ramsey
2003
#1 Carson Palmer
#7 Byron Leftwich
#19 Kyle Boller
#22 Rex Grossman
2004
#1 Eli Manning
#4 Phillip Rivers
#11 Ben Rothlisberger
#22 J.P. Lossman
2005
#1 Alex Smith
#24 Aaron Rogers
#25 Jason Campbell
2006
#1 Vince Young
#11 Jay Cutler
2007
#1 Jamarcus Russell
#22 Brady Quinn
2008 (Dolphins drafted Jake Long #1 – Matt Ryan would have been nice)
#3 Matt Ryan
#18 Joe Flacco
2009
#1 Matthew Stafford
#5 Mark Sanchez
#17 Josh Freeman
2010
#1 Sam Bradford
#25 Tim Tebow
2011
#1 Cam Newton
#8 Jake Locker
#10 Blane Gabbart
#12 Christian Ponder
#35 Andy Dalton
2012
#1 Andrew Luck
#2 Rober Griffin
#8 Ryan Tannehill
#22 Brandon Weedon
SIDE NOTE: Russell Wilson at #75 and Nick Foles #88
2013
#16 Ej Manuel
2014
#3 Blake Bortles
#22 Jonny Manziel
#32 Teddy Bridgewater
SIDE NOTE: Derek Carr #36 Jimmy Garoppollo #62
2015
#1 Jameis Winston
#2 Marcus Mariota
2016
#1 Jared Goff
#2 Carson Wentz
#26 Paxton Lynch
2017
#2 Mitch Trubisky
#10 Patrick Mahomes
#12 Deshaun Watson
2018
#1 Baker Mayfield
#3 Sam Darnold
#7 Josh Allen
#10 Josh Rosen
#32 Lamar Jackson
2019
#1 Kyler Murray
#6 Daniel Jones
#15 Dwayne Haskins
Looking down that list of sixty-two quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round I see plenty of game managers, plenty of busts, plenty of mediocre quarterbacks and only a small hand full of stars.
How many of those can’t miss prospects, missed? What are the odds that a prospect with faults turns into a success? Those are the questions facing the Dolphins in the search for their next franchise quarterback.
Joe Burrow looks like he is a lock to go to the Bengals at #1. That leaves Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert or Jordan Love. Each of them has its own question marks.
The Dolphins have been linked to Tua Tagovailoa since early last year. Truth be told, his injury history concerns me (Sam Bradford, Robert Griffin III anyone). Herbert doesn’t look like he has the ‘it’ factor. Jordan Love threw 17 interceptions (Jameis Winston anybody). So who should the Dolphins take?
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If you are a college football fan, you’ve seen Burrow play. Besides his knock for smaller hands, what is his weak link, what can’t he do? I think Burrow is a can’t miss pro-bowl prospect, so I’m going all in. I’m giving all three first-round picks to the Bengals and maybe more to draft Burrow.
What did Burrow do to make me go all in? Statistics from ESPN.com. Can you say, Sixty, yes Sixty, touchdowns, a 76.3% completion rate, routinely throws receivers open, good height and weight, durable, athletic, accurate, intelligent, great pocket presence, great under pressure, great when teams blitz and he has the ‘it’ factor. If I’m Grier, I’m going all in to make him my quarterback.
And, if the Bengals don’t budge, I’m staying at five. With my limited knowledge, there are too many questions marks on the remaining quarterbacks to give up precious draft capital. We’ll need all the good players we can get if our quarterback is just another game manager or, worse yet, on injured reserve. That’s what I would do if I were Miami’s GM.
However, based on draft history, whatever I do, I’m probably wrong.