Is the 2020 Draft a failure if the Dolphins don’t get ‘their’ quarterback?

The NFL Draft is just over a week away. With all the smoke, mirrors, and quarterback talk, are the Miami Dolphins destined to take a quarterback this year?

The Miami Dolphins have been rumored to be interested in every first-round quarterback prospect it seems. And while there’s still another week of dashing around looking for the fire that’s producing all this smoke, it begs a bigger question: if the Miami Dolphins don’t select a quarterback next week, then is the 2020 Draft a failure?

It almost seems like it’s a given at this point, the Dolphins taking a quarterback. They have allegedly expressed interest in Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Joe Burrow. As I said, there are plumes of rising smoke billowing all around us.

Contrary to the rumor mill and my sensationalized headline, I don’t think the success of the 2020 Draft class has to be tied to the 2020 quarterbacks.

In a vacuum, it’d be difficult for the Dolphins to come out of the draft as a loser based purely on the amount of draft capital. The Dolphins have the sheer quantity of picks to hit on at least a handful of them in a worst-case scenario. It also gives the Dolphins some flexibility to use the later-round picks as fodder in trade-up bundles.

But let’s back up for a second. The answer to the question, and let’s just get this out of the way, is a resounding “of course not.” Passing on the quarterback doesn’t mean the draft class is a failure. I’m not glib enough to think that the success entire draft class has to hinge on a singular player, especially with 14 available picks.

However, I’m also not going to understate the importance of the quarterback. Not taking a quarterback this year is only buying time and will force the Dolphins’ hand in next year’s draft. If the front office’s goal is to forgo the quarterback crop this year in hopes of taking a guy they already like more next year, then that’s fine. It’s playing with fire, but if that’s the plan, then so be it.

I won’t ignore the value of having good players in the other units, either. Taking advantage of a top-heavy offensive line draft class and putting together a respectable group could hardly be called a failure.

In spite of my pounding the table for Tagovailoa for nearly a year or someone else’s cries for Jordan Love, Justin Herbert, or Jalen Hurts, skipping the quarterback this year doesn’t have to feel like a hollow victory.

Sure, that adds pressure to the 2021 Draft, but it also means taking a top-notch non-quarterback at five.

While I’d love for the new-generation quarterback to be selected sooner rather than later, there’s no way of truly knowing who Brian Flores and Chris Grier want leading the team going forward. If neither of them is particularly moved by one of the prospects in the 2020 Draft class, then the goal could be to go into 2020 with one more loop on the FitzMagic fun ride and then pulling out all the stops for someone like Justin Fields next spring.

The Dolphins have breathing room. But that doesn’t mean they should be passive about it.

There’s this saying, which I’m sure you’ve heard: when one door closes, another one opens. There’s a pearl of wisdom in that concerning the draft. By not automatically selecting a quarterback with the fifth overall pick, the Dolp

hins are opening another door to one of several

other opportunities: Andrew Thomas, Jedrick

Wills, Mekhi Becton, Tristan Wirfs, Isaiah Simmons.

Passing on Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, or even Jordan Love at five would open up a new avenue where the Dolphins could beef up the offensive line in a big way, even introducing the idea of double-dipping on the offensive line in the first round alone. Imagine the Dolphins taking two tackles back-to-back, Mekhi Becton at five and Josh Jones at 18, for example.

A first-round without a quarterback this year could bring in a triumvirate of any mixed-and-matched combination of first-rounders. One of those combos could be Andrew Thomas, Xavier McKinney, and J.K. Dobbins. It could also be something like Tristan Wirfs, Grant Delpit, and Cesar Ruiz or maybe Jedrick Wills, CeeDee Lamb, and Antoine Winfield, Jr. The team could also just let it ride and take a BPA approach to whoever falls to them at each pick.

Back to the doors and the opportunities, there’s a lot of them for the Dolphins this year. Many of them are winners, too. So to reiterate, the Dolphins missing out or just passing on the quarterbacks this year, doesn’t have to be a rain cloud over the parade.

It could just be the door that takes the team on the scenic route to the quarterback of the future.