Miami Dolphins weren’t the only team with high grades for 1st round picks

The Miami Dolphins went into the draft with a set plan in place and knew who they really wanted. Apparently so did another team.

Pictures have surfaced from a video from the Jacksonville Jaguars draft and low and behold, they gave Trevor Lawrence a perfect 8.0 rating, not surprising as everyone knew they were drafting him the second they locked up the first draft pick.

What was surprising, however, was the fact that they also showed two names that Miami drafted in round one. Jaylen Waddle and Jaelen Phillips. Many Dolphins fans would have preferred Devonta Smith over Waddle and it was mentioned after the draft that the Dolphins were so high on Waddle that they may have taken him over Ja’Marr Chase if he had fallen to six.

On the Jaguars draft board, Waddle was given a perfect 8.0 rating as well and Phillips was given a 7.6 rating. Clearly, teams had both players ranked high on their lists.

While Miami may have had an interest in Kyle Pitts or Chase if either had fallen, they apparently got the guy they wanted from the start. Miami’s Chris Grier had to have known where he needed to be to get Waddle and that was the catalyst for him having a plan in place to go from three to 12 to six in the span of an hour a month ahead of the draft.

The risky move paid off. Miami got Waddle but was in a position to draft any three of the top offensive weapons that are not quarterbacks. The fact that Jacksonville had both players rated so highly as well is a good indication that Grier wasn’t alone in his thoughts about how Waddle could be elite. It would be interesting to see how other teams had viewed the players as well.