The Miami Dolphins lack of running back priority is hurting the team
By Brian Miller
Hindsight is always 20/20 but if we really want to know where Miami has failed to fix their RB situation, we can start by looking at the last successful one they had.
In 2005, the Dolphins drafted Ronnie Brown with the 2nd overall pick in the draft. Brown didn’t go on to have some fantastic, amazing, Ring of Honor-worthy career for the Dolphins. He was good, he was at times great, he was consistent. He also split time and carrier with Ricky Williams.
We can debate the Williams saga until we are blue in our face but when he was on the roster with Brown, the Dolphins had a stellar one-two punch and no need to draft running backs.
Ricky Williams is the highlight of this entire piece. Despite the off-field problems if we look at the importance of a top-line featured back, we can see that a team like Miami can use resources on other positions.
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In 2002, Williams joined the Dolphins. A true number one running back for the first time in maybe a decade or more. From 2002 to 2005 the Dolphins did not allocate a single draft pick to a running back. They drafted Brown in 2005 and then spent only two more draft picks on the position from 2005 to 2007. Drafting Lorenzo Booker in round three and FB Reagan Mauia in round 6. In 2008, they drafted Jalen Parmele in round six and Lex Hilliard in round 7 which is when the Bill Parcells mentality switch started to take hold.
From 2002 until 2007, the Dolphins drafted 1 running back and 1 fullback outside of Ronnie Brown. They had one of the best running games in the league with Brown and Williams in the backfield.