Mike McDaniel needs to find the next Deebo Samuel in the Dolphins draft
Mike McDaniel had his first press conference as head coach for the Miami Dolphins Thursday morning. He was asked how he would implement his brand of offense to his new team, which ranked 25th in total offense.
When asked about bringing the west-coast system he has coached for more than 10 years McDaniel said “you’re not constantly trying to relearn how to do things, you’re constantly evolving.” This premise of evolving was not truer than the explosion of production seen from All-Pro receiver Deebo Samuel, in McDaniel’s first year as offensive coordinator for the 49ers.
Samuel had 1770 total yards and 14 total touchdowns. Surely McDaniel will try to find a similar swiss-army-knife-like player he made Samuel into.
Currently, on the roster, no one sticks out to fill the role of a hybrid, receiver/runner between the tackles. While the Dolphins do not have a top-tier pick in the draft this year, they can still find a player that can potentially be our multi-faceted weapon.
The player that can quickly fill this role and is projected in the area where Miami is positioned is big-bodied wideout from Arkansas, Treylon Burks. Burks is currently listed at 6’3 and 225 lbs. He caught 66 passes for 1104 yards, and rushed 14 times for 112 yards with 12 total touchdowns in 2021.
Another player the Fins are in reach to potentially draft is receiver David Bell out of Purdue. At 6’2 and 205 lbs, he was a dual-sport athlete in high school playing both football and basketball. Bell is a good athlete with a high-floor. Bell caught 93 passes for 1286 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2021. Considered to be of high-character player, even blocking hard on runs plays. A player of Bell’s abilities may need a coach like McDaniel to unlock his full potential.
With McDaniel being the run game coordinator for the 49ers for multiple years it would make sense that he can maximize the talents of a running back. Isaiah Spiller out of Texas A&M is Pro Football Focus’ sixth-ranked running back on their big board.
Spiller physicals stack him at 6’1 and 215 lbs. Primarily known as a power back he has shown he has the ability to catch the ball as well. This would be a different way to look at that Samuel position as he is a receiver but as McDaniel said you have to be evolving. Spiller would fill a need the Dolphins have needed for years now at running back and has little wear on his tires, never touching the ball more than 210 times in any season in college. He caught 25 passes in 2021 and rushed for 1011 yards.
The Dolphins may not have as good of a drafting situation as last year when they had two first-round picks. But they can still draft an offensive talent that can make an impact. Let’s see what this mad scientist the Fins just hired as the head coach can create out of the offense this offseason.