The NFL Draft is in the books and the Miami Dolphins are getting, I feel, the correct amount of praise and questioning for how they handled their draft. The draft picks are fun to talk about and predict but the more fascinating aspect to analyze is the mentality of the Miami Dolphins on what their approach to drafting actually means.
If you happen to peruse the internet looking for grades on how the Miami Dolphins drafted, you'll find that the average is right around a B. Nothing wrong with getting Bs. This nation was built on folks doing just a bit more than the bare minimum while also having a good time. Wow, did I encompass exactly what the Miami Dolphins are all about at their core? I think I did.
The same type of lines are being said in relation to the Dolphin's draft; might be a reach with Chop Robinson, and Patrick Paul is a big-time project to use on 2nd rounder but man alive did Grier and the gang do nice work on day three. Rinse, and repeat.
I have to agree with this one because it's the most logical on April 29th and two, what's the point of trying to figure out how much Chop Robinson is going to play right now? We'll find that info out in a few months.
What's much more interesting to me is what the motives behind the Miami Dolphin's 2024 draft say about where the team is mentality and how management views what they have. I'm not trying to say that I'm going to dress the Dolphins down like I'm Sean Maguire from Southy but I am looking to get to the root of the decisions that were made over the weekend.
The Miami Dolphins are firmly looking at the future.
I wrote about this over the weekend and it shouldn't be that much of a surprise considering where some of the talent are in their careers. When you have Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert, Terron Armstead, Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, all who have their own set of different and unique circumstances, you start having thoughts about planning for life without them.
That doesn't mean that the fans are going to love those moves because it makes them and I think that you're sort of putting more thought into next year rather than focusing on the upcoming year. It's hard for folks to think the franchise can do both at the same time and just the way it's going to be.
Chop Robinson, Patrick Paul, Jaylen Wright, and, to a lesser extent, Malik Washington are moves for the future. You'd like to think you'd get a fair amount of run out of Chop Robinson. And you can certainly envision a world where Jaylen Wright gets some chances towards the middle of the year. If Patrick Paul is playing, that almost certainly means that Armstead went down, but I think we all have conceded that Armstead will, in fact, miss time with around 7-8 different ailments.
There's nothing wrong with thinking about the future. Most teams do this in some fashion. You just don't want to hamstring the current team too much. Grier, McDaniel, and the Miami Dolphins think they haven't done that. Like all things in sports, time will tell.
The Miami Dolphins are hoping to have a solid rotation of pass-rushers.
When you have Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips on a timetable that none of us know about, you should do what you can to bolster the pass-rushing unit.
The Miami Dolphins signed Shaw Barrett in free agency, which is a move I think that will work out well.
Then over the weekend, the team decided they needed keep adding edge-rushers and drafted Chop Robinson in the 1st round and Mohamed Kamara in the 5th.
Let's get something straight; Chop Robinson is a much better prospect than Mohamed Kamara. How can I know this with so much conviction? Because Chop Robinson was drafted with the #21 pick and Mohamed Kamara was taken with the 158th pick. Obviously, the football grading world and the folks who get paid for a living to project who will be the better player think Robinson will have a better career than Kamara.
That doesn't mean that is exactly how it will go down. We should know by now that there are always players that bust and ones that are unheralded or even undrafted that end up being legends.
This doesn't change the idea that the Dolphins aren't exactly sure about when Chubb and Phillips will return and even when they do that they want to have fresh players in as often as possible to rush the passer.
Last year, the Dolphins were at their best when they had Chubb, Phillips, Van Ginkel, and Ogbah to a lesser extent at their disposal. It would be nice if all of these guys would be able to be ready to make an impact every game.
I also think expecting a 5th rounder to part of a rotation in year one is a big ask and shouldn't be assumed. Perhaps another edge-rusher out there in free agency land will be brought in.
The Miami Dolphins do not care about interior offensive linemen.
I will die on this hill if I have to, but to me, it is quite apparent that the Miami Dolphins simply don't value the guard position that they have to put a lot of resources in, too.
Where is my evidence for this claim? Well, the Miami Dolphins do not currently have a formidable starting right guard. Spare me the Liam Eichenberg and Jack Driscoll truthers out there. The team needs 11 starters on offense, and they currently only have 10, in the draft, the team decided not to select any interior offensive linemen. I rest my case.
Even if you want to say that we know for sure that Grier and his assets have reached out to veteran free agent interior offensive linemen, which we know is true, that doesn't mean the Dolphins shouldn't have taken someone in the first half of the draft that could come in and do the job. Personally, I would have enjoyed a top guard in the 2nd, but that's me.
Thinking about it, the team is highly relying on Isaiah Wynn, who missed more than half the season last year to start at left guard. Makes me feel even worse about the interior of the line.
But you know who doesn't feel all that bad or worried about it? The Miami Dolphins, that's who. Obviously, Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier think Butch Barry is some sort of a medicine man or at the least a wizard who is a master of the mystic arts and that he can get a big guy in there and make them serviceable. Good luck, Butch.
The Miami Dolphins want to be who they are and that's final.
This might, unfortunately, be the biggest indictment I have on the Miami Dolphins but here goes; they want to beat you with speed and scheme and they do not care that this approach gets bodied every year late in the season and in the playoffs.
All the offensive players they drafted are small-speed guys. Jalen Wright has some meat for him, but let's not act like he's TJ Duckett. The pair of Washingtons in Malik and Tajh are both 5'10 and under, which is where Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, respectively, stand.
We saw in the playoff game against the Chiefs that Hill and Waddle get thrown around by the secondary of Kansas City. We even saw an instance where Le'Jarious Sneed slammed Hill all the way to the Earth's core. I get it; Hill and Waddle were nowhere near 80%, let alone 100%. But still, I don't know how Mike McDaniel can watch that and say, "No big deal, we can try the same stuff again, and we'll be fine."
I'm not saying that the Miami Dolphins should line up in the I and run power and trap all game. That would be dumb. But it be nice for us to think that when it gets late in the year, and the weather isn't conducive for throwing all over the field, and the stakes in the games are greater the Dolphins could morph into a version of a power-running, ball control type of team. At the moment, that seems impossible to fathom.
Like it or not, I fear this is the way it is with Mike McDaniel, which lends to the idea that he doesn't have a plan B in place when things go bad and his offense gets figured out. He believes he can out-think the defense when he should know by now that there are times you need to out-will teams with strength and physicality. Miami has shown they don't want to go down that road; thus, it's hard to envision a ton of post-season progress. Hopefully, I'm way wrong.
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