CHATTER • NFL team consultant Frank Coyle called this ''Miami's best draft in 10 years.'' But Mel Kiper Jr., on espn.com, gave Miami a B- as, ''I'm not sold on Chad Henne. He has accuracy issues and a long delivery and he isn't mobile.'' And he called third-round defensive lineman Kendall Langford ``somewhat of a reach after an average senior season.'' • Fox draft analyst Chris Landry, who consults for 11 teams, called Dolphins second-round pick Phillip Merling ''the best run-defending defensive end in the draft.'' . . . Several draftniks give fourth-rounder Shawn Murphy a realistic chance to start at right guard. (Smiley would move to left guard in that scenario) . . . The Dolphins -- who don't have an accomplished veteran guard to play opposite Smiley -- rejected overtures from ex-Dolphin Jeno James (out of the league last year) and haven't returned calls from unsigned Chris Liwienski's agent. http://www.miamiherald.com/616/story/514679.html
I really don't take Kiper's opinions serious. He has been wrong enough times that prove he is not the expert he considers himself. Honestly, I think some people on this site would do a better job than him. If any thing I think the Dolphins should get more points for getting another QB for insurance and for being smart enough to take him where they intended to in the first place. He can bash Henne all he wants but the truth is Henne had a pretty good career at Michigan while breaking some passing records and the Dolphins addressed two major priorities before they selected a QB. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the Dolphin's braintrusts picked a QB every year somewhere in the draft. But that is JMO.
Kiper isn't the only one that feels that way about Henne, even some of the people here feel that he gets flustered in the pocket and has to work on his decision making. CK did his write up, here's the link. http://forums.thephins.com/showthread.php?t=7597 He makes some very valid observations about Henne. I would love for Henne to become a very good player, I just feel that there are concerns about his game. Lets get one thing clear, Miami was "lucky" that Henne fell as far as he did. I put lucky in parenthesis because I'm not a fan of the pick. Miami felt that he was great value at that spot and selected him, they couldn't have imagined that he would still be there late in the 2nd round, nobody did. As far as taking a QB every year, that is a serious waste of draft picks. We've thrown enough draft picks at the Qb position (Culpepper, Green, Lemon, Feeley, etc, etc, etc) and we should focus on developing our players. PLayer development doesn't happen overnight, it takes patience, something that Miami hasn't had and it shows.
I would have to agree. Of course we haven't had much luck with our coaches either. I think we need stability almost everywhere on the filed, sidelines and FO.
i think Kiper is good at evaluating players. where he lacks is evaluating teams and their needs. often he believes a player needs to go at a certain point and then applies it to the teams closest. when that team does not pick them, he starts his crap. as for Henne, he was projected as a bottom first, upper second at worst? we got him at 57. i can't complain even if he becomes just a good backup.
So if it took 3 years to develop one, we'd have wasted 3 picks. Picking a QB every year would mean our FO has no confidence in their ability to find and develop a player. We most definitely should NOT pick one every year. . I love it. And none of these guys are on Dancing with the Stars either!
You are absolutely right, we didn't draft any of those QB's. We committed an even bigger sin, we traded away very valuable draft picks for other teams aging, broken down trash that may or may not have had "potential". Most of those QB's were here for a year and gone the next. What a great way to spend our draft picks. On to the next point. Okay, we drafted Beck last year in the 2nd round and Henne in the 2nd round this year. If neither one shows that he can be a "great" Qb like you describe, do we spend another high draft pick next year? What if that player starts off slowly and doesn't really impress until the final game? Lets say for arguments sake that he goes 0-15 and in the last game of the season he looks like Peyton Manning, infact he makes Peyton Manning look like Ray Lucas.....do we wait until the following year to see what he can do or do we look at his 1-15 record and say "we need to spend another high draft pick"? Draft picks don't grow on trees, they are a very valuable asset that we need to spend wisely. If we just throw picks at a problem and never give our players time to develop, we may as well not even use them to begin with. We were a 1-15 team for a reason, not because John Beck didn't impress, it was because we squandered years of draft picks and just one of those players that was drafted from 2000-2003 is still with the team (Bell). You need to draft wisely.
teams will give up picks for servicable backups. Look how many times we did it. Having more than one decent QB is good problem to have. I'm willing to bet that somewhere in the draft, we will take another one next year.
I don't understand this at all myself. How can selecting a player lower your draft grade? Especially when the guy was rated to go higher and you got good value (words Mel has used often). On top of that we didn't trade up to get him. He fell to us there.
Why does everyone forget about coaching, can't a player come into the league, mediocre and then improve through better coaching. Drafting a QB every year is fine with me, it's called trade fodder if they turn out, not to be the man we need. I think let's wait and see who is right and who is wrong, on the Henne pick!
