In my personal opinion, Joe Haden is a stud. If I were to rank a big board, I would place Haden over both McClain and Bryant. I truly think he is a special corner. Now roll with me here. In a no brainer, Eric Berry would be the pick if he would miraculously fall to us. What if Joe Haden finds his way down to the #12 slot? Could we select Haden, and potentially move Sean Smith to what seems to me to be a more natural FS spot? I want to include a caveat in which I am hesitant about moving a 2nd year player to a new position. Whats everyones opinion on a potential move? I understand that with the holes at ILB, OLB, WR, NT and Safety that are screaming to be filled it very hard to strictly draft BPA. However, what if McClain, Bryant, and JPP are gone. This would probably need to be true for Haden to fall to #12. Would it be a solid idea to roll with Haden, look at D. Williams or Graham, or take a less highly rated Safety (ex. Earl Thomas) to fill our holes? Heck would you take Haden over any of what is now considered on of our "common" picks? I know trading out here would be the ideal, but I will not allow that in this scenario. Fire Away!
What about Sean Smith makes you think that FS is a more natural position other than size? He seemed pretty natural at CB when he was able to start 16 games there as a rookie.
IMO You shouldn't have to worry about your FS being physical. If he's the one you're counting on to make tackles on runningbacks, you have more pressing needs. As long as my FS can tackle a WR I'm fine That said I dont think Sean would be a good FS for other reasons.
If Gibril was doing the covering part well I'd actually rather keep Wilson to SS and replace Bell honestly. But that's just me.
I have never been too down on the idea of moving Smith to FS if the RIGHT corner found a way to start along side Vontae. Jason Allen sucked because he is not a very good player, Smith would need to put on some bulk to that skinny frame ALA Antrel Rolle. I think it could work but alot of real good players would have to be off the board for that to happen, and thats assuming Haden makes it to 12 wich isnt likely either.
Jason Allen, actually, to me was never a bad player. It always made me scratch my head why he wasnt on the field, because when he was on the field he made some plays.
I would still like my FS to be a solid tackler. I'm not going to stick him in the box but I would like to see him bring down wide receivers instead of being dragged.
I share a similar opinion. I never thought he was a bad player when he got out there (not saying he was good), and he always seemed to show something promising, but he really never got to build off a stretch of games (except for I think 2007 where the D was just awful as a whole). When he was out there in dime/nickel situations this past year (though it was at CB), dare I say he looked downright competent and perhaps even above average. I'd love to see him get a chance to earn the FS job (not that he wasn't ever given the opportunity before), because his athleticism really is one of the best on our D (2nd only to VD maybe).
Well said. I'd love to hear any logic to why the Dolphins should move their best corner in 2009 to FS. If you take out the height factor, I can't really see any reason to believe he should play FS. Like Alen said, you want a safety to be more physical than Smith is. You don't need him to be Ronnie Lott, but Smith right now is an average to below average tackler at corner. That is not a good thing when looking at a FS. The Dolphins have serious needs at other positions. Taking a corner, and in the process messing with the progress of a promising player, would be a huge mistake.
Jason Allen had 3 regimes and none of them could find a starting spot for him, he never showed me much either but I'll differ to the regimes. He is an example of a TRUE waste of a top 20 pick way worse than Ginn IMO...Jason Allen makes a few ST tackles and thats about it. The reason he kept changing positions is because he sucked at all of them.
I can't name a time when JA did something really bad that hurt us. I can however name a few other plays that really helped us.
In my opinion he is an okay player when he sees the field. My point is that he actually plays well in games when given an opportunity. As opposed to say....Jamar Fletcher who had opportunity and played poorly. Yes I agree given his draft status vs production he is a bust. However I still believe he can be an effective player in the right circumstances.
If Joe Haden is there, I think you try and move down. Otherwise you seriously, seriously consider taking him. Doesn't matter whose already at CB. Haden looks like he could be a supreme player. There's no such thing as too much depth at corner. And it's not as if the position is cemented for us right now. Sean Smith is not strong enough or a good enough tackler to play safety right now (forget the inexperience factor). He's working on getting stronger now. But as it stands, he's not thick enough for safety. And you can't assume he's getting thicker right now because you don't necessarily want your cornerbacks too thick. That said, Smith seems to have the body to carry more weight. Obviously he has a lot of other positives that would help him back there. But regardless of Smith and where he plays, Davis-Haden makes you very excited. Obviously you'd like to fill need positions first. And we have plenty. And this regime doesn't draft strict BPA. The fans would probably go nuts. But great players are great players. And we great players, much less ballhawks. I don't think Haden will be there though.
Joe Haden is a great athlete .He could have played any number of positions including QB ,WR but he chose to play CB where he started immediately as a freshman on a loaded secondary for the Gators . He will do well in the pros but I am not sure he is a fit for the Dolphins.We doubled up at the CB position in the draft last year and drafting another CB so soon is likely to be interpreted as mistake on one of the CB choices. I think its likely we will double up on another position this year and my guess would be LB .
If we drafted Haden with the idea of moving a corner to safety, Davis has the tools to be a much better safety than Smith. As physical, strong and athletic as Davis is, along with his fine tackling ability and ball skills, he could soon be a Pro Bowl safety, IMO.
If sean smith was moved to CB people on this board would be calling for his head he would be the worst Tackling FS not just in todays NFL but in NFL history. He isnt a good tackler at all and just think if you were mad that Wilson missed a lot of tackle just wait untell Smith was there.
