My 2009 Draft Review, A Mixed Bag

I am not surprised the Dolphins chose to select the positions they did. Two corners and two wide receivers out of the first five certainly makes sense. So from that standpoint, I'm positive. And we do have to keep in mind that this is part two of a three year draft plan for this front office. As you recall, the first year we addressed the lines on defense and offense. This year we addressed the skill positions, corner and wide receiver. Next year, I think we'll fill in the cracks and be more likely to go "best player available."

But, and you had to know this was coming, I am disappointed that we did not select Rey Maualuga at pick 25. From the 12th pick on, I was fearing he would be selected. When Denver surprisingly took Moreno, I thought for sure the Chargers would take Maualuga. But the Chargers took Larry English (probably why NE traded down from 23). Then my heart sank as the Broncos took Rrrrrrobert Ayers at 18. Rey Rey is still on the board!... Then there was the Ravens trading up to 23. I thought for sure I wasn't going to get him now at 25. But hey, as long as the Pats didn't get him, I'd be fine with that. The Ravens, to my surprise, took Michael Oher, good pick! Then they said the Falcons at 24 might take Rey... instead they took Peria Jerry, great pick for them btw... So, here we were... on the clock at 25. Big Rey is sitting there ready to be plucked. And alas, it doesn't happen. Now, this isn't as bad as my initial reaction when we took TG over BQ, and I have come to accept that decision, so perhaps in time I will come to be okay with taking Vontae Davis (VD...). At least we took a corner and if it wasn't going to be a corner, I was hoping for a WR (Nicks would have been just fine). But one thing is clear, if the brass passed on a linebacker, there's a reason... they didn't like him at that spot in the draft. I fully trust that decision, what part of last year's turnaround would lead us to not trust them? And that is afterall where we are. Thank GOD we aren't Raiders' Fans... holy moly... I don't really have much of an opinion on Vontae... well, he's clearly an athlete, workout warrior type. I hope that the mental makeup is there for him to be a quality player in our coverage schemes. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to play corner, but you do have to learn from your mistakes and have a very short memory.

Then there was pick #44... again two guys that many of us liked were right there to be had in Clint Sintim and Connor Barwin. Not only did we not select those guys, but they go BACK to BACK after our pick! Talk about rubbing it in.... We passed on two linebackers that the FO didn't feel was worthy of the pick...Again, let me preface, this isn't anything against Pat White. In my opinion, he was the best quarterback who played at the Senior Bowl, go back and watch the tape. He was the best quarterback who THREW at the combine. I can remember one passing drill where the receivers essentially run a fly pattern down the field and the qb's get to show off their arm strength. Well White WAITS for the receiver to get a little further down the field as most of the quarterbacks are rushing their throws. White WAITS, and then releases this MOON BALL 60 yards plus down the field and you hear the guys on NFLN going "oooooooooooooh." Now, you give me Pat White on a wildcat play with Ted Ginn running down the sideline, and I'm suddenly feeling better about this pick. I don't doubt Mayock's opinion that two to three years from now, PW could be the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. Although, it is Chad Henne's job to lose in 2010, make no mistake about it... also make no mistake that he'll be pushed by PW if he fails. Now, I was not a big fan of drafting a player to fit the wildcat specifically... I see Pat White as more than just a piece to the wildcat and so do the Phins.

Then the Phins traded down from 56 to 61... picking up a fifth round pick that ended up being a free safety I like in Chris Clemons. Not only do we trade down, but IMO we get a phenom in Sean Smith. This guy could play wide receiver in three years. But we'll definitely try him at corner first. He has an amazing ability to get the ball at it's highest point. I'll be very interested to see how quickly we match him up with #84 of the Pats. The fact that we traded down to pick him up is very curious. It leads me to believe the player we wanted at 56 wasn't there. Maybe we didn't expect both Barwin and Sintim to go before 56... maybe we were high on Mohamed Massaquoi who went at pick 50. The last time we traded down at this area of the draft, we ended up with a GREAT consolation prize in Kendall Langford. I suspect we picked up another one in Sean Smith. Now that we've taken two corners this high... I have to ask myself is Jason Allen's days as a Dolphin over? I thought he played okay last year and showed some progress. But he has been in and out of the doghouse if you will and this is likely to be his final training camp in Miami. A shame that a first round pick turns out to be a bust. But I suppose that is why you double up on players in one draft, limit your losses, maximize your gains. If both players work out, you've hit the jackpot, if one player works out as the %'s say they should, you're fine. But if you only draft one, and that player fails, where are you?

The second day of the draft is where hidden gems can be found. I'm not going to go into great detail with these picks as frankly I don't know enough about most of them. But I will talk about Turner, Hartline and Clemons...

Patrick Turner from USC is a victim of circumstance. Mike Williams... Dwayne Jarrett... big USC receivers that were taken high in the draft who have not turned out to be worthy of that pick. This helped push his stock down. When he was recruited, he was rated the #1 receiver in the country by ESPN's Tom Lemming. So the ingredients for him to succeed at USC were in place. Although, he never really broke out while he was there. Many believe his best days are ahead of him. If that is indeed the case, then we found our compliment to Ted Ginn. I trust this coaching staff to get every ounce of talent out of this highly talented player. IMO, he could be at the very least a Vincent Jackson from the Chargers... and that will work for us!

Brian Hartline from THE Ohio State... Here's a guy who will probably contribute at wide receiver faster than Turner. And I think that's why we drafted him. Certainly a standout special teams player. Very smart. Didn't have the junior season that he probably expected due to the change in philosophy with their offense. Probably had a lot to do with his stock dropping. But he's a tough, physical player, good hands, more quick than fast but certainly not slow as IIRC his 40 time was in the 4.5's.. (faster than Turner) An interesting pick, and potentially a replacement to Camarillo.

Chris Clemons from Clemson. Now here's a guy I'm intrigued by. A highly athletic free safety with exceptional speed. He's not much bigger than Davis, although is certainly built differently. Certainly has the range that we want in the deep middle. He was rated as a top 10 free safety definitely. And to get him at the end of the fifth round is a potential steal.

Overall, I'd say we addressed what we wanted to address... again. skill players. I had a feeling we wouldn't draft an outside linebacker. It will be interesting to see what happens with Merling this year as potentially he could play OLB. We know Wake will have an impact there, has nickel / dime potential straight away. I think we'll add another OLB in free agency, whomever that may be, I don't think it'll be Jason Taylor. I think Charlie Anderson has ability, and was really just learning the position last year as he was a 43 OLB with the Texans. He came on late last year... Roth and Porter are the clear starters....So, I kind of knew coming in that we might not take an OLB, so I'm not surprised that we ended up not stocking the position. I also have to think that the FO doesn't value ILB as much as the other positions OL/DL/CB/OLB. I reckon they see most ILB's as typically two down players. And if by chance an ILB is an every down player, then and only then will they select one high in the draft.

 

That would have been very close to my mock...