After having a night to reflect back on our draft selection here are my thoughts:
1.) Ja'Wuan James will start at RT for us all year, barring injury of course
I think he has the feet and movement skills necessary to help keep Tannehill upright. He rarely misses assignments and is a pretty heady player overall; he knows where he is supposed to be/what his assignment is and he delivers. I think he has a relatively high floor, however his ceiling does not seem remarkably high. He can get to the second level while pulling and often times actually picks up his man, as oppose to whiffing like a lot of big men seem to do when they get out in space. Poor run blocker as of now, he is more of a wall off his man type of blocker instead of being able to drive his person back off the ball. He run blocks way too high which prevents him from generating force behind his blocks. Either maintains the line os scrimmage or gets pushed back a yard or two in obvious run situations. He may be able to play LT in the future, but that remains to be seen. Might be a Tweener in terms of left/right tackle; what I mean by that is he probably isn't athletic enough to play the left side, but isn't strong enough in the running game to play the right side like you would want.
2.) Not trading back was a mistake on Hickey's part
This has been debated a lot, but it is pretty apparent that we had a couple trade offers on the table. In the quotes and link below Hickey (who I just realizes stutters an insane amount) says that we had a couple calls regarding our pick. The Saints obviously offered us the same deal that they gave the Chiefs (27 and a 3rd) based on how long we took to make our selection and how fast that trade went through after our selection. Another team that has been said to have contacted us was the Cleveland Browns who wanted to move up from 26 to pick Manziel. Lastly, the Vikings were said to be trying to trade up in our area, in order to get Manziel. We likely were entertaining offers for multiple teams and then ultimately decided it wasn't worth it to trade back and potentially lose out on our guy, this explains why we took so long to make the pick and then why the trade behind us happened so fast.
This is why I hated the Ja'Wuan James pick. Not because I dislike James, but because you missed out on grabbing James and picking up an additional 3rd round pick. At #19 you reach for a player that isn't as talented as a couple other players on the board, while having a offers to trade back just doesn't make sense to me. Morgan Moses and Ja'Wuan James are very similar prospects and the Dolphins should have known that if they traded back they would have either been able to still get James or Moses. Trading back and getting Moses or James would have allowed you to walk out of the 1st round with a starting RT, while adding additional fire power. This makes our pick look like one out of desperation and one that we weren't entirely happy with. I say that because if our GM, scouts, and coaches were ecstatic that James was still on the board at our pick they wouldn't have taken the draft clock down so much. Yes, they would have let it go down to around 5 minutes to see if we get any insane offers that we have to accept, but there is no way they would have taken it down to about 1 minute. There most likely was an internal discussion about trading back and someone (Philbin, Hickey, etc) ultimately decided it wasn't worth it to chance it.
http://www.miamidolphins.com/multimedia/videos/Hickey_Recaps_JaWuan_James_Selection/e8f654a0-287d-402e-bf13-3ef461044755
3.) Hickey operates the draft a lot differently than Ireland
Despite a pick that many have deemed exactly what Ireland would have done I can assure you Hickey views the draft differently. Ireland would rank players and positions and then would slot the positions he wanted to grab at certain selections based on the talent pool in each draft. Ireland was a stickler for value, and wouldn't take a player unless he felt like he was getting value with the pick. On the other hand, Hickey seems to go into the draft with players that are specifically targeted (especially in the early rounds). This leads to a draft where Hickey has a couple guys targeted at each pick. That means there are probably 3-5 guys we are looking at with our 50 pick and 5-7 guys we are looking at with our third round pick. Hickey's strategy is one in which you leave the draft with the players you want, however the media can/will say you reached here and there to get your guy whereas Ireland's strategy assured yourself that you would get value at each pick however you might miss out on guys you really want. Completely different strategies.
4.) Hickey still has time to turn my view of him around
While I really didn't like taking James at 19, I am not going to write Hickey off just yet. We had to walk out of this draft with a RT no questions asked. Whether we came about that RT via our 1st round pick, our 2nd round pick, or trading back/up in the 1st round it really didn't matter but we were going to get a RT. Now, that we have our most glaring hole filled it will be interesting to see what we do it rounds 2 and 3.
Here's to hoping tonight goes better in my eyes than last night. :up:
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I think your 3rd point is a well-observed one. Here are the gambles Hickey had to weigh (in my opinion): Team trades back and misses Ja'wuan James, team trades back and picks another player and then is not able to trade back up in the second round for James with their extra pick, team settles for a tackle not experienced on the right side and ends up with another JMart.Things to ponder.
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They already talked about 2 teams that were rumoring to jump us for him if we traded back. After Shazier got taken, They didnt feel certain their guy would be there after a trade down (James), so they took him. Lets let the draft finish.
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I'm thinking the injury to Moses shoulder that's kept him from lifting is part of the reason Moses wasn't considered. Can you imagine trying to explain to this fan base that for the 2nd year in a row you picked a guy with a shoulder issue?
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Are these sources yours or nfl sources and you're reporting them?phinswolverinesrockets likes this. -
cdz12250 and Pandarilla like this.
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IMO Hickey was fixated in getting an OT and he wasnt going to take any chances on a tradedown .He is new and he doesnt want to get on the wrong side of Philbin who is basically calling the shots and Philbin wanted James
Lets move on to the second round.Who does Philbin want ? There are still questions at G .Also we need some CB S help.A tall WR TE could be in the mix .A RB too. I am guessing OG and WR TE with the next picks. -
I actually had Benjamin rated very highly. I wasn't thinking Benjamin over James or anything (based on team needs), but I had Benjamin rated at the end of the first. My far-fetched hope was that others had him rated lower and that Benjamin would somehow slip to #50.
GMJohnson likes this. -
Source? Because most of the teams in the back half are set at RT. -
Pandarilla likes this.
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As for James at #19, and these rumors that if we had traded back he would've been picked by another team, I take that with a grain of salt. Sounds a little too convenient to me. I'm of the opinion it was a reach at #19, and it has me thinking less of Hickey thus far. Although, I can definitely see a scenario in which Philbin may have forced his hand. Tonight will be telling. I am hopeful we get some "value" tonight.
To the OP, great post. :up: -
I'm glad they got their RT. Not worth risking it for an extra 3rd IMO.
Wasn't there a thread somewhere saying that James is probably the best RT prospect...Oh well, the value curse of #19 strikes again.
Now sign Mckinnie and play him at guard. -
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I think as soon as Zac Martin was drafted Hickey had to take the highest rated OL on his board. If Martin was still on the board then trading back was still a realistic option as James would still be there as the fall back.
Not thrilled but okay. -
One pick in. A little premature.
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You really wanted another guy with a shoulder injury after Dion? -