Here's a list of players I like in the upcoming draft. Juniors are in italics. You may notice some obvious omissions. Ndamukong Suh, Eric Berry, Dez Bryant, and C.J. Spiller. That's because I don't believe any of them will be on the board when the Dolphins pick. Rolando McClain is on the bubble and my #1 choice. If he's off the board then Brandon Spikes is a very close second. This is the list I will print on draft day as I keep track of who the Dolphins select and who is still available. Each position is in the order I believe each player will come off the board. What do you think? Who should I add? Who should I remove? Who should be listed ahead of who? And who is your #1 choice? INSIDE LINEBACKER Rolando McClain 6-4 256 Alabama Brandon Spikes 6-3 256 Florida Sean Weatherspoon 6-1 245 Missouri Rennie Curran 5-11 225 Georgia Daryl Washington 6-2 234 TCU Perry Riley 6-1 245 LSU Josh Hull 6-3 240 Penn State Boris Lee 6-0 245 Troy Joe Pawelek 6-2 240 Baylor WIDEOUT Arrelious Benn 6-2 220 Illinois Golden Tate 5-11 195 Notre Dame Mardy Gilyard 6-0 187 Cincinnati Jeremy Williams 6-1 205 Tulane Damian Williams 6-1 195 USC Brandon LaFell 6-3 206 LSU Demaryius Thomas 6-3 229 Georgia Tech Danario Alexander 6-4 215 Missouri Austin Pettis 6-3 202 Boise State Dezmon Briscoe 6-3 200 Kansas Antonio Brown 5-10 182 Central Michigan Freddie Barnes 6-1 206 Bowling Green Emmanuel Sanders 5-11 182 SMU Seyi Ajirotutu 6-3 210 Fresno State Trindon Holliday 5-5 168 LSU Mike Williams 6-2 212 Syracuse NOSE TACKLE Dan Williams 6-2 327 Tennessee Terrence Cody 6-4 365 Alabama Brian Price 6-2 300 UCLA Tyson Alualu 6-2 295 California D'Anthony Smith 6-2 300 Louisiana Tech Lamarr Houston 6-2 300 Texas Corey Peters 6-3 295 Kentucky Earl Mitchell 6-2 295 Arizona Al Woods 6-4 312 LSU Abe Koroma 6-2 317 Western Illinois (transferred from Penn St) SAFETY DeAndre McDaniel 6-1 210 Clemson Morgan Burnett 6-1 210 Georgia Tech Darrell Stuckey 5-11 205 Kansas T.J. Ward 5-10 201 Oregon Reshad Jones 6-2 212 Georgia Deunta Williams 6-2 205 North Carolina Jeron Johnson 5-11 195 Boise State Justin Woodall 6-1 220 Alabama Myron Rolle 6-2 223 FSU Terrell Skinner 6-2 214 Maryland Crezdon Butler 6-0 185 Clemson OUTSIDE LINEBACKER Jerry Hughes 6-2 257 TCU Derrick Morgan 6-4 272 Georgia Tech Jason Pierre-Paul 6-6 265 USF Everson Griffen 6-3 278 USC Brandon Graham 6-1 263 Michigan Sergio Kindle 6-4 255 Texas A.J. Edds 6-4 244 Iowa Brandon Lang 6-4 256 Troy Jermaine Cunningham 6-3 252 Florida George Johnson 6-4 265 Rutgers John Fletcher 6-6 272 Wyoming OFFENSIVE TACKLE Mike Tepper 6-6 322 Cal Matt Kopa 6-6 305 Stanford Chris Marinelli 6-7 305 Stanford Drew Davis 6-7 305 Alabama OFFENSIVE GUARD John Jerry 6-5 350 Ole Miss Sergio Render 6-3 313 Virginia Tech Reggie Stephens 6-3 334 Iowa State Thomas Austin 6-3 310 Clemson Andrew Lewis 6-4 292 Oklahoma State Alonzo Durham 6-3 285 Nevada Cord Howard 6-4 308 Georgia Tech Marshall Newhouse 6-3 320 TCU CENTER Eric Cook 6-6 318 New Mexico Jim Cordle 6-4 298 Ohio State Kevin Matthews 6-4 310 Texas A&M TIGHT END Jermaine Gresham 6-6 258 Oklahoma Ed Dickson 6-4 243 Oregon Dennis Pitta 6-5 248 BYU Jimmy Graham 6-8 260 Miami Andrew Quarless 6-5 248 Penn State Caz Piurowski 6-7 272 FSU RUNNING BACK Ben Tate 5-11 218 Auburn Keith Toston 6-0 214 Oklahoma State Harvey Unga 6-0 238 BYU Andre Dixon 6-1 202 UConn LeGarrette Blount 6-1 240 Oregon Vai Taua 5-10 220 Nevada Joseph Turner 6-1 225 TCU QUARTERBACK Joe Webb 6-4 220 UAB
When you look at what they are asked to do in this D, then Jerrell Powe is a fantastic fit into this defense IMHO. also Mike Tepper is a lot like Jake Long in terms of build and the type game he plays, obviously not as talented but IMHO damn talented in his own right ....Tepper is un-Cal like in his aggressiveness although he has been banged up including being hit by a car a few years ago.............. I would not be real disappointed if he were brought in to compete with Garner/Gardner.
Does no one thing Brandon Lang of Troy can make the transition to OLB? I never see him mentioned for us and I'm just curious as to why. Seems like one those typical small school (national attention wise) players Parcells has always looked for through the years. I know Parcells isn;t the coach and GM, but his influenced these guys some way, maybe in this manner? I have no evidence to support a claim that we will take him, but it just seems odd no one ever mentioned him. He has had another good season. http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/playerDetail.jsp?yr=2009&org=716&player=91
I certainly know Alen and I talked about him last season. I haven't seen the (other) Men of Troy this season to give a salient response.
Tepper's had drug addiction in the past, ala Favre, painkillers. I've brought him up a few times in the past and this year. He's a talented linebacker and easily the most fluid when dropping. He has good instincts as well. He needs some more build and he is still a bit raw but he's a player. Very quick off teh snap and he's played quite a bit of stand up.
Check out Cameron Sheffield also....personally from what I have seen in the past he is more explosive than Lang and may project inside because of his size but he looked explosive off the edge...but JMO and I have not seen anything from this year....Sheffield looks more stout and not quite as tall ... just checked and Troy lists him at 6-2, 250..........
Did not know that Alen...thanks. Being the guy has broken a few bones and had a pec injury I doubt Miami would be interested anyway but I still like him as a player........one Joe Toledo is enough for a lifetime.......................
Why wouldn't we? Have you met our starting center? We paid him a hell of a lot, and he has been injured enough to have his own wing in the local hospital.
As for Sean Weatherspoon, he's a good player and I like good players on my team regardless. But if you look at his strengths and his comfort levels, to me he's a guy that lacks the instincts to stop the inside run. He's a guy that appears to be very comfortable in space, in a quarterback read position. He covers well, and when he sees the quarterback on the move or the ball come out to the perimeter, he's lightning quick in his reaction and burst to the football. He also loves contact and will really stick it to a ball carrier. That all reminds me a little bit of Rey Maualuga. But when you put him in the middle, closer to the line, expecting him to be physical and either make the quick read on the ball carrier and step into the hole, or force the action to help...he seems hesitant and uncomfortable at times. This might be coached out of him, time will tell. He has the natural aggression and physicality to knife as far into the backfield as possible, disrupting play flow and helping the guys that rack up all your tackles get to the ball carrier. But in this defense, I'm not sure I see him as one of those guys that's going to find the ball carrier a ton. That feels funny saying that since he's averaged about 10.0 tackles a game over the last two years, but that is sort of the player I see. If you could somehow pair Sean Weatherspoon and Rolondo McClain together in the middle of your 3-4 defense...now you're cooking with gas.
Terrence Cody, Cam Thomas, Jerrell Powe, Earl Mitchell, and Al Woods all make me nervous because they all strike me as projects and we already have a guy like that in Soliai. Can we really afford two players like that? However you can't ignore the size of Cody, Thomas, and Powe. If they stay in shape and keep focused on football they are all playmakers. Especially Cody. With his stock sliding it wouldn't shock me at all if he was our 1st round pick. I'm not saying he would be my first choice. Far from it. But it wouldn't shock me. In my mind Mitchell or Woods would be a 7th round selection brought in to compete with a nose tackle we drafted in the earlier rounds. Its possible he goes undrafted. Why burn a pick when you could bring him in as a free agent? I believe Jermaine Cunningham would be better than Lang or Sheffield. However he is likely to be drafted in the 3rd round. If Lang or Sheffield are still on the board in the 4th round they would be worth consideration. Jim Gray suffered an insane knee injury. He tore his ACL, the LCL, the PCL, the hamstring, the popliteus, the post anterior capsule, and the lateral band. Still he might be worth a 7th round pick. Odrick could go in the Top 10 and we wouldn't even have a shot at him. Plus isn't he a little too tall and a little too light to play the nose? I'm not a fan of Quarless but I'll add him if anybody seconds the motion. Same goes for Dray, Odrick, Lang, or Sheffield. Should I remove Weatherspoon and Tepper?
I completely agree. However, when you watch him play down to lesser competition and step up when it's against tougher competition, it gets me worried. Odrick won't go within the first ten picks. I like Quarless as well. Solid blocker, sustains his blockers, does well blocking in space on DB's and he's got good hands. I've never been a fan fo Weatherspoon in a 3-4, to be honest, but others may feel different. Tepper could be brought up as an UDFA but I don't know if they draft a guy who's had a lot of troubles.
I think making Mock Drafts at this time of year is as pointless as it gets but I did look at a couple and almost everyone has us getting Rolando McClain or Brandon Spikes in Round 1 and Jerry Hughes or Arrelious Benn in Round 2. I don't see how Hughes could last to Round 2. This would be a good year to have an extra 2nd Round Pick though. The first 3 rounds of this draft are very solid and we could do some serious damage. I could see us moving Ted Ginn Jr. for a pick, maybe even Joey Porter.
If he struggles in the linebacker drills at the Senior Bowl, he could drop to the second. Doubtful though.
I wouldn't take him in the 2nd round. Too many other players would be rated higher in my opinion. However given the bust rate of receivers in the NFL and how difficult the position is to project to the next level I would strongly consider Briscoe in the 3rd or 4th round. The potential is there for him to be a steal. You just never know when it comes to wideout. Sounds like a second for Quarless. I'll add him to the list. Of course you never know but I would be very surprised if Tepper didn't get drafted.
I know, right? Because we don't have one this year I would even take a 5th round pick for Ginn. Maybe we can convince somebody he has value as a return man because he ain't worth much as a wideout. Statistically speaking he ranks fourth on the team. The only reason Patrick Turner doesn't have better numbers is because he's been inactive. (Okay maybe I went too far but my point is I'm not a fan of Ginn anymore.) Unfortunately I don't believe we would get anything for Porter. Still can't believe we didn't get anything for Roth. Maybe that will turn into a compensatory pick for us. Greg Camarillo, Pat White, Channing Crowder, Will Allen, Gibril Wilson, and Yeremiah Bell all have trade value. I'll pull the trigger on any of those deals depending on what we got in return. Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on which teams are picking I guess. I will say this. An interior defensive lineman who can sack the QB is worth his weight in gold.
I would trade Pat White and draft Joe Webb in a heartbeat. Of course that's probably why I'm not a GM in the NFL. I wouldn't say I'm ready to give up on Pat White. I'm just not in love with the guy. Not yet anyway. I will say this. As we stand today I'd much rather have Connor Barwin, Max Unger, Mohamed Massaquoi, Andy Levitre, LeSean McCoy, Phil Loadholt, Paul Kruger, or Sebastian Vollmer on my team. Unger is starting for the Seahawks. Massaquoi is starting for the Browns. Levitre is starting for the Bills. McCoy is starting for the Eagles. Loadholt is starting for the Vikings. Kruger is starting for the Ravens. Vollmer is starting for the Patriots. Barwin has two sacks on the season. I should also say I'm actually a big fan of Will Allen and Yeremiah Bell. However both of them will be 32 years old next season. Bell has been injury prone. Allen could become injury prone. Might be smart to get something for them while we still can. Of course I wouldn't have a problem with keeping those guys on the team either. After preventing the winless season Camarillo deserves to be a Dolphin for a long as he wants. However with Bess and Hartline already on our roster we might be able to afford letting him go. I'm pretty sure he would have more value than Bess or Hartline but I could be wrong. I would happily part ways with Channing Crowder and Gibril Wilson and never look back.
Con, I'm intrigued by Lang myself. I did see somewhere in another thread that CK had written that Miami had sent people to scout Lang at Troy. I've only ever seen him play once, but he certainly seems to have the measureables that this regime likes. If there was some way to double at LB, say take McClain or Spikes and then get a guy like Graham, Lang, or potentially Everson Griffen in round 2/3 I'd be all for it.
Austen lane at olb and te rob gronkowski are two other players that fit our system. weslye Saunders is another interesting junior te prospect at 270 and decent quickness.
Everette Brown was thought to be a potential top 10 pick and look where he went. Some people thought he might go top 5 to KC or Cleveland.
Very few had him as a top ten pick from what I remember. Just some of the talking heads who talked about him like he was the best pass rusher. IMO, he was not.
Anyone else think we will keep wasting second rounders on QB's? I can only imagine wasting another 1 on Ryan Mallet. Well it might not be a waste if he turns out good but history shows 1 out of what 8 2nd round QB's have panned out thus far?
I don't see it being necessary to draft another quarterback that high when they are focused on developing the two that we have, and they traded for another one. I could see them acquiring one in the late rounds but anything before would come as a surprise.
I don't know lets say Henne falls flat for the remaining games and the FO falls in Mallet's size. I think there is at least a 70% at that point we draft another QB.
