Nice to see Vernon make some impact with his pass rush, even though one of the sacks was a blown protection. I've been more impressed with him on run defense and KO coverage.

 

I think an under reported aspect of this rookie class is the late-round success. No one really mentions it, but Kheeston Randall and Derrick Shelby look like they are guys who could grow into significant roles. I think it's pretty likely that Randall ends up making Tony McDaniel unnecessary.

 

I'd also wonder if Josh Samuda is someone they might try and develop into a G for next season. He played it in college and given who Miami currently has, it wouldn't surprise me.

 

It looks like we've gotten at least three long term starters out of the draft, as well as a producer at RB a few other backups. Thats sucess - but its very early. Dont count all the chickens quite yet.

 

If the these players keep pointing up, this could be one of the greatest draft classes of all time actually. By the third year we could even see Egnew & Matthews contributing.

 

Slow down there..
Maybe in Dolphins history.. But NFL history?

 

It was pretty slow to begin with. I put a lot of qualifiers in there.

But yes, NFL history. If these guys keep panning out, then saying you hit on QB, OL, DL, RB, and if one or both Egnew or Matthews, then you'd be hard pressed to find many drafts better.

 

You can't isolate this year vs other years of draft classes being the variable and cause.

I attribute much of the result to a better coaching staff that teaches players so they improve more, prepares them better for games, and uses their players more effectively so the players are in a better position to produce results.

So, yes maybe a better draft class, but probably also better coaches.

 

I think the real statement might be "How good of a job are Philbin and his staff doing developing young players". Something that was sadly missing in the previous regime. I'm not knocking Ireland with this post at all. Ireland has always had young players, particularly those drafted late or UDFA, that have showed splashes of talent but it never went any further than that for many of those guys with the old regime... Isn't Philbin and his staff partially responsible for the successes that some of these young guys are having ? Ireland has done a tremendous job, imho, of shifting his evaluations of players to match those of what Philbin and his staff are looking for...

 

Ireland deserves a lot of credit.

 

Steelers draft class of '78 I believe.........4 Hall of Famers in that class. Thats a tough mark to top.

 

Kaddu and Egnew are not doing anything so far this yr, so I'll with hold any sort of endorsement 6 games into the season.

 

It was their '74 draft of Swann, Lambert, Stallworth and Webster.

 

Courtesy of draft maestro Dick Haley.

 

I said "one of the greatest" not "the greatest".

 

After googling Dick Haley, I found out he works with the Dolphins right now. Didn't know that. Pretty cool.

 

86 49ers draft class was really damn good too.
only thing that matters is that if we hit paydirt with this draft and then hit on a few of our top 5 picks next year, we'll be contending in 2013

 

I'm excited about this draft class but I think it's too early yet. People were excited about the 2008 draft, too. You had Jake Long, QB of the future in Chad Henne, emerging star Kendall Langford, the Parcells-hailed "Godsend" Donald Thomas, Jet killer Philip Merling and Bess and Carpenter as UDFA's.

For all we know, Olivier Vernon could go back into the witness protection program, Egnew never develop and Martin just turn out to be ordinary. Of course if Tannehill becomes the franchise QB it will practically stamp the draft a success by itself, but there's still a ways to go yet before we can place it in history.

 

That 2008 draft is still a success since we still have Jake Long, Bess and Carpenter and Langford is a high paid starter. Also got some depth in Nate Garner (7th rounder 2008) we plucked off waivers from the Jets that summer.

Also..........no love for Kheeston Randall? 7th rounder and made our tough DL depth chart.

 

The link that says Haley works for the Dolphins was dated 2009, at the time his son was named head coach of the Chiefs. Looking at the team web site now, his name isn't listed in the staff directory.
http://www.miamidolphins.com/team/staff-directory.html

 

The 2010 draft is looking better all the time. We have 4 decent or better starters and a nickel back from that draft.

 

Someone made note of Donald Thomas. It may have been forgotten but he's still on a roster, a roster which he's started two games on.

 

And played well, according to PFF.

 

The Steelers had a draft where they drafted 4 Hall of Fame players in one draft. I love this draft so far, but I don't see 4 HOFers.

 

New England. Ever since we cut him, he's hung around in the league on a couple of other teams too. Seems like he was with Detroit for a while.

 

One more time, I did not say it would be THE best, I said one of the best.

Sorry for my attitude, but I'm getting tired of people not paying attention.

 

I wasn't implying that 2008 was a less-than-successful draft. My point was that more often than not a draft isn't quite as much of a success a few years down the road as it initially looks. Yeah, there were a number of successful players in that draft. But the impact, 5 years later, isn't quite what a lot of fans thought it might turn out to be. But it was still a solid draft all things considered.

This draft may very well follow that route, or guys like Vernon, Randall, Matthews, Egnew, etc. could develop into meaningful players and perhaps make this draft special. But at this point it's really wait-and-see.

 

Very Satelean, one may say.

 

IIRC Donnie Shell was UDFA that year as well.

 

Tannehill..Martin..Vernon...Miller...Shelby...Randall..Lane..Matthews..Egnew...

Just need Matthews , miller and Egnew to develope to call it a "home run draft"

 

Hey Fin D, did you know Pitt had 4 HOF in one class?!?!?!:lol:


We'll see how this one turns out. So far it's looking promising. From a preliminary perspective, Tannehill is as advertised, if not more so. Martin seems to be doing a good job. Not enough play experience to judge Vernon, and Miller could one day be a stud. Everyone else? Eh... We'll see. If those 3 are hits, I think this is a solid draft. My big pet peeve from '11 is Egnew. The Hard Knocks experience soured me on him so badly. Kid looks like a complete idiot in every way. I'm not hopeful about his future. Nothing solid to base that on other than body language. If he eventually pans out, awesome. Still, I would of preferred us to try and get Sanu from Rutgers. I think he would of fit this offense well.

Hopefully Ireland learns how to draft skill positions in the very near future. Maybe we'll have something to show for it in 2-3 years other than the usual deconstruction and rebuilding.