A couple of days ago James Walker, who covers the Dolphins for ESPN, gave the Dolphins draft for this year a D+ based on production so far. http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/78735/devante-parker-jordan-phillips-highlight-miami-dolphins-2015-draft-class My grade = D As the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20” so I put together what I think Miami’s best draft would have been: Pick # 14 = Marcus Peters, CB (drafted #18, KC) Pick #52 = Tre’ Jackson, OG (drafted #111, NE) Pick #114 = Adrian Amos, S (drafted #142, Chi) Pick #145 = Brett Hundley, QB (drafted #147, GB) Pick #149 = Karlos Williams, RB (drafted #155, Buf) Pick #150 = La’el Collins, OL (UDFA, Dal) Pick #156 = Justin Coleman (UDFA, NE) Analysis: Collins and Jackson alone would have made this draft worthwhile to shore up Miami’s revolving door of lackluster offensive lineman. Would have liked to have found LB help and Jordan Hicks would have been worthy at #52, but is on the IR now so his contribution would be done for this year (assuming injury would have happened regardless). Markus Golden a possibility as well at #52 but think Jackson the better value. Peters was a popular Dolphin pick in the mocks leading up to the draft and with Matthews stellar play at WR, Peters would have a great pick at #14…Peters, Coleman and Amos would have significantly improved Miami’s secondary. Thought about keeping Ajayi, but just getting Williams off the Bills roster might have led to Miami winning at least one of the Bills games. Considered Stefon Diggs, but the QB is the most important position in all of sports imo and thought Hundley was the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] best QB in the draft behind Mariota and Winston. Hundley made UCLA relevant again and looked worthy in the preseason. That Miami is not currently grooming a QB is foolish. What would you give Miami’s actual draft class so far in terms of production? What do you think Miami’s “best” draft would have been this year? Can only put players in the draft slot who were drafted at that spot or below, along with UDFA since that player would have been off the board otherwise. Here is a link for where each player was drafted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_NFL_draft
Loved the Phillips pick, with Suh mentoring him he will be that much better. Pre Draft I wanted nothing to do with the Parker, then he began to grow on me...seems like a waste at the moment. JA looks the part though.
The other player I am intrigued about is Lippett. If he develops enough cover skills to stay on the field his height and WR experience could turn him a big-play CB.
It takes 3 years to really look back on a draft but we have gotten next to nothing out of this years draft so its fair to start being critical of it IMO. You should have a few rookies starting and making an impact if you drafted right. I thought our draft was decent so I still have hope so its not time to start labeling anyone a bust or anything it just would have been nice to see more production. I do think that Ajayi if he can stay healthy has shown some flashes.
I seem to remember La'el Collins saying that he wouldn't play for a team who drafted him that late. He did not want to be bound to a later round pick salary.
Which his agents swear was a bluff. Of course, that could also be a lie to make them and their client sound less douchey. I mean, one of the two is definitely a lie and they are agents, so we know most of what comes out of their mouth isn't true. Doesn't matter, we're stupid for not biting and drafting him (as some people will tell you) even though 31 other teams did exactly the same thing.
Cap era, the 3 yr view is at odds with a 4 and 5 yr cheap contract structure. 1.5 yrs, about 22 games, is a better barometer As for the re draft..nah Delmas blew out his knee again, and we spent so much on Db's you have to play them to find out.
Loved this draft. Bobby McCain, Jay Ajayi, Lippet, our kickers, three LB's and that's still not counting Ced Thompson. I mean, who didn't make the team and at least contribute in some way. Best I've seen as a fan...
High praise. Not much of an impact yet imo. Definitely potential in Parker, Phillips and Ajayi. Also a testament to how poorly Miami has drafted over the years. One of the worst in that area and our record over the past decade testifies to it. I think the 2012 draft had more impact players so far with Tannehill, Vernon, Miller and Matthews in that class. The best class I've seen was 83 with Marino, Clayton and Roby.
I don't know if Dan Campbell can make this team relevant or not this year. Either way there is young talent everywhere on the roster.
I would have liked T Jackson in round 2 but would have loved Ali Marpet, he was my guy in this draft, and he's paying dividends in TB.
I'll toot my own horn here, on another site, I predicted that Marpet would go in round 2 before the combine, man o man did I catch a lot of flak for that, lol, some guy from Bob and Chucks college or whatever it was, but his senior bowl was ASTOUNDING, just absolutely unheard of, and here's why. Kid comes out of Hobart, nowhereville for the NFL, div III, comes to the senior bowl and plays a position that he never played(OG), and not JUST holds his own, but is one of the stars of the week, again, having never faced talent at this level AND playing a position he never played, that is just absolutely crazy, so I watched all the drills so I could get the best read I could on the kid, because watching Bob and Chuck's college is not going to tell me anything, but I saw that he was going to crush the combine with his strength, agility, technique, tenacity and the kid is really smart, and he knocked it out of the park at the combine, then he started rising on everyone elses draft board. I'm pretty proud of that early evaluation on him, I was basically ahead of everyone, including nearly every expert, when I made the post, people were like "4th round would be reaching", so like I said, I'm pretty proud of those predictions I made on him.
You either liked a pick or didn't. There's no going back years later with evidence as to how that player developed and arguing the team should've known better. How exactly? What you knew then was all you had. You can't add to that with updated information and call it a fair assessment. That's just called hindsight. What you could do is argue someone wasn't prepared to be coached up at an NFL level, or that your team didn't have the right coaching in place, or something else to that effect but none of us have inside information like that. The best we can really do is to point out that certain players are drafted for the wrong positions. I thought Dion Jordan was a 34 OLB, for example. That doesn't mean I wasn't excited about the pick. I would've taken Lane Johnson but I was happy with Dion Jordan. Had he worked out, Miami might even be better off given Wake's decline and Vernon's not having played well. But to say Dion Jordan was a bust and therefore he was a bad pick is not alright. Unless at the time you were calling bust, you have no right to criticize the Dolphins having picked him as though they should've known. To me, it wasn't the best pick from a strategic perspective but it makes no sense to use information that occurred after the selection to judge the decision that went into the selection. How many decisions have you made wherein you had access to the future?
I strongly disliked the Jordan pick, thought it was a waste to trade up to get him. I thought when trade was made they were going to get Johnson.
The worst part of the draft is the mis-evaluation of talent on our roster, not the players picked. Devante Parker for example shouldn't have been drafted because our FO shouls have known what we had in Rishad Mathews. Jordan Phillips I can be on board with, considering that we obviously didn't have full confidence in Earl Mitchell continuing to perform. Same for Jamil Douglas, with our OL the way it was/is some help is justified. I'm on board with the 5th round picks because you can't reasonably expect 5th round picks to be significant contributors, and they all help at positions we need depth. But basically everybody we picked was a development project, and even Parker who was also coming back from injury. We really should have targeted some players in rounds 1-4 who could have contributed now, especially at MLB and corner.
Yeah, totally bro. When I do my mocks, I try to look for the balance between team needs and talent, talent reigning supreme. I try to fit in players I like and there's usually a bunch, so sometimes I'll put a player further down in the hopes that, as often happens in the draft, some good guys just happen to fall. I certainly knew that it was a long shot as I had a strong feeling he would be a serious player in the NFL. Also with many teams looking for quality O linemen, I really knew it was a pipe dream, but hey, wtf?
Too soon to call for sure, but Parker is currently on pace to be another Bustasaurus Rex. We blame the coaches, QBs, GMs, other players, etc (and they do deserve a fair share of blame), but you just have to look at the lack of production out of 1st and 2nd round picks to see why this team is so terribly mediocre.
It was a logical pick to do what you're saying though, and many people did place him a round or 2 back, he did gain a bit of steam, but there were a lot of hot and cold on him because of playing against no talent in college, and therefor a lack of tape to watch.
They already know he's their best receiver, Miami just hates to go through any growing pains with rookies.He should've started but Matthews got hot. Same with Dion Jordan, smh. Way too early to sour on Parker. It's that Damn Rishard Matthews... He's so hot right now!