A trio of Dolphins talking points to jumpstart your Wednesday:
1. Eric Winston and Branden Albert hold the key to the Dolphins’ draft.
The Dolphins had added a ton of pieces in free agency this offseason – two receivers, two linebackers, a tight end, a cornerback and depth on the offensive and defensive lines – but they still have one glaring hole at offensive tackle after Jake Long departed for St. Louis.
They flirted with veteran right tackle Eric Winston for several weeks, and the option of trading for disgruntled Chiefs left tackle Branden Albert is still on the table. Neither is likely the long-term answer for the Dolphins, but the Dolphins’ plans in this month’s draft appear to revolve around them.
If the Dolphins do eventually sign Winston or trade for Albert, they won’t have to worry about drafting for need with their first or second pick and can focus on taking the best player available – either an offensive playmaker like West Virginia WR Tavon Austin or Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifort, or a defensive player like Missouri DT Sheldon Richardson or Florida State CB Xavier Rhodes.
But if they go into the draft without a starting tackle, then finding one early becomes imperative – they would need to select an instant starter, and first- and second-round picks are generally the only ones that qualify. The Dolphins could find a starting right tackle in the second round like they did last year in Jonathan Martin – Oregon’s Kyle Long and FSU’s Menelik Watson look like good fits – but they could also try to find an elite left tackle with their first round pick.
This year’s draft appears to have three that qualify as “elite:” Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel, Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher and Oklahoma’s Lane Johnson. Unfortunately, none figure to be on the board when the Dolphins draft at 12, as several teams ahead of them (Chiefs, Eagles, Cardinals, Bills, Chargers) need help at offensive tackle.
Of course, the Dolphins have plenty of ammo to trade up this year, with extra picks in the second, third, fifth and seventh rounds. We hear from a well-placed source that Joeckel, who played for Mike Sherman in college and would be a perfect fit for the offense, is “too hot” for the Dolphins – he’s the potential No. 1 overall pick, and would cost too much in a trade-up. Same likely goes for Fisher, who is also likely to be a top-five pick.
But the player we have circled right now is Johnson, a former junior college quarterback who is a terrific athlete and has the versatility to play either right or left tackle (he played both at Oklahoma). In this “Path to the Draft” video yesterday on the NFL Network, Charles Davis and Daniel Jeremiah discuss this very scenario and agree that Johnson would look great in a Dolphins uniform.
But it all comes back to Winston or Albert. If the Dolphins obtain either one, then trading up for another tackle simply isn’t necessary.
2. Dolphins picked the right year to draft a quarterback.
The Dolphins have been looking for a franchise quarterback ever since Dan Marino retired after the 1999 season. And really, they’ve needed one since the end of the 2010 season, when it became clear that Chad Henne, drafted in 2008, wasn’t the answer.
Whether it was by choice or dumb luck, the Dolphins were incredibly smart by choosing last year’s draft to find their next quarterback, taking Ryan Tannehill at No. 8 overall.
The 2011 draft produced two stud quarterbacks (Cam Newton, who the Dolphins were never going to get, and Colin Kaepernick, who may not be a stud if his coach weren’t Jim Harbaugh) and a bunch of question marks – Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton and Ryan Mallett.
And this year’s draft might not have one potential starter in the entire class. Mike Mayock said Wednesday morning on ESPN’s Mike and Mike that he wouldn’t take any quarterback – Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, Ryan Nassib, Tyler Wilson or Mike Glennon – in the top 20. NFL Network’s Gil Brandt, formerly the Cowboys’ top personnel executive for almost 30 years, told Peter King this week that Tannehill would be the No. 1 overall pick this year.
The Dolphins didn’t land the jewels of last year’s class in Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, but most experts believe that they did well by landing Tannehill.
“I think they hit a home run. They got a rock-solid player,” Jeremiah said yesterday.
And now they can use their 11 draft picks on improving the rest of the team around Tannehill and helping him develop into a franchise quarterback.
3. Did Matt Moore re-sign too early?
Speaking of quarterbacks, the Dolphins have a pretty good 1-2 combo with Tannehill and Matt Moore, who went 6-6 off the bench in 2011 after Henne was injured, including a 6-3 record down the stretch and very respectable 87.1 passer rating.
Moore, supposed to be a free agent this offseason, re-signed with the Dolphins for two years and $8 million three days before the start of free agency last month. The move was a bit of a surprise, as many around the league believed that Moore would try to sign with a team that would give him a better chance of seeing the field in 2013 (his only chance with the Dolphins is if Tannehill suffers an injury).
Moore obviously did his homework, and likely determined that he wasn’t going to get a legitimate chance to start in 2013 from another team. It didn’t hurt that he likes it in Miami, likes the coaching staff and has developed a good friendship with Tannehill.
But perhaps Moore should have been more patient in his search, because the game of Quarterback Musical Chairs is still being played. He certainly would have been a cheaper option than Carson Palmer, who got $10 million guaranteed from Arizona after being acquired via trade this week. And he would have been cheaper (and maybe even a better option) than Matt Flynn, who cost the Raiders $6.5 million and a fifth-round pick to Seattle. He probably would’ve been a better option than Kevin Kolb in Buffalo, and the Jets are still sorting through their quarterback situation (mess), as well.
If Moore is truly happy in Miami, then more power to him – it’s impossible to put a price on happiness, and $4 million guaranteed to hold a clipboard is great work if you can get it. But if he had tested the market a shown some patience, he maybe could have been a starting quarterback this fall.
