Door open for Miami to move up in draft
INDIANAPOLIS — Cleveland Browns general manager said Thursday he’s willing to wheel and deal with the No. 1 pick of the draft. And he wasn’t alone.
A few teams at the top of the draft weren’t shy about saying they’re open to trades while their representatives spoke at the NFL scouting combine.
It’s unclear whether the Dolphins, who have the No. 11 pick, would be willing to move up.
But it’s clear teams are open to negotiation.
“There’s a lot of things I can do at No. 1 and not just get a quarterback, as well,” Dorsey said. “My door is wide open. If somebody wants to come up and talk to me about a trade, I’m willing to trade.”
Denver Broncos executive had similar sentiment regarding the No. 5 pick. “We’re open,” he said. “Like you said, everything is going to come in order, and obviously like you said, free agency is first. We’ll be open for business on the fifth pick depending on how things fall.”
And Indianapolis general manager
said the same thing about trading down with the No. 3 pick.
But he said he must consider other things first.
“If you trade back and you say, ‘Well, look there’s only 15 or 16 first-round players, actual first-round players,’ is it worth trading back for these extra picks?” Ballard said.
“And then the player you are going to take, is he a difference maker to where it doesn’t matter if this one guy is going to make that much of a difference Colts for our football team versus three guys? I think you have to weigh it. Are we always open? Absolutely.”
The last time the Dolphins made a significant trade to move up in the first round was 2013 when they traded up nine spots to No. 3 and selected defensive end Seattle coach
struck a humorous chord when asked about quarterback Russell Wilson reporting to New York Yankees for spring training.
“So far he’s not doing a great job with the pitches away from him,” Carroll deadpanned.
“We’re hoping he’s going start putting the ball into right field a little bit more, going with the pitch. But aside from that, the curveball is still giving him problems like it always did back in the day so we’ll see what happens.”
On a serious note, Carroll said playing baseball can only help Wilson, who started a five-day stay with the Yankees on Monday.
“I think it’s awesome … the focus that it takes to play at this level,” Carroll said, “whether its baseball or basketball or football, to compete at that level the mentality you have to be at, I think it’s only enriching.”
It’s easy to ridicule the minutiae at the combine, including, and especially, hand size measurements.
But Dorsey said in a place such as Cleveland, where it gets cold in the winter and the ball could get slippery, some of those things are relevant.
“There are certain conditions your hands have to be bigger,” Dorsey said. “The hand sizes that were read off today, I think all of them are acceptable.”