You’ve been drafted
Dolphins pick TE Smythe, RB Ballage.
DAVIE — The Miami Dolphins checked a lot of boxes over the course of this year’s three-day draft, scooping up a safety no one thought would be there, a pair of tight ends, a running back and some quality depth.
But they didn’t draft a starting defensive tackle or a backup quarterback. Both positions remain a bit of a concern.
Regardless, Alabama safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the first-round pick, was practically a steal at No. 11, and that’s where any rating/ evaluation begins.
“I didn’t expect Minkah to be there, to be honest with you, for the first pick,” general manager Chris Grier said.” For me, he was probably — however you put it — one of the top five or six players in this draft. As we got calls after the pick, other teams kept calling us telling us, ‘He was in our top five players in the draft.’ For us, the value at that point was surprising that he was there.”
Miami followed in the second round with Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki and with Ohio State linebacker Jerome Baker in the third round. That’s where most of the assessment of Miami’s draft lies. Yes, there’s also Notre Dame tight end Durham Smythe, the team’s first fourth-round pick, and Arizona State running back Kalen Ballage, the team’s second fourth-round pick.
Miami finished the draft by selecting Southern Mississippi cornerback Cornell Armstrong in the sixth round, and Ohio linebacker Quentin Poling and New Mexico kicker Jason Sanders in the seventh round.
But the guys expected to make an impact as rookies are in the first three rounds —
“We feel like we’re going in the right direction.” Mike Tannebaum, executive vice president of football operations
Fitzpatrick, Gesicki and Baker — and it seems the Dolphins did a good job acquiring such talent.
As for what Miami didn’t acquire, the Dolphins said they weren’t going to reach for any position, and evidently that was the case specifically at quarterback.
At defensive tackle, however, Mike Tannebaum, executive vice president of football operations, said they’re happy with what they have among starters Jordan Phillips and Davon Godchaux and reserves Vincent Taylor and Gabe Wright.
“Like we said, we’ll keep exploring opportunities post-draft here,” he said. “There’s opportunities to add players and there will be some pro free agents that will come open as well after June 1st as they always do. We’re very confident that we’ll keep adding depth at that position.”
And there’s something else to keep in mind, the Dolphins think they got more 2018 value than just the draftees in the offseason, considering they also acquired defensive end Robert Quinn via trade with the Los Angeles Rams, basically for a fourth-round pick, and also acquired linebacker Stephone Anthony last season for a fifth-round pick.
“We look at this draft not only did we add eight players, but we feel like getting Robert Quinn with our fourth-round pick was good value and Stephone Anthony with our fifth,” he said. “As a group, that’s 10 players that we feel like we’ve added to the roster.”
The Dolphins clearly had a plan for this draft. They appeared to go with the best player available with Fitzpatrick, a player that also fit a need.
Miami then went about filling needs in the second, third and fourth rounds.
Miami lost tight ends Julius Thomas (released) and Anthony Fasano (free agent), so they found possible replacements in the draft in Gesicki, the receiver, and Smythe, the blocker.
At running back the Dolphins acquired Frank Gore to go along with starter Kenyan Drake but Ballage, a big player who can run the ball, catch the ball and pass protect, could earn a role as a third-down back or perhaps a goal-line back, a role he served as a freshman at Arizona State.
Ideally, Miami would have two of its top four draftees earn starting jobs — Fitzpatrick and Gesicki — and have its other two (Smythe and Ballage) earn roles as contributors.
Miami, by the way, has drafted seven tight ends in the last eight years. This was the first time in franchise history the Dolphins didn’t draft an offensive lineman.
“We feel like we’re going in the right direction,” Tannenbaum said, “but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”