Second-guessing Dolphins’ draft
Second-guessing draft picks is an annual exercise, and this year isn’t any different
Did you ever buy something at a store and then reconsider the purchase after you took it home?
Was it really a good deal? Did you need it?
Why doesn’t it fit like it did when you tried it on at the store?
NFL teams undergo the same second-guessing when it comes to evaluating their performance in each draft. And teams annually look at the draft class of their peers and provide a more honest critique than each club does to its local media.
“They got the quarterback they wanted and didn’t have to move up for him,” one NFC executive said summarizing the Dolphins’ draft class, which was highlighted by the selection of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth pick. “The rest of it is gravy if Tua’s as good as people think he is and [he] can stay healthy.”
That executive’s team was one of four franchises I spoke to that gave Tagovailoa a failing grade on his medical report, which means they project he won’t have a long career.
“The cornerback was a little surprising, out of left field,” another NFC executive said, referring to Auburn’s Noah Igbinoghene, whom the Dolphins selected with the 30th pick. “We had him high too, but not that high.”
But the biggest criticism of the Dolphins’ 2020 draft centered around the second of three players taken in the first round.
“Not a fan of Austin Jackson,” said an AFC South scout, whose team desperately needed offensive line help. “I’m surprised he was taken in the top 50.”
It’s easier to find more draft analysts, executives and scouts who are skeptical of Jackson than those who see his upside.
That’s troubling, but I felt the exact same way about Ja’Wuan James back in 2014 draft when Miami took him 19th.
I felt Miami should have taken Washington offensive tackle
Morgan Moses in the first round instead, but that turned out just fine since both are respected NFL starters.
Since then I’ve felt it was important to do a second-guess exercise with each draft so we can keep track of whether Miami maximized every selection and the seemingly obvious studs they passed on for one reason or another.
However, there will be no second-guessing Tagovailoa’s selection. He’s what this franchise desperately needs. Miami got him at a discount because of all the medical concerns, and if Tagovailoa aggravates his hip in his first NFL start and never plays another down of professional football again, the Dolphins can simply move on by selecting another quarterback early next year.
In my opinion, the risk is worth the reward if Tagovailoa turns into this generation’s version of Drew Brees or Russell Wilson, the two quarterbacks to whom he’s consistently compared.
And I loved Miami’s approach of building him the biggest, strongest, most physical offensive line it could, which the Dolphins did by selecting Jackson with the 18th pick and Louisiana-Lafayette offensive tackle Robert Hunt with the 39th selection, and trading two low fourth-round selections to move up to the 111th pick to draft Georgia offensive guard Solomon Kindley.
However, Jackson wouldn’t have been my pick at 18. I viewed Houston’s Josh Jones as a better college offensive tackle. Jones was taken with the draft’s 76th pick by the Arizona Cardinals.
I liked Josh Jones so much I felt Miami should have selected him over Hunt, Alabama defensive tackle Raekwon Davis and Texas’ Brandon Jones.
Cardinals general manager Steve Keim told the Arizona media that Jones was a top-30 player on their board.
“We’re calling saying, ‘What’s going on? Did he kill somebody last night? Is there something we don’t know about? What’s the issue?’ ” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said on Bickley & Marotta, an Arizona-based radio show. “They were kind of scratching their heads as well.”
The fact that Miami passed on Josh Jones three times while still adding offensive linemen indicates that it didn’t like something about him, whether it’s his medical report, character breakdown or scheme fit.
We’ll see who was right and who was wrong on Jones and Jackson over the next few seasons.
But passing on Jones wasn’t my biggest second-guess special of the 2020 Dolphins draft.
Miami not drafting one of the five upper-echelon tailbacks — Georgia’s D’Andre Swift, LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor, Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins and FSU’s Cam Akers — in this draft was.
Dolphins GM Chris Grier insinuated that plenty of fists banged against tables during the draft’s second and third day as other teams took prospects Miami coveted, and I suspect tailback was a major source of frustration, especially since the Dolphins started calling agents for veteran free-agent tailbacks during the draft an hour before sending a fifth-round pick to the 49ers to acquire tailback Matt Breida.
I get it. A nickel cornerback potentially plays more snaps than a tailback who splits the workload. But if Swift turns out to be dynamic for the Lions, who took him with the 36th pick, Miami missed out.
The same might be said about Taylor or Dobbins, whom the Dolphins could have selected instead of Hunt or Davis.
It also bothered me that LSU guard Damien Lewis, who happens to be one of my favorite players in this draft class, was taken by the Seahawks one selection before Miami drafted Texas safety Brandon Jones.
I believe Lewis will be an NFL stud on Seattle’s offensive line. Hopefully Hunt and Kindley will be the same for the Dolphins.
I also would have picked Utah pass rusher Bradlee Anae, who was selected in the fifth round (179th by Dallas), over Jason Strowbridge (154) and Curtis Weaver (164), Miami’s two fifthround selections. And it blows my mind that the Dolphins selected long snapper Blake Ferguson in the sixth round instead of SMU receiver James Proche, whom the Ravens took with the 201st pick of the draft.
But every team has different taste when it comes to draft prospects and varying strategies on how to address positions of need, and targets they are trying to land.
Let us hope the Dolphins got all of their guys and the 2020 draft class helps this franchise build a solid foundation, one where there is no need to secondguess the franchise’s draft-day approach in the coming years.