Dolphins’ draft leaves tough calls at several offensive positions
GPS time of any college receiver in the country.
“You are never going to see this kid get caught; it doesn’t happen on the tape,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said. “Ludicrous speed. I had my comparison to Santana Moss; that’s who he reminds me of not only as a receiver but a phenomenal returner.”
The Dolphins were 30th in average yards after catch last season and Waddle averaged 9.8 yards after the catch in his career at Alabama, highest among all Power 5 receivers with at least 100 catches since 2014.
“One of the things that I always look for in a receiver is how fast he can come out of a break and how fast he can accelerate,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “Jaylen Waddle probably does that better than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit put it this way: “The real question is if he doesn’t go down with that injury, does he win the Heisman instead of DeVonta Smith? Prior to that injury, we were all watching Waddle and he was the guys defenses tried to account for. Lightning quick, game changing Tyreek Hill quickness in space. I think he has more versatility than Tyreek Hill.”
ESPN’s Louis Riddick said “That’s what Tua [ Tagovailoa] needs — someone I can get the ball out of my hand quick, make a couple easy completions and all of a sudden, I’m rolling. He’s an angle destroyer. No one can catch him.”
Jim Nagy, senior director of the Senior Bowl, said Waddle is “the best college returner I’ve evaluated since Devin Hester, who is the greatest of all time.”
Waddle averaged a ridiculous 19.3 yards on 38 career punt returns (with two touchdowns) and 23.8 yards (with a touchdown) on nine career kickoff returns.
Incidentally, second-round safety Jevon Holland averaged 14.4 yards on 17 punt returns at Oregon. So Miami has two dangerous returners to potentially
Areplace Grant.
Factoring in subsequent trades, here was the final result of the Dolphins/Eagles trade involving picks 6 and 12: the Dolphins ended up getting Waddle and the Steelers’ 2022 fourth-rounder, and the Eagles ended up with DeVonta Smith, fourth-round Texas Tech cornerback Zech McPherson and Miami’s 2022 first-rounder, while dealing a third-rounder to the Giants.
Liam Eichenberg, selected 42nd overall in a trade-up from 50, was a left tackle at Notre Dame and could challenge Austin Jackson at that position (Jackson would enter camp as the front-runner) or compete with Jesse Davis and D.J. Fluker at right tackle or battle Solomon Kindley at left guard.
What seems very likely is that Matt Skura will be the center and Rob Hunt will be the right guard, though Hunt could be challenged by Davis if Fluker or Eichenberg wins the right tackle job.
Eichenberg “is a natural left tackle,” ESPN’s Mel Kiper
Jr. said. “He was great from game to game — that’s what you look at. Do you see any dropoff? You didn’t. He didn’t have
AAups and downs or even an off game.”
But Jeremiah said: “Some teams think he will slide inside to guard.”
Eichenberg did not allow a sack since Week 5 of the 2018 season, per Pro Football Focus. His defender hit the quarterback just four times since the start of 2019. Per PFF, he earned the highest grade of Notre Dame’s 22 starters in the 2020 playoff loss to Alabama. Here’s the concern: “He doesn’t have quick enough feet to protect a passer’s blind side,” Riddick said. “He has to make sure he works on his pass sets and make sure they are consistent because he doesn’t have the foot speed to match up with the better pass rushers in the NFL.”
The selection of Boston College tight end Hunter Long gives the Dolphins protection if Miami opts not to pay Mike Gesicki or Durham Smythe, who can become unrestricted free agents next March.
“I don’t like him. I love him,” NFL Network analyst former Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli said of Long. “In two years, we’ll be talking about a Pro Bowl tight end.”
Barring a trade, the problem is
AAthat Miami might need to keep five tight ends, which seems excessive: Gesicki, Smythe, Adam Shaheen (signed to an extension last season), Cethan Carter (their first signing in free agency in March) and Long. Chris Myarick is the sixth tight end under contract.
Long averaged 14.6 yards per catch in three seasons. “He’s a typical Boston College player: Tough. Smart. Team first,” said Dolphins coach Brian Flores, a BC alum.
Fun facts about Long: He builds computers in his garage, solved a Rubiks Cube in 47 seconds and led FBS tight ends in receptions last season (57).
“When the ball is in the air, he plays with a plus level of tracking and focus to make tougher catches look easy, including throws that are down near his feet,” NFL.com lead draft analyst Lance Zierlein said. But there’s a “concerning lack of consistent aggression in his play. Long is much too passive and unskilled as a run blocker at this point of his development to consistently help against NFL competition.”
The disappointment, offensively, is that the Dolphins failed to acquire one of the draft’s top-tier backs for a second year in a row. General manager
Chris Grier said he wasn’t going to “reach” for a back to “appease” anyone (fans, media) who wanted one.
“We feel good about our guys,” Grier said of a running back group that returns Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed and Patrick Laird. “We added Malcolm Brown to the group in free agency.” But Brown started only two games in six years for the Rams.
The Dolphins averaged just
1.4 yards after contact per rushing attempt, which was worst in the league, and 2.5 before contact, which was 19th. Overall, the Dolphins’ 3.9 yards per carry ranked 29th in the league. Miami’s longest run of the year went for 31 yards, worst of any team in that category.
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