Receivers’ size not so big a deal
Dolphins would be OK with smaller guys at position
So many times the Dolphins’ draft story is written weeks before draft night. Take 2001.
Personnel director Tom Braatz and general manager Rick Spielman wanted to draft quarterback Drew Brees. Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey didn’t.
Coach Dave Wannstedt backed Gailey in taking cornerback Jamar Fletcher, who lasted three years in the league.
Or take 2005.
Nick Saban expected to draft Utah quarterback Alex Smith with the No. 2 pick. That depended on the top-rated quarterback, USC’s Matt Leinart, coming out as a junior. Leinart stayed in school. San Francisco took Smith at No. 1.
Now the story is already written too. The Dolphins traded out of the third pick for the sixth pick and, essentially, a fifth-round pick this draft and a first-round pick in 2023. I didn’t think they got enough present-day value in the deal.
General manager Chris Grier said two notable things Wednesday regarding the trade:
1. A similarly valued player will be available at No. 6 as there was at No. 3.
2. Size doesn’t much matter.
The two are related — or they might be depending on how it all shakes out. But, again, the story already is written for this draft even if the name isn’t yet on the card.
“When we made our move,” Grier said Wednesday, “we had targeted a number of players that we liked that we’re comfortable with getting.”
Take the Dolphins’ big need at receiver. Four could go in the top 10. The Dolphins sound as if they’d be fine missing out on Florida’s Kyle Pitts, who’s the top-rated receiving playmaker by most reports.
Notice, I didn’t call him a tight end, as he’s listed. He plays everywhere — inside, outside, tight end. He’s the idea of a “position-less receiver” in the best of matchup
ways. Again, he’s a weapon.
That’s one risk of trading down — if you think Pitts is all that in a way the Dolphins don’t.
The second risk is one of size if Pitts and LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase are both gone. That’s because the Dolphins have shed some old-school parameters to gauging players the way Grier talked.
Bill Parcells, a mentor to Grier, followed strict height and weight parameters for players right to his final stop with the Dolphins. Draft an exception to them, Parcells was famous for saying, “and you’ll have a team of exceptions.”
Then again, Parcells’ quotes are sometimes better than his results. His teams didn’t win a playoff game in his final two stops at Dallas and the Dolphins.
Grier said Wednesday that as NFL rules loosened to help the offense “what’s been evident is that there are a lot of small players that have become really good players in the league.”
This matters because after Pitts and Chase, the next top-rated receivers are small. Alabama’s DeVonta Smith, the 2020 Heisman Trophy winner, is 6 foot and a reported 166 pounds (via Sports Illustrated). Teammate Jaylen Waddle is 5-10 and 183 pounds.
You see similar body-types succeeding. Kansas City’s Tyreek Hill (5-10, 185) was second among receivers in touchdowns last year. Seattle’s Tyler Lockett (5-10, 182), was seventh in receptions.
Pittsburgh’s Diontae Johnson (5-10, 183) and Baltimore’s Marquise Brown (5-9, 180) led their teams in receiving. The small player, you see, has a place — even if Smith’s weight stretches the idea. Still, he played 39 games at Alabama the past three years without injury until breaking his hand in the national title game, where he was still the MVP.
The real question isn’t whether there’s a place for smaller players. It’s how you value them and where you draft them. Smith or Waddle would be the smallest player ever taken in the top 10 of any NFL draft.
Would that be new-age bold? Roster-building reckless? Brown was the highest-drafted of the aforementioned small receivers at No. 25 in 2019. The others weren’t drafted above the third round.
“I just think the game has changed a little bit, and these smaller players are given more room and freedom to showcase their talents,” Grier said.
The 6-foot, 208-pound Chase will change another traditional dynamic: experience. He didn’t play after his sophomore year at LSU. He was named the best receiver in college football that year too.
His absence was pandemic-related, of course, but he’d be the least-experienced player drafted in the top 10. This could be NBA-style good. The younger players often go higher because their talent and youth suggest a higher ceiling.
Parcells, again, loved seniors — more information, less risk. The Dolphins these days embrace underclassmen. Tackle Austin Jackson and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene were just 20 as rookies last year.
All of which suggests the Dolphins’ draft story is already written in some form. It’s either that the trade down worked in getting an equal player — or the Dolphins lost out on a great offensive playmaker. It’s their new-age thoughts on how size and youth work — or don’t align with the No. 6 pick.
Buddy Ryan time-stamped coaching in the 1980s and ’90s with his era’s thoughts on players’ size: “There’s a place in the game for the small player. The place just isn’t in front of a big player.”
Today? Is the place for a small player the No. 6 pick? That’s what Grier seemed to suggest Wednesday and what he might have to decide on draft night.