Miami Dolphins’ interest in Penei Sewell: Part fact-finding but also part smokescreen | Opinion
The Oregon Ducks put on a great show, starring quarterback Justin Herbert, just hours before the great shutdown of 2020 put a clamp on pro days and player workouts before the last draft. And the Miami Dolphins weren’t able to get general manager Chris Grier or head coach Brian Flores to that fateful workout before they made their big quarterback decision.
The club sent others.
Well, on Thursday last week the Dolphins got one of the higher-ups to make the cross-country flight to Eugene because the NFL Network reported Flores attended the Oregon pro day and watched, among others, left tackle Penei Sewell work out for scouts, coaches, and other NFL personnel people.
The Cincinnati Bengals were there, too. Head coach Zach Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin were present. So the Bengals, scheduled to pick No. 5 overall just ahead of the Dolphins at No. 6, are on the Sewell interest radar.
The stunning thing to me is that the Dolphins might be also.
Please, let this be a smokescreen, please, please, please.
Nothing against Sewell, who is clearly gifted and worthy of consideration as a top 10 draft pick. He’s right there with Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater and Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw as this draft’s consensus top three left tackle prospects, per multiple scouts.
“I think people kind of forgot about my name a little bit,” Sewell told NFL Network after his pro day. “I wanted to wake people up and know that I’m still OT1 in this draft and that what I bring to the table is something totally different than everybody has seen. I wanted to come out and show what I can do at 331 [pounds] and showcase my skills.”
That’s all cool.
But the Miami smokescreen idea has legs, folks.
Consider:
Sewell doesn’t throw or catch passes. He doesn’t score touchdowns. He doesn’t intercept passes or cause strip sacks to end drives and games.
He’s a left tackle.
And I’m quite certain if he ever wins a Super Bowl ring, it’s not going to be him leading his team to that title. Because left tackles do not lead teams to Super Bowl titles.
Quarterbacks do.
Playmakers on either side of the ball do.
And the Dolphins desperately need more playmakers. It’s a must for them in the coming draft.
Left tackles are admittedly very important.
Muy importante.
Teams must have functional tackles on both sides of the offensive line to allow the quarterback and receivers and running backs and tight ends time and space to work.
But ultimately, they are complementary players.
They are part of the show. But they’re not the show.
Obviously, I’m sharing a philosophical view with you. And that’s this:
Drafting an offensive tackle in the first round is a very smart play. Most of those drafted that early become very good players because, well, they’re easy to scout. Easy to identify.
But drafting one in the top 5? Or in Miami’s case, the top 6?
Right now that’s a luxury.
It’s a luxury the Dolphins cannot afford this year.
Another reason the Sewell idea must be a smokescreen?
The Dolphins should not be shopping for a left tackle with their first overall selection because they drafted one in the first round last year.
And this is where if the Dolphins apply their own words to everyone, the Sewell selection cannot happen.
You’ll recall Flores has spoken multiple times about how he and his coaching staff value their jobs as developers of young players. He has often used this in context relating to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Well, it must then apply in this case.
The club, you see, used last year’s No. 18 selection that it got from Pittsburgh for Minkah Fitzpatrick (terrible trade by Miami) and selected USC’s Austin Jackson.
And Jackson admittedly needs to get much better.
ProFootballFocus rated him 78 out of 83 tackles they qualified. He allowed four sacks in 13 games. Jackson yielded 40 quarterback hurries in 847 snaps and that was among the top 10 in most hurries allowed.
But he only had one holding call all season, per Pro Football Reference.
So he needs a ton of improvement. But at least he’s disciplined.
Does that warrant the Dolphins replacing him?
Well, apply the team’s statements about developing players to him.
The Dolphins cannot say they want to develop players while in one swoop replacing its second-most valuable draftee from one season ago in the very next draft.
One cannot have it both ways.
Flores has also pointed out numerous times how last offseason was difficult for rookies because there were no spring and early summer camps, there were no preseason games, and training camp was not run as it is usually is run.
Flores has also pointed out how Tagovailoa, for example, was recovering from a serious injury the previous year and that was a mitigating factor in his development.
Well, all of those factors apply to Jackson as well.
He didn’t have the benefit of a preseason. He didn’t get any camps. Training camp was abbreviated in some respects. And because he had been a bone marrow donor for his sister Autumn the year before, he still was trying to regain his full strength last year.
This year is supposed to be different for Tagovailoa.
This year is also supposed to be different for Jackson.
Look, it’s likely the Dolphins have interest in Sewell beyond using him as a smokescreen.
He is, after all, a top prospect. And a complete file on him is necessary in case he ends up as the highest-rated player left on Miami’s board when the club is on the draft clock April 29.
But is that the optimal scenario? No.
So is this a possible smokescreen? Maybe the Dolphins are showing interest to encourage one of the two teams currently ahead of them — Atlanta and Cincinnati — to take Sewell so that another playmaker will be available at No. 6.
Because playmakers and not a left tackle is what the Dolphins prefer at No. 6 overall.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 1:25 PM.
