Bad luck hurting Dolphins’ draft on multiple fronts
Besides being not very good, the Dolphins have been something else this season: unlucky.
The teams whose first-round picks are owned by Miami are playing at the top end of expectations (in the case of Houston, which is 7-4) or exceeding expectations (in the case of Pittsburgh, which stands 6-5 despite being without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger since Week 2).
Meanwhile, the Dolphins’ expected compensatory picks continue to diminish in value because of injuries to offensive lineman Ja’Wuan James and defensive end Cameron Wake.
James has played in only two games for the Denver Broncos because of a knee injury, and Pro Football Focus compensatory pick expert Nick Korte indicated, via email, that Dolphins fans should be braced for that pick potentially falling from a third-rounder to a fourth-rounder.
Wake, meanwhile, was placed on injured reserve by the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday. He signed a three-year, $22 million contract with the Titans this past spring but played only 195 snaps this season and had 2.5 sacks, all in Week 1.
If Wake had stayed healthy, the Dolphins likely would have landed a fifth-round compensatory pick. But Korte said the Wake compensatory pick could end up being a sixth-rounder, which — as he tweeted and expressed via email — could be canceled out by the Dolphins’ signing of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Eric Rowe.
In that scenario, the Dolphins could get a seventh-round pick for the loss of Brandon Bolden instead of a fifth-round pick for the loss of Wake.
Either way, the Dolphins are expected to have 14 picks in April’s draft.
▪ The Dolphins hope receiver Albert Wilson — who’s recovering from a rib injury — will be healthy enough to play Sunday but that’s iffy. Wilson practiced on a limited basis Wednesday. If he’s not able to play Sunday, Miami could consider adding another receiver to the 53-man roster.
Wilson said he felt good during practice Wednesday and “if I continue to improve, no question I’ll be ready.”
For now, DeVante Parker and Isaiah Ford are the only healthy receivers on the roster.
Allen Hurns was limited during Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury.
▪ Besides Wilson and Hurns, four other Dolphins were limited in practice on Wednesday: cornerbacks Ken Crawley (shoulder) and Ken Webster (ankle) and Ryan Lewis (chest) and safety Steven Parker (groin).
▪ Flores hopes former Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas is voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; he was named a semifinalist this week.
“I think I met him once,” Flores said. “He’s a humble, kind individual. He’s a great teammate, great leader, great human being. He was a very, very, very good player. Instinctive, really good tackler. He found the ball. Turnover after turnover, tough, physical. Played a lot of great defense here.”
▪ Flores was noncommittal about whether Julien Davenport would start at left tackle and Shaq Calhoun at right guard for the remainder of the season. Flores said he expects “they will do everything to practice well and put themselves in position to play well. If they do that, I would expect to see them out there.”
▪ With Thanksgiving this week, Flores encouraged his players to write a note to someone who’s meaningful to them “instead of going on Instagram or Twitter.”
Here’s my Wednesday post with information about a fourth veteran the Dolphins are trying to extend and other nuggets.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 4:30 PM.
