Who experts think the Dolphins will select at No. 18 and 26. And the Tua lefty dynamic.
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:
▪ Mock drafts are ubiquitous on the Internet — it’s a cottage industry, really — but in the World of Mock, there’s no suspense or intrigue with the Dolphins’ pick at No. 5. A handful of mocks all have Miami selecting Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at that spot.
What’s more interesting is the players being mocked to the Dolphins with the Steelers and Texans picks at 18 and 26, respectively. Here are those picks, offered as perspective on the types of players who could be available in those slots.
1) Draft analyst Tony Pauline has Miami taking Georgia running back D’Andre Swift with the Pittsburgh pick at 18, adding: “The Dolphins fill their running back hole with the top player at the position. Swift constantly shows the ability to blow open blase games with huge runs from the line of scrimmage. He combines big-play ability while paying attention to the details of the game.”
With the Houston pick, Pauline has Miami grabbed Alabama offensive tackle Jedrick Wills, who’s projected to go a lot higher by some: “Wills does not grade as highly on my board in comparison to others but is a good fit for the Dolphins. For perspective, I grade Wills a distant fifth or sixth after Andrew Thomas and Tristan Wirfs. I grade his teammate and fellow Alabama Crimson Tide offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood much higher than Wills. However, Leatherwood ultimately decided to return to Alabama for the 2020 season.”
2) The Sporting News has Miami taking Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor at 18, adding: “The Dolphins desperately need a true workhorse back for their rebuild. Taylor [5-11, 219 pounds] has great vision and burst as a runner. He also doesn’t get enough credit for what he can do as a receiver, which was on display more during his final college season. In three years for the Badgers, he posted 6,581 scrimmage yards and 55 total TDs.”
That publication slots LSU receiver Justin Jefferson to Miami with the Houston pick, though that makes little sense because receiver is Miami’s deepest position. The magazine says: “The Dolphins know DeVante Parker will be around for a while. Now they can get someone to complement him as a big-play threat outside. Jefferson [6-2, 185 pounds] has emerged in LSU’s passing game as a quick, efficient route-runner with good hands whose speed remains underrated.”
3) Waltercampfootball has Georgia’s Swift as the pick at 18, noting that “D’Andre Swift lives up to his name concerning that attribute, but vision is his best strength.”
That web site has Iowa offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs as the pick with the Houston selection, though he could be gone a lot earlier if he turns pro. “A 320-pound tackle, needs to improve his pass protection, but he’s a massive run blocker with first-round potential.”
4) The Athletic’s Dane Brugler: Like the three aforementioned mocks, Brugler has Tua going to Miami at No. 5. He has LSU edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson as the pick at No. 18, adding “the Dolphins were the worst team this season at getting after the quarterback. Chaisson needs to get stronger, but his initial burst and edge speed are tremendous, showing the easy body flexibility to bend the corner and flatten to the quarterback.”
At No. 26, Brugler has Miami taking Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins: “A running back in the first round is a luxury, but the Dolphins were abysmal in the running game this season, averaging only 72.2 rushing yards per game and 3.3 yards per rush. Dobbins has the skills to be a three-down back and his vision and instincts are what set him apart from the other backs in this class.”
▪ As ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt noted, the last left-handed quarterback to throw a touchdown in a regular-season NFL game was Kellen Moore in 2015. There’s no lefty backup in the league.
But ESPN’s Mel Kiper said the fact Tagovailoa is left-handed should not work against him, citing Boomer Esiason, Steve Young, Michael Vick and Mark Brunell among the best in the past 25 years.
“Twenty years from now, Tua will be mentioned among those great left-handed quarterbacks,” Kiper said, noting a couple of other ballyhooed left-handed quarterbacks, “Tim Tebow and Matt Leinart didn’t get it done.”
▪ There was so much roster turnover this past season that not only did players refer to each other by numbers instead of names during games early in the season, but linebacker Sam Eguavoen admits “for the longest time, I didn’t know Mike Gesicki’s name. We knew 88 is the pass-catching tight end [Gesicki] and 81 is the blocking tight end [Durham Smythe]. We refer to players as numbers in defending them in practice.”
▪ Linebacker Jerome Baker said coach Brian Flores told him “he will put together a tape of things I can do better.”
“I improved as the year went on,” Baker said. “I’m happy with my development. Didn’t have crazy sack numbers [1.5] but I had a good amount of pass rush. Some good plays and some I could have done more.
“You can’t be OK being blocked by one guy [here]. You can’t just learn one spot in this defense. You need to know the whole defense. You can’t be just an old linebacker and hit what’s in your way.”
▪ It’s not a coincidence that the Dolphins moved three cornerbacks to safety this past season: Bobby McCain, Eric Rowe and Montre Hartage.
In a pass heavy league, the Dolphins see clear advantages to playing experienced corners at safety.
“It’s a big advantage schematic wise to have two safeties [with corner experience], as long as we tackle,” Rowe said. “We’ve been getting better against the run.”
Said Hartage: “The ability to run and cover and come off the edge, that’s huge at safety. And safeties play a lot of man to man coverage.”
Rowe has been studying Patriots safety Patrick Chung (“my role is similar to Patrick’s”) and Dallas’ Jeff Heath and said he won’t bulk up to play a full season of safety. “I don’t want to be too heavy where I can’t cover athletic tight ends,” Rowe said.
Rowe said “it’s still harder to cover wide receivers than tight ends. They have have more routes in their route tree. Things are moving fast down there.”
▪ The Dolphins changed the way they used Eguavoen — the former Canadian Football League linebacker — in the final month of the season, utilizing him more as a pass rusher with decent results. He had two sacks in the final month (3.5 for the season) and will compete for a role this summer.
“It’s a whole new world to me,” Eguavoen said. “I can use my quickness against offensive linemen. They’re letting me go use my athleticism, playing most passing downs.”
The Dolphins, meanwhile, have brought in a bunch of CFL players in recent weeks and plan to audition Winnipeg quarterback Chris Streveler, who’s known more for his running than passing. In two seasons with the Blue Bombers, he ran for 1167 yards and 22 touchdowns. Last season, he was the sixth-leading rusher in the CFL, with 726 yards.
As a passer, he had less success, throwing for 2698 yards, 19 touchdowns and 19 interceptions combined over the past two seasons.
According to The Winnipeg Sun, Strelever will work out for the Dolphins, Tampa Bay and Arizona over the next two weeks.
This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 4:32 PM.
