ESPN analyst’s message to Dolphins fans ‘who accused me of being a hater.’ And Tua update.
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:
▪ ESPN’s Louis Riddick wants to be straight with Dolphins fans.
So in assessing where the Dolphins stand during an appearance on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt on Monday night, Riddick began his analysis this way:
“I know the Miami Dolphins fan base has sat there and accused me of being a hater on this football team and thinking that Steve Young and myself don’t want them to do good and that they’re irresponsible, blah blah blah.
“But this is a team, who I’ve been saying over the past couple of weeks, with all the draft capital that they have — five picks in the first two rounds, three first-round picks — and some of the things they have done in free agency, namely signing guys like Shaq Lawson and Byron Jones, who I think are fantastic additions. Kyle Van Noy, fantastic addition.
“If they can nail this draft, if they can get a quarterback of the future, if they can add some weaponry on the perimeter, beef up this offensive line, continue to fortify the pass rush — and Brian Flores can continue to coach the way he has coached and develop the way he has developed — and they can keep some continuity, I think this is a team who with the expanded playoff format, why couldn’t the Miami Dolphins sneak in there? The AFC East is wide open right now.”
(Quick aside: NFL owners on Tuesday approved the addition of two more playoff teams, bringing the total of playoff teams to 14 beginning in the 2020 season.)
“Everyone believes — and I believe — Brian Flores is a tremendous coach,” Riddick said. “We are going to see if Chris Grier — the general manager down there — with all of this draft capital, can really put it all together working in unison with this coaching staff and go ahead and make one of those worst to first type of runs.”
Riddick was a former NFL safety and previously worked as the director of pro personnel for the Redskins and Eagles.
▪ Fox analyst and former Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson also likes what the Dolphins have done:
“The Dolphins will be legitimate this year,” Johnson said on FS1 on Monday night. “Brian Flores has done an outstanding job with nothing last year. And with the players they have picked up — plus with what they’re going to be be able to bring in with the draft, they will be a legitimate football team this year.”
▪ The latest Tua Tagovailoa update: Yahoo.com reported that he “is fully cleared and ready to compete without any restrictions” — nearly five months after he sustained a dislocated hip and posterior hip wall fracture in a game against Mississippi State.
Dr. Lyle Cain, an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at the Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center, told Yahoo: “I am extremely pleased. If you told me four, almost five, months ago now that he’d be where he is now, I think I would have been very happy. I think he’s done extremely well for where he started out.”
His agency has decided against staging and video-taping a one-day workout that would simulate a Pro Day, according to Yahoo.
▪ Former Dolphins general manager Randy Mueller cautioned on Twitter: “Any of the media experts that say “all the questions about Tua” have all been answered are living in the world of fantasy football. These NFL GMs are investing in ‘the long haul.’ Trust me-there are still questions!”
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, on why he’s convinced Miami will trade up for Tua:
“The Dolphins will have to and definitely will move up to get Tua Tagovailoa. No. 1, this is the organization that 12 or 13 years ago passed on the opportunity to bring in Drew Brees because of the fear of injury. Ever since that decision, they’ve been trying to find Drew Brees.
“No. 2, last year, they traded Laremy Tunsil .. .and Minka Fitzpatrick... for [first-round picks]. They did not trade good players to just acquire other good players. They traded away those good players to acquire draft picks to make sure they were equipped to go get the player they wanted to go get this year.
“Imagine a world where they sit back and take their three of those first-round picks, and somebody jumps them to get Tua and with those three picks, they go on to win seven or eight games next year, and next draft, they will be going into year three of a rebuild and asking the same question they’re asking this year: Who is going to be our franchise quarterback?
“For those three reasons, I don’t think there’s any chance the Dolphins will sit there at five and hope Tua falls to them. They will go get Tua.”...
After rushing into South Florida to meet with the Dolphins hours before the NFL prohibited team visits, Utah State quarterback Jordan Love has scheduled video conferencing sessions with more than half the league. As we’ve written since January, the Dolphins are very much intrigued by Love and appreciate the skill set, but not necessarily with the fifth pick.
He’s viewed as a serious option for Miami if the Dolphins don’t end up with Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert or a long-shot attempt to trade with Cincinnati for Joe Burrow. The Dolphins love Burrow but at this point have no expectations of being able to come away from the draft with him, according to a source.
“Highest ceiling of any of the QBs,” Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said of Love.
▪ ESPN’s Todd McShay mocks these five players to the Dolphins in his latest two-round mock draft:
No. 5: Tagovailoa: “I’m sticking with Tagovailoa here, but where he goes really comes down to the medical evaluation and how comfortable Miami — or any other team — is with it. When he is healthy, he’s special. In a best-case scenario, the Dolphins get their franchise quarterback without having to move up and then build out the rest of their roster with a boatload of picks. But that added layer of risk with Tagovailoa and all that draft capital also could lead to some creativity and maybe a trade up to get Burrow, if Cincinnati happens to be open to it.”
No. 18: Alabama safety Xavier McKinney: “The Dolphins opened their checkbook in free agency on defense, but safety wasn’t part of the spending spree. McKinney’s versatility, instincts and burst would be great over the top behind Byron Jones and Xavien Howard.”
No. 26: Houston offensive tackle Josh Jones: “If you are drafting a quarterback with the injury history of Tagovailoa, and your offensive line tied for the league’s high mark in sacks allowed last season (58), you better direct some attention toward protection. Tackle, in particular, is a big hole. Jones has versatility, shows an ability to drive defenders off the ball and flashes as a nasty finisher.”
No. 39: Ohio State running back JK Dobbins: “Jordan Howard and Kalen Ballage aren’t the answers for Miami’s run game. And Dobbins is a big-time playmaker who bursts through the hole, makes defenders miss and can make catches out of the backfield. He broke 2,000 rushing yards with Ohio State last season.”
No. 56: Missouri defensive tackle Jordan Elliott: “Miami’s brass won’t get a rest on Day 2 of the draft after a busy opening night. With their fifth pick in the first 56 — they’ve already taken Tagovailoa, McKinney, Jones and Dobbins — the Dolphins get Elliott to place next to 2019 first-rounder Christian Wilkins in the middle of the defensive line. Elliott has a quick first step and flashes the ability to get off blocks.”
▪ Pro Football Focus did an analytics-based mock draft (based on positional value, its projections of college-to-pro performance and other factors) and said Miami not only should trade the 5th, 18th and 39th picks to Washington move up to No. 2 to draft Tagovailoa, but also should take a player nobody is talking about as an option at No. 26: Auburn right tackle Jack Driscoll.
“Instead of getting overly excited about some serious projects like Mekhi Becton, let’s take a guy who performed very well against strong competition and in situations that project will to the next level,” PFF said. “Driscoll is exactly that and provides some much-needed protection for the young and not always so durable Tua.”
PFF says if Miami doesn’t trade up for Tua, “then they will have descend into NFL purgatory with a roster and quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick that is not going to be awful enough to tank for either Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence.”
COUPLE QUICK THINGS FROM OWNERS TELECONFERENCE
Tuesday was supposed to be Day 2 of the NFL spring meetings in Palm Beach. With that canceled because of coronavirus, league owners approved, by teleconference, the expansion of the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams. There will be tripleheaders on Saturday, Jan. 9 and Sunday, Jan. 10, with games both days at 1:05 p.m., 4:40 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. CBS and NBC get the extra games...
NFL executive Jeff Pash says they’re planning on having a full season and starting on time. Pash says he can’t be certain but that’s the plan at this point. The schedule will be released by May 9.
Here’s my Tuesday post with the full schedule of all the classic NFL, NBA, MLB and NCAA Tournament games being replayed on national networks in April, plus news on ESPN’s newest project.
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 3:49 PM.
