Dolphins take another step with Justin Herbert and call key player on national champs
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Wednesday:
▪ No team has done more work on Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert over the past two years than the Dolphins and that continued recently when Miami held a video-conference session with him, according to a college football source.
From people who have spoken to members of the Dolphins’ front office, what’s known is the Dolphins appreciate Herbert’s skill set, his size (6-6), his build and his arm strength.
What remains unknown, of course, is whether Miami would take him at No. 5 over Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.
The lead draft analysts at the major networks — ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah — mocked Herbert to Miami based on chatter they hear about the Dolphins’ interest in him, while making clear they don’t know for sure what the Dolphins plan to do. And only a small group of top Dolphins officials know the team’s intentions and obviously aren’t tipping their hand.
As Jeremiah said, Herbert is a very “clean” prospect, with great size and arm strength, no medical or character red flags and all the measurables teams want in a quarterback prospect.
Herbert improved his completion percentage from 59.4 to 66.8 last season and threw 32 touchdowns and six interceptions, then helped himself with strong performances during Senior Bowl practices and the Senior Bowl game, where he was MVP.
We’ve written at length about Herbert’s metrics, the occasional intermediate accuracy questions (his deep ball is very good) and what the analytics sites say about his potential for pro success, including this piece last month. We won’t recite all of that again here.
Ultimately, the Dolphins needed to get comfortable with two things:
1) His style of leadership, because he’s not the loud, in-your-face leader like some at the position.
2) That his occasional off-target throws can be fixed with coaching and that he can be consistently dynamic moving away from Oregon’s often-conservative offense that did him no favors.
The Dolphins certainly have had enough time to figure that out.
They’ve been around Herbert at the Senior Bowl, at the NFL Combine, at his Pro Day (attended by Dolphins consultant David Lee, who spoke with him afterward) and during the video-conference session in the past couple of weeks.
So whatever the decision is on Herbert — and he has a lot of admirable qualities — the Dolphins at least have done all the work necessary to make it.
The Dolphins also are believed to have done video-conference sessions Tagovailoa; Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said he has gotten to know both Tagovailoa and Herbert well.
▪ We reported previously that the Dolphins have invited three of the draft’s top running backs — Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins, Georgia’s D’Andre Swift and FSU’s Cam Akers — to team headquarters for three of their 30 permitted non-local prospect visits.
Only Dobbins — who has been living in Aventura — ended up making it to team headquarters before the NFL stopped visits because of the coronavirus pandemic.
And according to a source with direct knowledge, you can add a fourth running back to the list of Dolphins “30” visit invitations: LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
He never made it to South Florida before the NFL stopped “30” visits, but the Dolphins have done a video-conference session with Edwards-Helaire and expressed strong interest.
So now we have four backs expected to go in the first two days of the draft — Dobbins, Swift, Edwards-Helaire and Akers — who all have reason to believe Miami really likes them.
Dobbins, incidentally, has maintained contact with the Dolphins since his visit, and the Dolphins’ interest there appears genuine.
A fifth top back, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor, was taken to dinner by Dolphins running backs coach Eric Studesville in Madison, Wisconsin, the night before his Pro Day but wasn’t invited for a 30 visit here.
As for Edwards-Helaire, he rushed for 1,415 yards and 16 touchdowns on 215 carries (6.6 per carry) as a junior last season, while catching 55 passes for 453 yards (an 8.2 average) and a touchdown and returning 10 kickoffs for 214 yards (21.4 average).
He’s a possibility for Miami at 39 or 56. Kiper has Swift as the first back off the board, going 32nd, followed by Dobbins at 37, Taylor at 45, and Edwards-Helaire at 52.
Kiper noted that the 5-7 Edwards-Helaire “was tremendous for the national champs in 2019, becoming the first player in SEC history with 1,000 rushing yards and 50 receptions in a season.”
▪ If Georgia left tackle Andrew Thomas is off the board at No. 18 (which looks likely at this point), who’s the left tackle to take at 18 or 26 who would be best equipped to come in and start right away for Miami?
I asked Kiper that on Wednesday, and he said Houston’s Josh Jones and Boise State’s Ezra Cleveland are “better right now” but that Southern California’s Austin Jackson “down the road” could be the best of the three.
“There are some teams that like Jackson,” Kiper said. “He had some struggles; he has to improve his technique. He has really good feet, gifted athlete, light on his feet for a guy his size. The safer pick is Jones or Cleveland.”
Kiper said he would “double down” and take a tackle at both 26 and 39. He mentioned Louisiana’s Robert Hunt, a guard/tackle that we’ve reported Miami likes.
“If you can get Hunt and Jones or Hunt and Cleveland, you would be in pretty good shape,” Kiper said.
▪ As we’ve reported, the Dolphins strongly pursued Patriots safety Devin McCourty in free agency, and a friend of his said there’s a very good chance he would have picked the Dolphins if the Patriots hadn’t picked up the 2020 option on his brother, cornerback Jason McCourty.
Devin McCourty signed a two-year, $23 million deal, and Miami was willing to make a very competitive offer. The pursuit of Devin McCourty feeds into the belief that Miami is open to adding a safety in the draft, which would allow the Dolphins to consider moving Bobby McCain back to nickel corner if they wish.
One advantage of leaving McCain at safety: He’s an excellent communicator pre-snap, and that holds particular value at safety. That’s among the reasons coach Brian Flores moved him there last spring.
▪ The Dolphins love linebackers who can play both inside and outside, and it was no surprise that they have reached out to Mississippi State’s Willie Gay Jr., who fits that bill.
Gay has six sacks, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 98 tackles in just 28 college games.
He missed eight games last season due to NCAA violations pertaining to an academic tutor. Miami was interested enough to recently call him to get to know him better.
“Gay has experience lining up in a variety of linebacker roles, but might not have the feel to play in the middle on the next level,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein said. “He’s hard to miss on the field with his flailing arms and energetic playing style. His play speed and athleticism appear to be average and he has some zone cover talent. Carving out a defined role will be important if he is to make an NFL roster.”
▪ Quick stuff: Miami called about Wake Forest linebacker Justin Strnad, who had 69 tackles (5.5 for loss), two sacks, an interception and four pass breakups last season before a torn right biceps ended his season after eight games. ... Among potential third-day offensive linemen options on Miami’s radar: Texas center Zach Shackleford. They’ve been in touch. …
Miami interviewed Rutgers cornerback Damon Hayes. ... The Dolphins wanted to meet with Tennessee tight end Dominic Wood Anderson (21 catches for 268 yards, 12.8 average, one touchdown last season), but that was scuttled because the Volunteers canceled their Pro Day. They also like another Volunteers player, safety Nigel Warrior.
Here’s my Wednesday Dolphins-flavored piece on wide receivers in the NFL Draft and what the Dolphins are looking for.
Here’s my Wednesday Miami Heat piece with something historic (or among the league leaders) that every rotation player achieved this season.
Here’s my Tuesday night Dolphins nuggets with information on players they’ve contacted and a lot more.
Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top cornerbacks in the draft.
Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top defensive tackles in the draft.
Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top offensive tackles in the draft.
Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top safeties available in the draft.
Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on some of the second-tier quarterbacks in the draft.
Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top running backs in the draft.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 6:18 PM.
