What Dolphins are doing with top tight ends. And other positions they’re eyeballing
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:
▪ The Dolphins have spent considerable time with the draft’s top tight end prospects, a process that has continued in the past couple of weeks.
According to an NCAA source, Dolphins officials flew to South Dakota State to work out Tucker Kraft, a projected second-round pick. Kraft had 27 catches for 348 yards and three touchdowns in nine games last season.
The Dolphins also spent time at Iowa’s Pro Day with Sam LaPorta and Penn State’s Pro Day with Brenton Strange.
“Kraft came back from an injury; the offense didn’t give him the ball that much. He’s got talent,” ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. said. “LaPorta you can move outside” as well as lining up in the slot.
On Tuesday, Kiper mocked Strange to Miami 51st overall in his latest mock draft in which he alternated picks with ESPN collegue Todd McShay.
The Dolphins also allocated time to Georgia’s Darnell Washington (who most expect will be gone by Miami’s pick at 51) and Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave.
They auditioned UM’s Will Mallory last week, and general manager Chris Grier got in-person looks at Strange and Alabama’s Cameron Latu on their college campuses.
“Darnell is a freakish talent, 6-6 ½, 265 pounds with his arm length and the way he runs, that’s a matchup nightmare,” Kiper said. “I could see him going in the first round. He’s a dynamic talent.
“Musgrave is a move tight end, a Mike Gesicki type. He could be really good. This tight end spot goes deeper than the top six.”
Tight ends coach Jon Embree has been very much involved in the process.
Kraft, who is 6-5 and 254 pounds, is a “combination tight end with the projectable skill set to handle pass-catching and run-blocking duties at the next level,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein said.
“Kraft provides formational versatility that will be appealing for teams that make heavy use of 12 personnel [two tight ends]. He has the body control and catch toughness to be more than just a traditional Y tight end. Kraft has Day 2 talent and should see the field early with a chance to become a [starting tight end].”
The Dolphins have selections in the second round (51) and third round (84) but don’t pick again until the sixth and seventh rounds.
All of the aforementioned tight ends are expected to be second-day picks except Mallory.
Michigan’s Luke Schoonmaker has been mentioned by ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid as a possibility for Miami’s pick at 84, but Kiper said: “He’s an early to mid-Day 3 pick. I have him eighth on the board, which is a fourth-round possibility. You could go 14, 15 deep at tight end, with guys who could be drafted.”
Old Dominion’s Zack Kuntz is among third-day options for Miami.
Among tight ends, Kiper has Utah’s Dalton Kincaid going 15th, Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer going 26th, Washington 40th, Musgrave 42nd and Strange 54th.
▪ The 33rd Team — a think tank that was created by former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum and others — uses three former NFL scouts and former Eagles personnel executive T.J. McCreight to make their predraft evaluations.
And those four surprisingly warn against using a second-day pick on Georgia’s Washington.
The 33rd Team’s group of scouts said: “Washington is productive in the run game, but he does not play with the explosiveness his testing numbers would suggest. His 4.08 20-yard shuttle was impressive for someone his size, but Combine numbers don’t always translate to the field. Additionally, Washington is not a natural pass catcher and sometimes will ‘fight’ the ball. He had just 45 catches in his college career at Georgia.”
The 33rd Team said he should go in the range of 105, not the mid-second-round range where he’s projected.
That comment came days after NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger encouraged the Dolphins to move up from 51 to draft Washington.
▪ The Dolphins have interest in adding a couple of guards in the draft process; they’ve given serious thought to drafting one, according to a source, and will be looking for interior linemen after the draft as well.
Among several guards that have drawn their interest, according to sources: Hawaii’s Micah Vanterpool (who didn’t allow a sack last season) and North Carolina State’s Chandler Zavala.
TCU guard/center Steve Avila also could be in play in the second round; Kiper has the Dolphins picking him at 51 in his latest mock draft.
NFL.com’s Zierlein said Zavala has “an above-average talent for driving opponents out of the run lane. He has the pure power to match up with NFL interior defenders as a drive blocker.”
Zavala is a potential third-round pick. Vanterpool could be a priority free agent.
If the Dolphins find a guard they like in the draft and are unable to find a right tackle to challenge Austin Jackson, the team would have the option of moving Robert Hunt from guard to tackle.
The Dolphins started Hunt at right tackle in the playoff game in Buffalo but have suggested they prefer using him at guard.
▪ Kiper, speaking on a conference call, said Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs — who has been linked to the Dolphins in some mock drafts — “would make sense” for Miami if he’s available at 51.
But Kiper has Gibbs going 37th and believes he will be gone by 51.
“He’s a dynamic game breaker, can catch the ball out of the backfield,” Kiper said. “He had a drop against Tennessee, which was a rare drop. They could go Avila. If Gibbs were there, that would be an ideal pick for them.”
▪ The Dolphins also have been laying the groundwork to add front seven players after the draft. Among those they like: Pittsburgh’s Deslin Alexandre. The 6-4, 285-pound defensive lineman, who attended Deerfield Beach High, had 5.5 sacks last season and 16.5 in 47 games at Pittsburgh.
The Dolphins took him (and several other select players) to dinner the night before their local day last week.
▪ There’s no better football show on television than ESPN’s “NFL Live,” thanks to the astute commentary of Dan Orlovsky, Mina Kimes and Marcus Spears and the comedic flair of Ryan Clark.
But the debate about whether Tua Tagovailoa can stay healthy — on that program and others — has grown tiresome.
ESPN hosts typically pose some variation of the question: Can Tagovailoa stay healthy? Can they count on him?
The only answer: How would anybody know? It’s all guesswork.
“I do not, if you’re the Dolphins, feel comfortable believing Tua will be on the field,” Clark said last week. “I hate to say that because it was so much fun watching Tua early on last season with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle push the ball down the field. Some of the pinpoint accuracy we saw early on with him in the red zone.
“When you think back to Tua laying on the field in Cincinnati and being concussed in a visible way we’ve hardly ever seen in this league, it makes me think how much longer can he do it. Fast forward to the end of the season and the debacle in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers and later on that week being in concussion protocol…
“And when Tua returned from the injury, they weren’t great. This wasn’t a team that was going out and beating teams with winning records. If you’re the Dolphins, you have to be prepared to play without Tua Tagovailoa or without a Tua Tagovailoa that can be 100 percent.”
We understand these programs need to fill time. But speculating about whether a player will get injured again seems pointless.
This story was originally published April 18, 2023 at 11:34 AM.
