Iffy trades that cost them Pitts put pressure on Dolphins to be right on Jaylen Waddle | Opinion
The top of the Miami Dolphins’ NFL Draft on Thursday night was all about one thing: Making second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa better.
They did it in drafting his former Alabama teammate, wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, sixth overall in the first round of the draft in Cleveland.
Another way to frame what the Fins’ draft priority was: Tagovailoa has one less excuse now. The coming season must see a leap from him, a verification why Miami put the franchise keys in his hand just one year earlier.
Think about the AFC East moving forward. Buffalo has rising star Josh Allen at quarterback. The New York Jets (Zach Wilson) and New England (Mac Jones) drafted their QBs of the future Thursday night. Tua is suddenly in the mix three young rivals.
Miami went defense with its second first-round pick, and looked to the backyard in drafting former Miami Hurricanes defensive end Jaelan Phillips 18th overall. It was a need-filling smart pick (although I believe DE Kwity Paye, who went three spots later, may have a greater career).
The way the draft played out — with coveted tight end Kyle Pitts going fourth overall and receiver Ja’Marr Chase going fifth — limited Miami’s options with its top pick.
Essentially, the Dolphins were left to choose among Waddle, his Bama teammate DeVonta Smith, the Heisman Trophy-winning receiver, or offensive tackle Penei Sewell.
Smith seemed the likely choice of those to many, with perhaps Sewell next. Waddle’s name being called — and Miami didn’t take nearly all of its allotted 10 minutes to decide — felt like a bit of a surprise to some.
In a pre-draft poll on Twitter that presumed Pitts would be gone before No. 6, I asked who should Dolphins fans hope Miami takes, with four choices. It was: Chase 49.0 percent, Smith 23.9 percent, Sewell 19.5 percent and Waddle only 7.6 percent.
However, I had Waddle going before Smith in my mock draft.
I would suggest considering this as we all wring hands and second-guess passing by Smith: Tagovailoa has played with both. Knows them, knows their skill sets, knows his chemistry with them, better than anyone. Better than any scout, coach, general manager, analyst or mock drafter.
Do you think the Dolphins brought Tua in on the Waddle or Smith decision?
Is their any doubt? Of course they did.
I give Miami benefit of doubt on this.
Any second-guessing of the Dolphins shouldn’t center on Waddle over Smith or Sewell. But it might legitimately center on the club yo-yoing from the third pick in the draft to the 12th and back up to sixth via two major recent trades.
Stay at three and you gets Pitts, who is said to be a generational, franchise-changing talent.
But in the maneuvering that cost them Pitts the Dolphins gained the 49ers’ first-round draft pick in 2023.
So here is what a Dolphins fans must weigh.
What would you rather have moving forward:
Pitts? Or Waddle plus an additional 2023 first-round pick?
It isn’t an easy question or a knowable answer right now.
You need a heavy dose of conjecture to assume Pitts will be all that and live up to the hype.
Criticism of Miami for essentially trading away the chance to get Pitts — that’s legit. But so is the idea Waddle might be great. And that extra first-rounder in 2023 could look mighty good.
The bottom line?
Miami needs Waddle to be great because Miami needs Tagovailoa to be great.
His nickname is Magic.
“Now you see me now you don’t,” he explained it.
The Fins need him to live up to that nickname.
This was only the sixth time in 56 drafts that Miami has selected a wide receiver in the first round — and sixth overall was the highest pick ever spent on the position. The previous club record was a ninth overall pick spent on Ted Ginn Jr. in 2007.
Other first-round Dolphins WRs apart from Ginn and now Waddle have been Randal Hill (1991), O.J. McDuffie (1993), Yatil Green (1997) and DeVante Parker (2015 and still with the team). Only McDuffie performed entirely to first-round standards. Hill and Green were busts. Ginn was not that but lasted only three years, though he caught 128 passes. The late-blooming Parker disappointed his first four seasons before having a breakout Pro Bowl-caliber year in 2019.
The Dolphins need Waddle to be McDuffie. At least. Because Tagovailoa needs that.
Miami had not drafted a WR in any round since 2017, when the team spent its final pick (seventh round, 237th pick overall) on Isaiah Ford.
It was time.
It was time to invest in the position, and the player, you thought would have the most direct, immediate impact in proving you had it right on Tagovailoa a year ago.
The Dolphins got the position right Thursday night.
Let’s see if they got the player right.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 9:53 PM.
