2013 Dolphin Draft majority of players chosen have injury history

[phintim]

One of the concerning issues of the players we chose in this years draft for me was the fact that many of those players have recently been or currently injured. This is what I found on our draft picks which translates that 2/3 of our draft picks have injury issues. Only Will Davis 3rd round, Mike Gillislee 5th round and Don Jones 7th round came with a real clean bill of health in this years draft. Roughly half our NFL free agents aquired have injury issues also. Kind of a interesting pattern to follow this year to see how if pans out.



http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/dion-jordan?id=2539288
He only played in 11 full games after missing parts or the entirety of three others with a shoulder injury. It has been reported Jordan will miss the Senior Bowl to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/jamar-taylor?id=2539932
He missed most of the second half of 2011 with a stress fracture in his leg, but returned with a vengeance during his senior year by excelling in man coverage on downfield routes. Since he remained helathy during his senior year,
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/dallas-thomas?id=2539317
Thomas tore his labrum during January practices for the Senior Bowl and his recovery-which doctors estimated could take four-to-six months-might impact his draft stock. But I'm not a doctor, so we'll analyze the versatile lineman based on his on-field performance.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/jelani-jenkins?id=2540190
Jenkins took a redshirt in his first year in 2009, as he only appeared in two games and made just two tackles In 2012 Jenkins dealt with injuries his redshirt junior season, which limited him to just nine games. His medical issues included a lingering tweaked hamstring, and surgeries on his right foot and hand.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/dion-sims?id=2540200
Sims caught 12 passes for 99 yards and three touchdown receptions. He played the second half of the season with a broken hand. In his redshirt junior season, Sims caught 36 passes for 475 yards and two touchdowns.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/caleb-sturgis?id=2539637
Sometimes you don't what you've got until it's gone. The Gators found this to be true in 2010 when Sturgis missed the last nine games of the season with a back injury suffered in the preseason. They lost three straight games after he went down, including two home games by a total of seven points where punter Chas Henry missed three field goal attempts. Florida didn't even try a field goal the entire month of November (though Henry redeemed himself with a 3-for-3 effort against Penn State in an Outback Bowl win). Sturgis returned healthy for his junior year, however, and became one of the top kickers in the country.

 

[SMadison29]

It's football, injuries happen. What's more important is that none of the issue are chronic & of all our picks only Jelani can be labelled as injury prone.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

It's kind of a catch 22 for some of those guys. Taylor, as an example, was mocked late first round by many experts. Dolphins got him late 2nd round. Thomas most likely would have been a second rounder who was drafted in the third. Sims would have gone higher too. I do understand that it could be a bit of a concern, though. You definitely want your players on the field.

 

[phintim]

It's kind of a catch 22 for some of those guys. Taylor, as an example, was mocked late first round by many experts. Dolphins got him late 2nd round. Thomas most likely would have been a second rounder who was drafted in the third. Sims would have gone higher too. I do understand that it could be a bit of a concern, though. You definitely want your players on the field.

3 things
First I agree with your assessment that I believe we got better talent because those injuries basically pulled many of our picks down a few rounds in this years draft. I like to look for patterns and this may be part of the new Ireland/Philbin drafting philosophy. Last year Miller, Vernon, Mathews and I believe Rhandall fell into that catagory coming out of college with injuries that hurt their draft status.4
Second I have followed the Phins drafts going back to the 80s and this draft class I believe dignifies itself as the most injured Phins draft class that I can recall.
Third This what I call new draft philosophy to a lighter less durable players from the past big bulky more durable shows Irelands ability to change and reevaluate his criteria on drafting players which is big. Upon saying this I am not inferring that Ireland is some great talent evaluator. I am saying the ability for Ireland to change is good.

My major concern in both this draft and free agency is that we are loading up on lighter quicker players with past injury issues and when you couple that with a pass happy offense like when we had Dan Marinio then the team can wear down by years end.