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2009: An Area of Concern

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RealDriscoll

Still Perfect.. and You're Not.
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One position on this football team that worrier me a great deal is Right Guard. Donald Thomas, a 6th Round Draft Selection out of Connecticut, seems to be a lock to start here but I am not sure that I am so sold on big Donal just yer. The fact that he has had more serious injuries than career starts should be a major area of concern for this front office. The front office valued Shawn Murphy out of Utah State more because they traded up in Round 4 to grab him and than selected Thomas two rounds later. There is no questioning Thomas' physicality and strength. If healthy he could be a perfect fit and an absolute steal in the 2008 NFL Draft but that comes with a big price tag of IF.

The Dolphins seem to have a very solid Offensive Line coming into this season with Jake Long anchoring the line at Left Tackle; Big Jake was named to a Pro-Bowl in his rookie season. Justin Smiley returns from injury and he was playing at a very high level before his injury. Vernon Carey is back and he is among the leagues best Right Tackle's/ Jake Grove was brought in to replace Samson Satele and should be a major upgrade especially against bigger Nose Tackle's. I must say I am a bit concerned about the Right Guard Position. It seems that Dolphin fans are ready to annoit Donald Thomas as a pro-bowl Guard but he hasn't proven much to me.

In the 4th Round of the 2009 NFL Draft we took Brian Hartline when Oklahoma All-World guard Duke Robinson was staring us in the face. Many mock drafts had us selecting Duke in Round 1. The knock on Duke was that in the NFL his skillset would limit him to the right side of the offensive line rather than the left. I was surpised when we passed on Duke there because I valued him as an late 1st/early 2nd draft prospect. We could look at trading with the Chiefs for Brian Waters who seem to want out but the question is at what price?

I hope I am wrong and Donald Thomas can remain healthy and oplay all 16 games but I am a bit pestimistic because he has failed to do so thus far
 
I agree, I think if we lose Grove & Thomas we are up the creek without a paddle there....
 
Well we played the Ravens without Smiley and Thomas and were destroyed. Andy Allemen and Ikechku Ndukwe were just owned all day long
 
And no Satele for a back up, with Smiley, Grove and now apparently Thomas as guys with injury histories, and Satele could have backed up any of those spots, and he is just coming into his third year, I saw some good upside in him, he played injured all year with a torn labrum, and had backups on either side of him down the stretch, and we still went 11-5.

IMO we gave away a very good and dependable back up for peanuts, and I hope that doesn't come back and bite us on the ***.
 
HAHAHAHA I didn't know you can't say *** here, LLLLLLLOOOOOLLLLLLLL
 
RealDriscoll said:
One position on this football team that worrier me a great deal is Right Guard. Donald Thomas, a 6th Round Draft Selection out of Connecticut, seems to be a lock to start here but I am not sure that I am so sold on big Donal just yer. The fact that he has had more serious injuries than career starts should be a major area of concern for this front office. The front office valued Shawn Murphy out of Utah State more because they traded up in Round 4 to grab him and than selected Thomas two rounds later. There is no questioning Thomas' physicality and strength. If healthy he could be a perfect fit and an absolute steal in the 2008 NFL Draft but that comes with a big price tag of IF.

The Dolphins seem to have a very solid Offensive Line coming into this season with Jake Long anchoring the line at Left Tackle; Big Jake was named to a Pro-Bowl in his rookie season. Justin Smiley returns from injury and he was playing at a very high level before his injury. Vernon Carey is back and he is among the leagues best Right Tackle's/ Jake Grove was brought in to replace Samson Satele and should be a major upgrade especially against bigger Nose Tackle's. I must say I am a bit concerned about the Right Guard Position. It seems that Dolphin fans are ready to annoit Donald Thomas as a pro-bowl Guard but he hasn't proven much to me.

In the 4th Round of the 2009 NFL Draft we took Brian Hartline when Oklahoma All-World guard Duke Robinson was staring us in the face. Many mock drafts had us selecting Duke in Round 1. The knock on Duke was that in the NFL his skillset would limit him to the right side of the offensive line rather than the left. I was surpised when we passed on Duke there because I valued him as an late 1st/early 2nd draft prospect. We could look at trading with the Chiefs for Brian Waters who seem to want out but the question is at what price?

I hope I am wrong and Donald Thomas can remain healthy and oplay all 16 games but I am a bit pestimistic because he has failed to do so thus far
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didnt duke Robinson get picked in the 6th round?? I think if we would of picked him instead of Vontae Davis Every one on this board would be happy.. he'd be the Saviour to our offensive line.. but thats just because everyone Drinks the same punch, I think Duke Robinson would of been a little high of a pick to take in the "pat white" spot also...

I think Brian Waters would be a stop gap and if the chiefs want more than the 7th Round pick they traded us for our 7th round this year... than i think they want to much

I hope Donald Thomas Comes back Healthy, But lets face it... Ndukwe was a decent pass blocker and Alleman played like Garbage.. Hopefully they both took the offseason seriously and come back and play like monsters
 
I would have been very upset with Duke in Round 1. That pick for me was between Hakeem Nicks, Rey Maualuga, and Vontae Davis. I wanted Larry English but he went way early to the Chargers. Vontae Davis, talent-wise, is the best corner in this draft IMO. I think the combination of him and Sean Smith is going be lethal for many years; almost Surtain/Maidson ish
 
Smith21 said:
didnt duke Robinson get picked in the 6th round?? I think if we would of picked him instead of Vontae Davis Every one on this board would be happy.. he'd be the Saviour to our offensive line.. but thats just because everyone Drinks the same punch, I think Duke Robinson would of been a little high of a pick to take in the "pat white" spot also...

I think Brian Waters would be a stop gap and if the chiefs want more than the 7th Round pick they traded us for our 7th round this year... than i think they want to much

I hope Donald Thomas Comes back Healthy, But lets face it... Ndukwe was a decent pass blocker and Alleman played like Garbage.. Hopefully they both took the offseason seriously and come back and play like monsters
Click to expand...

5th rd one pick after we took Nalbone.
 
RealDriscoll said:
One position on this football team that worrier me a great deal is Right Guard. Donald Thomas, a 6th Round Draft Selection out of Connecticut, seems to be a lock to start here but I am not sure that I am so sold on big Donal just yer. The fact that he has had more serious injuries than career starts should be a major area of concern for this front office.
Click to expand...

I am not sold on Donald Thomas. He played ok for a rookie in his first game before being injured. I do not value that at all. He is the poster child for injury prone until I see him play in 8-10 games in a row at least. It seems clear that the FO values him, so I will wait to see if he can excel.
 
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