I would love to read your reaction to the negative comments made in this video regarding our draft decisions. Curious.
Did We Squandered The Draft??
- Thread starter Charlie Rivers
- Start date
TheRevoltingBlob
Club Member
Honestly I was not thrilled with our draft while it was going on (besides Tua). But I saw how excited Flores was to be getting Raekwan.
The more I thought about it, I remembered Flores took one of the least talented rosters I've seen and delivered 5 wins. And under his guidance we saw major in-season improvements from a few previous underachievers and some undrafted nobodies become solid players.
If these were pure Grier picks, then I wouldn't trust them (just being honest). But if we are getting the guys that Flores wants, and thinks he can help mold, then I'm happy.
The more I thought about it, I remembered Flores took one of the least talented rosters I've seen and delivered 5 wins. And under his guidance we saw major in-season improvements from a few previous underachievers and some undrafted nobodies become solid players.
If these were pure Grier picks, then I wouldn't trust them (just being honest). But if we are getting the guys that Flores wants, and thinks he can help mold, then I'm happy.
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John813
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To be determined.
Austin Jackson, like Tua, may need a year(+) or so to develop. Very rarely are left tackles ready to go day 1. For every Jake Long, there's 10 guys that take years to develop, if at all. Even Tyron Smith needed a few years to show his elite athletic ability turn into elite LT play. There's no rush for Jackson to be a day 1 stud. It would be nice, but he was picked at 18, not #5.
He's super young at 20/21. We'll have to hope the OL coach is good and AJ is willing to put in the work in the gym and on the field to reach his ceiling.
Igbinoghene. was an interesting pick to me, as he is still green as a corner. Only played corner for 2 years. Short term upside is he is physical and has shown a willingness to tackle. I agree he's a high ceiling/low floor player. I haven't seen much of him to say he can be a day 1 starter at slot, but we'll see how TC goes
Austin Jackson, like Tua, may need a year(+) or so to develop. Very rarely are left tackles ready to go day 1. For every Jake Long, there's 10 guys that take years to develop, if at all. Even Tyron Smith needed a few years to show his elite athletic ability turn into elite LT play. There's no rush for Jackson to be a day 1 stud. It would be nice, but he was picked at 18, not #5.
He's super young at 20/21. We'll have to hope the OL coach is good and AJ is willing to put in the work in the gym and on the field to reach his ceiling.
Igbinoghene. was an interesting pick to me, as he is still green as a corner. Only played corner for 2 years. Short term upside is he is physical and has shown a willingness to tackle. I agree he's a high ceiling/low floor player. I haven't seen much of him to say he can be a day 1 starter at slot, but we'll see how TC goes
Squander? That’s funny being they haven’t played a single down. This regime finally had a plan and went and built the trenches and went after guys they feel they can coach. They didn’t go after the sure thing, the people’s choice picks, the most talented, they wanted the guys they feel are WINNERS
Michigan Mike
Club Member
Conversations like this are ridiculous. Calling a draft a bust or huge success before any of the players have even showed up for camp is ridiculous. This is a conversation for a few years down the road.
No team aces the draft. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. All teams have first day busts and hidden gems found in later rounds. Even Belichick has his share of busts. His success comes in accumulating draft picks and hitting at the league average of success - the more picks you have, the more chances you have at finding impact players.
No team aces the draft. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. All teams have first day busts and hidden gems found in later rounds. Even Belichick has his share of busts. His success comes in accumulating draft picks and hitting at the league average of success - the more picks you have, the more chances you have at finding impact players.
Phinatic8u
Club Member
They called Xavien Howard, Xavien Rhodes. I also bet they have no knowledge on schemes and scheme fits.
That's all I need to know about this crew.
That's all I need to know about this crew.
traptses
Starter
I’ve said it before, but we only “reached” if you go off of what espn’s talking heads had their draft boards sorted, or you look at a draft board that some guy in his Moms basement posted online.... we have no idea how each team has their boards set up. For all we know, Miami drafted these guys later than they had projected on their boards
What is increasingly obvious to me is that GM Chris Grier and Coach Flores agreed on prioritizing the positions that needed to be improved. While the media and many FH fans may have wanted a sexy high profile WR and to draft a top RB - these were not the positions where emphasis was focused. We invested a 1st (Jackson), a 2nd (Hunt) and a 4th round pick (Kindley) on big O-linemen (as well as recruiting 2 established starters, (Flowers and Karras) in free agency. O-line picks don't excite the fanbase but it was clearly deemed a position of need by the top Dolphin decision-makers and will also help establish a running game that was effectively absent in 2019. Similarly, D-line was decreed a high priority with the selection of Raekwon Davis in the 2nd round, to join last year's top pick, Christian Wilkins. The call was made that our defense really needed to stop the run because we were down near the bottom last season.
Coach Flores was also clearly delighted with the Noah Igbinoghene selection at #30 and it confirms his belief in investing heavily in quality Cornerbacks (eg the addition of Byron Jones in free agency). Don't forget Brian Flores spent 3 years as a scout in Belichick's system before given his chance in coaching. Very few NFL coaches have that sort of hands on experience in player evaluation and we know Belichick is never an easy guy to please.
Some FH posters may disagree with Grier and Flores, but I think we have to see how it all plays out. I am 100% comfortable with their decision to prioritize O-line, D-line and CB rather than just pick the best player available. I expect that WR and maybe RB become higher priorities for next year. Need to consider the Dolphins strategy over the past 2 years as a systematic structured approach to completely re-engineering the team. They are not trying/hoping to fix everything at once like we saw from the scattergun approach Mike Tannenbaum adopted.
- eg the decision to recruit a low cost, journeyman QB in Fitz as a bridge to the future and hope to find a quality QB (initially Rosen, now Tua)
- the decision to let some of the best players on the team go for future Draft picks
- the 2019 decision not to spend to the full salary cap, but to save $ and spend more in 2020.
All were conscious decisions to take a step back in the short term for long term gain.
Coach Flores was also clearly delighted with the Noah Igbinoghene selection at #30 and it confirms his belief in investing heavily in quality Cornerbacks (eg the addition of Byron Jones in free agency). Don't forget Brian Flores spent 3 years as a scout in Belichick's system before given his chance in coaching. Very few NFL coaches have that sort of hands on experience in player evaluation and we know Belichick is never an easy guy to please.
Some FH posters may disagree with Grier and Flores, but I think we have to see how it all plays out. I am 100% comfortable with their decision to prioritize O-line, D-line and CB rather than just pick the best player available. I expect that WR and maybe RB become higher priorities for next year. Need to consider the Dolphins strategy over the past 2 years as a systematic structured approach to completely re-engineering the team. They are not trying/hoping to fix everything at once like we saw from the scattergun approach Mike Tannenbaum adopted.
- eg the decision to recruit a low cost, journeyman QB in Fitz as a bridge to the future and hope to find a quality QB (initially Rosen, now Tua)
- the decision to let some of the best players on the team go for future Draft picks
- the 2019 decision not to spend to the full salary cap, but to save $ and spend more in 2020.
All were conscious decisions to take a step back in the short term for long term gain.
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I think the past tense of squander is squander. I'll give an example. To cite 3 weeks after the draft when 0 of the 300 or so players taken have taken a single snap that you think we had already failed at our draft would be to SQUANDER the opportunity for a thread. See what I did there?
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Lord Of Miami
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Anyone thinking we were going after a WR high in the draft is just not watching where Grier and Flores have been putting money. Their are just no spots for it on the roster or they'd have to cut a guy that they like and just gave a longer deal to. So the only people thinking that way are people who don't watch the games ' because it's our deepest group on the team " and just don't understand the business side of football.
So for me leading up to the draft , anyone talking about going after a WR in the 1st few rounds is either a kid, or new to watching football or is a very naive adult who should start spending time doing something else they understand cuzz they are clueless at this whole football thing.
As for the players we picked up in the draft , it's very clear this is a boom or bust set of players we got in the 1st round and that's fine but the draft is a boom or bust to start with. I hope for the best.. but Tua may not last a year in the NFL, and i have a feeling i'll see Jackson and/or Igbinoghene working at a Walmart in the next few years. On the other hand i loved all day two picks and them are the picks ya have to hit on to be and stay a good team.
So for me leading up to the draft , anyone talking about going after a WR in the 1st few rounds is either a kid, or new to watching football or is a very naive adult who should start spending time doing something else they understand cuzz they are clueless at this whole football thing.
As for the players we picked up in the draft , it's very clear this is a boom or bust set of players we got in the 1st round and that's fine but the draft is a boom or bust to start with. I hope for the best.. but Tua may not last a year in the NFL, and i have a feeling i'll see Jackson and/or Igbinoghene working at a Walmart in the next few years. On the other hand i loved all day two picks and them are the picks ya have to hit on to be and stay a good team.
