Grade Hickeys first draft and why?

[ghost_fish]

I'd like to see how fans here grade the rest of the AFC east

 

[spiketex]

Tripp: (B+) - A finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award (for best small school defender), good size and height, with room to add a bit more muscle to play M-LB ( where many are projesting him), he is highly instictive, seemingly always around the ball. Reason for only a B+ is he came from a small school, how he will do against top talent in nationin the NFL is still to be determined, and does at time plays with more finesse and physicality.

Don't be worried by the small school in Montana - he excelled in the performance metrics and has great instincts. He is extremely confident.
Some of your other player grades seem pretty generous, but I expect that Jordie Tripp will be an A class pick. He may just start out on Special Teams but if he gets it quickly, he may be fast tracked. His speciality is creating fumbles.

 

[awfulwaffle]

A. He doesn't get the plus because really, it doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile.Winning's winning.

 

[SiScotty83]

I'm giving it a B and I'm happy with it.

I see this draft as being about three things: competition, mentality and Ryan Tannehill.

Competition

We entered the post season looking bare in a number of places, in particular on the OL. Now, we have depth in a number of places. The OL when you look at the full context of FA and the Draft now has a lot of competition. The secondary got deeper, the WR are going to have to fight to play, we have a number of TE's. The players will now have to compete to play in a number of positions. I like that.

Mentality

Miami's mentality has looked anything but professional since the Martin scandal. We see players tweeting and embarrassing the team twice during the Draft as well. The perception is that we aren't professional. Hickey has drafted a number of team captains and high character guys. Players that openly want to work hard. In short, we've looked to shift the mentality of the roster totally and become more professional with better ethic and focus.

Ryan Tannehill

Anyone thinking this team wasn't fully behind RT can completely think again. The one position where we haven't forced competition is QB. We've brought in a batch of OL to keep the kid on his feet. To go one stage further, we've given him possession WR's that will catch everything. This kid is the Miami Dolphins. They are putting their entire hopes on his development and giving him every conceivable chance to succeed. Got to like that.



Ultimately, I don't subscribe to the view that we have no chance. I look at the roster and think it is very much a Play Off contender if Ryan Tannehill is kept upright and develops. I think the Draft has been accomplished correctly. We didn't need playmakers IMHO, we needed high engine and high character. We got that. Place Dion Jordan in that mix as well as he's surely to become half of a dual pass rush with Cam Wake this year. This team's primary playmakers are already there. It's now on the coaching staff to get the potential out of this roster.

 

[WaxOn WaxOff]

I have no problem with James Rd 1.
Rd 2, I would rather have picked the OG here (Turner if they were sold on him) so no trade up is needed Rd 3.
Rd 3 get the WR or a stud power back which I think was a bigger need.
Now you have an extra pick Rd 4, if they believed in QB as a need, you get him there.
Don't really see the TE as much better than any we have now.
The rest of the draft I am OK with.

 

[roy_miami]

C

Hickey did a pretty good job plugging holes, but he left a lot a meat on the bone.

If he slid down in the 1st round as he should have if he wanted to draft JuWuan James, the extra 3rd round pick that he was offered could have been used to get OG Trai Turner.

If he didn't trade a 4th rd pick to move up in the 3rd round to get Billy Turner he could have used that pick #116 on WR Martavis Bryant. If Hickey gave the Raiders the #125 pick instead of the #116 pick he still could have had Bryant.

When Hickey traded down in the 2nd rd with SF the pick he got should have been the one just before the Pats, not the one right after.

Bottom line- these moves and non moves showed me that Hickey's trading skills are suspect, he is not a great wheeler and dealer.
.

You're complaining he didn't get max value on the trades he did make while at the same time complaining he didn't pull the trigger on the trade that might have been the worst value of the entire draft?

 

[FSU Truth]

No grade, but I give the draft a thumbs up....

Starter in round one....Very much an NFL RT, long arms, good footwork and a solid pass protector...went against SEC competition and held his own, not an easy task...my only issue was not trading back, but after watching the eagles do just that and have their target drafted ahead of them makes not trading back easier to handle.

Rounds 2 and 3 were fantastic, Landry is going to have a phenomenal NFL career..he may not have the size people desire,but dude catches everything and has more fight and toughness then the rest of our wrs combine.

Turner is a little raw, but he will eventually be the team LT in a few years...Will play guard at first and move to LT when Albert eventually goes down. He also has a chip on his shoulder to prove he belongs and has a hell of a work ethic.

Tripp is my second favorite pick after Landry...I'll call it now....he starts this season...maybe not week one, but he will eventually work his way in to the lineup...makes too many game changing plays and has too good on instincts to keep him off the field.

 

[JJW1339]

It's hard to grade a person on something when you don't know if the picks were good or not..... It's a crap shoot at best.... A lot of top draft picks turn out to be bad and then there are players who are drafted much lower and turn out to be solid players for 10 years... so lets wait and see....

 

[Nawledge]

I liked the picks based on the fact hickey got what we needed, we needed o-line, needed a receiver, tight end who can block, linebacker, corner....and the main two things I like about all the picks are we got tough hard working football players and most of them were team captains, leaders in the locker room. We needed some toughness and leaders on this team. Its kinda hard to grade it due to the fact I'm not that knowledgeable on college football and we don't know how the players will pan out but overall I'm pleased with how hickey drafted based on what I read and heard about these guys

 

[DolphanB]

Grades at this point are silly, but Hickey methodically filled all of MIA's holes and should have 3-4 starters. This was a best player available in an area of need draft.

1) MIA needed a starting RT to form a bookend opposite LT Albert. James was the best RT and arguably among the top 2-3 pass defenders in the draft. He started four years in the same zone blocking scheme MIA uses against SEC competition. James will be starting day one and Tannehill will be loving life a great deal more this year.

2) This is inside ball, but MIA's top slot WRs both suffered bad knee injuries last year and they still are not training. Landry is the best slot WR in the draft and he catches EVERYTHING. The man reminds me of Chris Carter. When you put on the LSU film, you notice Landry, not his higher drafted partner Beckham.

3) MIA is looking to upgrade the inside running game and is looking for strong, violent guards who are athletic enough to shift. Turner played LT in Div II, but dominated when he played K-State last season and shined at the Senior Bowl at OG. I see him starting at LG That should be thee starters in three rounds for Hickey.

4) MIA's secondary is top ten, but they feature an array of smurfs. MIA was looking for a tall CB. Aikens was a starter for Illinois before he got in trouble buying a stolen computer from a so called friend. This is another Div II standout at the Senior Bowl. Aikens joins a fierce competition at CB with two 2013 picks who were largely injured last year. Aikens also has return skills.

5a) MIA has only one decent blocking TE and that hole was a substantial part of the run blocking and pass protection problems last year. Enter Lynch from UGA, a Y-Type road grader with reasonable receiving skills. He will be a fixture in two TE sets.

5b) More inside ball. MIA has been shopping for a MLB because Ellerbe is a better WLB and Wheeler was a bust at WLB last season. Hickey missed on D'Quell Jackson in FA and on Mosley in the first round of the draft. So MIA drafted the next best MLB IMHO in Jordan Tripp from Montana. Tripp can and has played all three LB positions in a 4-3 at a high level. His recognition skills are outstanding and he is athletic enough to run down QBs and RBs in the backfield and WRs or TEs in the flat. He was a star at the Senior Bowl. Reminds me of another MIA 5th round MLB pick back in the 90s. My personal favorite pick in the MIA draft and I would not be surprised if he starts in September.

6) This pick surprised me a bit because MIA's roster is already jammed with WRs and they filled their need at slot with Landry. Hazel is a tall WR from Coastal Carolina who has decent 4.5 speed and catches everything. He was the best WR at the East West game and performed well against South Carolina last season. Hazel will be in a fight for one of the six MIA WR slots, so he better play special teams well.

7) MIA took a flyer on Marist's first draft pick - DE Lede. MIA was one of only a handful of teams who scouted Marist. Lede has NFL level measurables and absolutely dominated Div II competition. How that translates to the NFL in general and to MIA in particular (their DL was already stacked at DE), I do not know. He will probably compete with Shelby for the last backup DE slot.

 

[Dr. Phin]

A - Not because I like the players so much, but because I don't. Let me explain. He picked up a bunch of no-namers and reaches, any way you look at it. These guys are either going to be solid players...or a complete failure...that is what I love. Either this guy is a really good GM...or he will be out on his ass quickly. He clearly isn't like Ireland, who did everything to protect his job...not improve the team.

 

[Vaark]

D. Big reaches in first two rounds. Passing on Manziel when you don't have a franchise QB will haunt you for a decade. Hickey is Ireland 2.0 He takes low ceiling safe need picks. There won't be anything close to a star out of all of these picks. These are the type of drafts you expect out of N.E. who already has stars or SEA. But Mia needs butts in the seats and somebody with star potential. Looking at their roster it is the most vanilla team I can ever remember. Hopefully after you go 5-11 you will find a real GM and not your 5th choice and let him hire the coach like it should be. Then you better hope there is a franchise QB otherwise no matter what you do this farce will continue. For a franchise who doesn't have a QB it really is sad to see year after year them passing on them. Ryan 'Henne reboot' Tannehill has given zero indication that he is that guy. Until you get that guy you must at all costs take a QB especially when the best one in the draft miraculously falls to you. I feel so bad for my buddy and the rest of Fin fans. He is so apathetic now and it's a shame because he is a huge fan. Not fanboy apologists like you read on here.

Passive Aggressive trolling. Can't criticize Pburgh's picks cuz they look good, but good luck finding someone not named Bill Cowher to competently coach them.

As far as this draft goes, I"m gonna give it a ridiculous "A" to somewhat counterbalance the rididulous "Ds and Fs". Considering Hickey didn't have much to work with in terms of draft picks, had to dig himself out of a hole that the hated Ireland bequeathed him (kind of disingenuous hating on critical necessity picks after railing about Jeff's shortsightedness in leaving voids), I give him props for having a plan and the convictiion to stick with what he knew was an unpopular yet critical pick. Essentially he provided us with a necessary plug and play RT, a potential game breaking clone of Anquan Bolden (according to many others), a high potential lineman with leadership qualirties and a winners' mindset, and then like panning for gold, a terrific LB. So by fulfilling a need, drafting for BPA and also for depth with over-performing leaders to be developed, he did well with what he had to work with. Unlike like Farmer, drafting a spindly, questionable character QB who RG3 proved is only as effective as his legs can carry him, passing on two game changing receivers when he knew 2 weeks before that he needed one desperately for the oppty to trade back to pick a good CB who was still rated as the 3ard or 4th best on a bunch of mocks out of any 4 which would have been successful - so there's that too.

My actual grade is a "B"

 

[fishfanmiami]

Considering Hickey didn't have much to work with in terms of draft picks, had to dig himself out of a hole that the hated Ireland bequeathed him (kind of disingenuous hating on critical necessity picks after railing about Jeff's shortsightedness in leaving voids), I give him props for having a plan and the convictiion to stick with what he knew was an unpopular yet critical pick. Essentially he provided us with a necessary plug and play RT, a potential game breaking clone of Anquan Bolden (according to many others), a high potential lineman with leadership qualirties and a winners' mindset, and then like panning for gold, a terrific LB. So by fulfilling a need, drafting for BPA and also for depth with over-performing leaders to be developed, he did well with what he had to work with.

My actual grade is a "B"

Saved me a lot of typing. B for now ... final grade to be determined in a year or two or three.

I also gave last years draft a B. Boy was I wrong on that one (so far)

 

[tay0365]

Don't be worried by the small school in Montana - he excelled in the performance metrics and has great instincts. He is extremely confident.
Some of your other player grades seem pretty generous, but I expect that Jordie Tripp will be an A class pick. He may just start out on Special Teams but if he gets it quickly, he may be fast tracked. His speciality is creating fumbles.

Yea, the thing is I believe grading a player moving from college to the NFL is very unscientific and precise, I am grading on what they showed in college, and how much they could bring to the dolphins.

 

[enigmatics]

The strategy doesn't thrill me. I like multiple picks in the top 40, and then hunting for major college sleepers, like Ben Gardner. Hickey apparently believes he can uncover hidden talent at the lower division schools. That's too cute and unlikely to succeed, IMO. I like Belichick's approach of targeting the power conferences and notably the SEC.

Ireland was too focused on sleepers and acorns, always trying to be the smartest guy in the room. Would seem Hickey shares in that philosophy.