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Hunt and Kindley

Hunt was a RT at Louisiana but if you followed his story the dude grew up dirt poor. He went to a camp at Louisiana that his father had to work extra jobs for, IIRC, so that he had the money. He showed up in tennis shoes, shorts and a t-shirt. They gave him some cleats and gear while he was there at camp. His high school only had 13 players so he played both ways...I would assume they probably only had 1 to 3 coaches so he didn't get much coaching in high school. While at camp the HC of Louisiana offered him a scholarship, which he refused because he said...I can't afford to go to college, having no idea what a scholarship meant.

I think it's safe to say that Hunt has never received high-level coaching in his entire life. He's probably never had a training room, or a nutritionist, or a state of the art weight room. This is all new to him. He's a raw talent and a very impressive athlete. It's going to take time for him to acclimate to this level of...well this level of everything. They've been using him as a 6th lineman in a jumbo set...letting him get his feet wet. I think the talent is there, I'm very high on this kid.
I did not know that story. Thanks. Rookie min is 500K? Nice
 
I think the team needs one more quality offensive lineman to move this unit forward, but I love the progress in one offseason. It's rare that the Dolphins have improved one area so dramatically in one offseason.

I don't believe it's just a coincidence that Grier hires outside guys for the Front Office, and in just one off-season the o-line (with 4 out of 5 new starters) is no longer a trainwreck but is actually decent, even with 2 rookies starting. During the 2019 season, the roster was being gutted in order to rebuild, so Flores and Company just went with the o-linemen from Gase's team. We all saw how completely useless that o-line was. For a while, Gase had three 1st round picks anchoring his line (Tunsil, Pouncey, and James), yet IMO that line was inferior to this current line which is still a work-in-progress!

Miami's o-line has been below-average or worse during the past decade, even with 1st round picks and a constant stream of Free Agents. New Assistant GM Marvin Allen, like Flores, was a long-time employee of the Patriots. New England has always been able to plug-and-play various draft picks and Free Agents on their o-line and still get competent play. Reggie McKenzie has had some success working for several teams, so maybe now Miami finally has people who can recognize and evaluate o-linemen. The jury's still out on how good this new regime is overall at drafting and scouting Free Agent talent, but an improved o-line in one off-season is a good start!
 
IMHO, that is entirely possible. I think the way it may have worked might have been something like this. They had a board of prospects and certain targets. In round 1 they had hoped one of the top echelon of LT targets might be available, but the last one was drafted before our 2nd pick in round 1, so we went with Austin Jackson--who looks like a great pick! Then they wanted to get another good OL at any position in the 2nd round, and had targeted the Michigan C/G, who was drafted before our pick as were all of the 2nd/3rd tier OL prospects, so by the time the Hunt pick arrived, he was their highest rated player and they saw versatility to play RG or RT--both of which were positions of need eventually, and offering versatility every NFL line needs.

I think you're spot on about Kindley though. From what I can gather, they thought at least one of their targets would be available in rounds 1 and 2, but other NFL teams valued those guys more than the Dolphins staff expected so they chose their fallback options according to their board rankings. Solomon Kindley they expected to go a round earlier, so they hadn't really targeted him, but when he was still available, they jumped at the chance to get him in much the same way we did when Xavien Howard was available in his draft. While the other two picks were pre-gamed to be OL picks, I think the Kindley pick was viewed as one of opportunity.

Since we have had such a tremendous and obvious need along the OL and have had this need for a long time, I don't think they were too concerned with overlap. Every year we have multiple OL injured and need a minimum of 7 OL and coverage at both exterior OT and interior C/G. These were merely gifted athletes with potential as football players. Austin Jackson was the youngest OL in the draft but had been rated as the #1 OL prospect in his high school class so he offered dynamite potential. Robert Hunt was a physical beast with overpowering strength, plus size and wingspan, and potential value because his production (low level and very little pass pro tape) was at the lowest level (in NFL terms) so he might drop in the draft, while having top tier potential athletically. A rebuilding team is an ideal development spot for a guy who just needs to learn to play football. Solomon Kindley represented the opposite of Robert Hunt, because Kindley had proven competent at the highest collegiate level (SEC for multiple years), also had dominant power (for a guard), and already possessed the technique needed to succeed in the NFL. His only real drawbacks were a soft body and the dreaded "slow feet" label that caused him to drop on most teams' boards.

Solomon Kindley's experience, technique, and production at Georgia were major reasons why I predicted he would be the OL to watch instead of Robert Hunt. I also predicted Austin Jackson would start, but that was because we simply had nobody else. Jackson has exceeded even my rookie expectations and proven to be the gem of our draft! As for Kindley, he is showing the sort of production one might expect from an exemplary SEC player who had proven production across multiple years. Robert Hunt is not a bust ... he is an investment. When you draft a raw athlete without the technique or experience against top competition, and ask him to jump waaaaaaay up to NFL competition, you need to allow enough time for him to develop and step up in competition. That happens over years, not overnight, so we need to cut him some slack as he learns.

Agree completely. I don't get why some bash Miami for the Hunt pick when
a) Austin and Kindley are great picks to date which mane 2 of 3 OL picks are very good.
b) no one knows how Hunt will look Sept '21
c) even if he's 'only' successful as an OG, that's still 3 quality OL starters in one draft.
So far it looks like Miami wins and can win bigger
 
Davis, Hunt or whomever, someone competent is gonna have to protect southpaw Tua's blindside sooner than later.
 
Agree completely. I don't get why some bash Miami for the Hunt pick when
a) Austin and Kindley are great picks to date which mane 2 of 3 OL picks are very good.
b) no one knows how Hunt will look Sept '21
c) even if he's 'only' successful as an OG, that's still 3 quality OL starters in one draft.
So far it looks like Miami wins and can win bigger
Draft picks are prospects. The higher the ceiling the prospect has, the less likely they are to succeed. The reason is that high ceilings tend to get "overdrafted" based on that potential for stardom. Teams want to take a swing for the fences to get a game-changing player. So if it's outside of the 1st round, and he has a high ceiling ... pretty likely that he also has a high bust chance. These are guys like Robert Nkemdiche, who might become All-Pro, and might be out of the league. It is a gamble. Jimmy Johnson took one of these players when he drafted Daryl Gardner ... and while he was a success, he never reached his potential. Most are less successful. But the lure of that great player generally pushes these guys way high in the draft.

Robert Hunt's size, power, and length meant he was a high ceiling player despite his slow feet. He was seen as the poor man's version of the Louisville man mountain the Jet's drafted in upper round 1. But he went to a very low competition situation, and didn't do much pass protection. Extremely little tape against NFL competition, but when he did, he succeeded, shooting his evaluation through the roof for fans. Reality is that he has a long way to go. We need to be patient.
 
Do you think Austin Jackson is a better LT than Kindley is a RG? Or Vice versa?
IMHO, by far, it is Austin Jackson as a LT. Guards are easy for 31 teams to find (all except the Dolphins), but LT's are worth their very substantial weight ... in gold. What we need as a pass protector in today's NFL ... and Austin Jackson has been tremendously successful for an uber-young rookie. I'm phenomenally impressed with Austin Jackson the person and player.

I was always a huge fan of Kindley and thought he flew under the radar because of a mixed final season. He has proved to be just that, and I'm very, very happy to have him. I have not given up on Michael Deiter either, unlike most of this board.
 
It's hard to believe that some posters still have the long knives out for Grier. People keep saying Tua is the draft, but I see 4 starters no counting Tua, 2 of which are doing admirably.

Miami's o-line (and the whole team, for that matter!) has sucked for years, and Grier has been part of that Front Office. I know Grier wasn't in charge, but right or wrong, he's partially guilty by association. To be honest, I must admit that no one outside of the team knows exactly who made the decisions that resulted in this improved o-line. However, Grier did add Personnel guys that came from successful teams to the Front Office, and now the line is finally showing improvement. Coincidence?

I wanted Grier gone along with Tannenbaum and Gase. IMO, the team needed a complete housecleaning; let the new regime start from scratch. That said, if the team keeps improving, whether it's because Grier is no longer under Tannenbaum's thumb or because some new Personnel guys are better than the guys they replaced, then I can live with that! :nah:
 
It appears Hunt was targeted by Miami in that top half of the 2nd round. Kindley for some reason fell by at least one round and Miami made the move to aquire him. Hunt has displayed incredible raw power in the run game, according to the camp reports. I think he's raw in the pass game and if and when he develops that aspect, he could become a viable starting option.

Kindley had a down year in his final collage season. But as a pro he's been unbelievably solid. The kid has a bright future. I've not seen this kind of OG play from a Dolphin in a long time. Miami needed a little luck along the Offensive Line and they got it.
 
While watching highlights of our King Solomon, I also paid attention to the other guard spot - Flowers is a far better guard than tackle but I think he is the weak link as of now.

That's not to say he is doing horrible but I don't feel his play is comparable to the other boys on the line, even the play of Jesse Davis.

I am really excited about those kids and the foundation they are building down there. Maul 'em all!

Now, about that defense...
 
Draft a guy higher when he is not in the plans to start.... Well that seems dumb to me


I think you are making the mistake of thinking that drafting a player is based on what he will do as a rookie.

There are tons of great draft picks that were made with the long term in mind.

And picks should not be judged on how they do as rookies either, give the young players time, especially this year.
 
Did you leave Raekwon Davis off that list intentionally?

No, I view him as much more of a finished product(for good or ill)so I don't look at him like I do those three.

They are all either young for their draft class, new to their position, or making the jump from small time college ball.

Davis probably does not have a lot of upside.


But I was not taking a backhanded swipe at the big fella, I did not love that pick but I hope he proves us all wrong.
 
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It's hard to believe that some posters still have the long knives out for Grier. People keep saying Tua is the draft, but I see 4 starters no counting Tua, 2 of which are doing admirably.
Considering how awful this roster was, it's actually surprising only four draft picks are starting. And evaluating Grier based on how many rookies are starting on a really bad team that he has had control of personnel of for the past four years is laughable.
 
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