Kudos to Grier/Flores

[SF Dolphin Fan]

While there's no way to know how successful a draft is just hours after it's completion, by all accounts it sure looks like Grier/Flores nailed it. We are hearing that from scouts and media, which are almost all in agreement. The Sporting News ranked the teams drafts from 1-32, and the Dolphins were at #1. Mel Kiper said "Miami crushed it." Just a few views, but I also felt the same way. I am cautiously optimistic, knowing that these assessments can go south in a hurry and how much injuries factor into NFL success.

On paper, Miami looks ready to compete for an AFC East title, though. Buffalo certainly has to be the favorite and I don't think you can discount New England either. At first glance, all the rivals in the AFC East looked like they drafted well. The one player I am unsure about is Rousseau, who went to Buffalo in R1. Unlike Phillips, he doesn't win at the snap, but he is a good closer and has good vision to the ball. I do think Basham is underrated. Elijah Moore to NYJ was an absolute steal for them, as was Barmore to New England.

Anyway, back to the Dolphins. With free agency and the draft, Grier has improved the wide receiver room significantly, the offensive line, the secondary and potentially the pass rush. Skura could be an upgrade over Karras and the linebacker room is potentially better, although that could be debatable.

What do you all see as the team's weakness at this point? Is it running back, center?

 

[Bumrush]

The biggest weakness, IMO, is the QB position right now.

I'm a big Tua guy but the amount of pressure he will face once the season starts will be borderline unfair given his expedited recovery timeline and having his rookie season hampered by COVID rules.

I'm certainly bullish on Miami - Last year at this time I thought they should contend and/or be in the playoff race with Fitzpatrick at the helm.

This year, even with an improved and cohesive roster I'm worried that Tua will be facing expectations that will be difficult to achieve. It's essentially playoffs or bust for Miami in 2021. And if the answer is bust I'm not sure Tua gets another chance.

 

[DuderinoN703]

RB and center for sure. Depending on who is left in the WR room injuries will dictate their success there. Perhaps LB too?

 

[Bhut Jolokia]

I like that the Dolphins didn’t draft a RB in the first two rounds. I think its better value to draft RBs in the later rounds. The Dolphins have a pretty young team so that might be a weakness. The team should only get better in the next few years.

 

[TrogdorTheBurninator]

The biggest weakness, IMO, is the QB position right now.

I'm a big Tua guy but the amount of pressure he will face once the season starts will be borderline unfair given his expedited recovery timeline and having his rookie season hampered by COVID rules.

I'm certainly bullish on Miami - Last year at this time I thought they should contend and/or be in the playoff race with Fitzpatrick at the helm.

This year, even with an improved and cohesive roster I'm worried that Tua will be facing expectations that will be difficult to achieve. It's essentially playoffs or bust for Miami in 2021. And if the answer is bust I'm not sure Tua gets another chance.

No. This is how fans think, not front offices.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

While there's no way to know how successful a draft is just hours after it's completion, by all account it sure looks like Grier/Flores nailed it. We are hearing that from scouts and media, which are almost all in agreement. The Sporting News ranked the teams drafts from 1-32, and the Dolphins were at #1. Mel Kiper said "Miami crushed it." Just a few views, but I also felt the same way. I am cautiously optimistic, knowing that these assessments can go south in a hurry and how much injuries factor into NFL success.

On paper, Miami looks ready to compete for an AFC East title, though. Buffalo certainly has to be the favorite and I don't think you can discount New England either. At first glance, all the rivals in the AFC East looked like they drafted well. The one player I am unsure about is Rousseau, who went to Buffalo in R1. Unlike Phillips, he doesn't win at the snap, but he is a good closer and has good vision to the ball. I do think Basham is underrated. Elijah Moore to NYJ was an absolute steal for them, as was Barmore to New England.

Anyway, back to the Dolphins. With free agency and the draft, Grier has improved the wide receiver room significantly, the offensive line, the secondary and potentially the pass rush. Skura could be an upgrade over Karras and the linebacker room is potentially better, although that could be debatable.

What do you all see as the team's weakness at this point? Is it running back, center?

Two ways to look at this.
1) For those of us looking to get a top player at a position of need, there can be few complaints. No, Miami didn't get a RB nor an OC, but WR, Edge OT, safety were addressed and some lower picks look like potential starters.
2) Those wanting specific names or ONE position (e.g., RB), not so much.
Weaknesses? Who knows? OC, but how will Skura work out? RB? I'm not convinced Flo is through with the churn. Again, no R1 back, but we're told 3-4 of them will be 'generational' when, in fact, all of us know all of them won't. I was hoping for a R2/R3 RB, but I want an upgrade at RB any way I can get it.
Unrelated, but FAs look good. Nothing is known for sure, but I see no downgrades and many should be significant upgrades.
I agree, kudos.

 

[GUH-sick-EE]

The biggest weakness, IMO, is the QB position right now.

I'm a big Tua guy but the amount of pressure he will face once the season starts will be borderline unfair given his expedited recovery timeline and having his rookie season hampered by COVID rules.

I'm certainly bullish on Miami - Last year at this time I thought they should contend and/or be in the playoff race with Fitzpatrick at the helm.

This year, even with an improved and cohesive roster I'm worried that Tua will be facing expectations that will be difficult to achieve. It's essentially playoffs or bust for Miami in 2021. And if the answer is bust I'm not sure Tua gets another chance.

Unless Tua is an unmititgated disaster next year, he'll get 2022 as well. If he isn't producing by then, we'll move on.

 

[Atila]

The major weakness I see on this team is definitely RB, which we fielded a bottom 3 RB room last season in terms of talent and will undoubtedly stay in the bottom 5 in production/talent again this season. I could see us being bottom 7-10 in production if our OL improves (which I expect it to), but that will most likely be the most noticeable weak point.

 

[Digital]

We had more draft resources than anyone. And while we may not have maximized their uses, IMHO, we still came away with 5 good football players and potentially one great player in Jaelan Phillips if everything works out. Who knows, maybe Waddle can deliver on the Tyreek Hill comparison everyone seems to want to make ... but I doubt it. Holland is an intriguing prospect who, like Phillips, is perfectly suited for Coach Flo's defense, and could really flourish into a top player. But, he has a lot of risk as well. He's a thin kid and has had some injuries. He is in that danger zone of becoming a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none that is precisely what Minkah Fitzpatrick wanted to avoid. The Swiss Army Knife of good but not great. The Crash Jensen of Coach Flo's defense.

Tua can't say we didn't build around him, because with a high 1st round WR choice (Waddle), high 2nd round OT choice (Eichenberg/Mr.Eincredible), and a highly rated 3rd round TE (Long), we essentially surrounded him with an entire draft on top of an entire draft last year 1st (Austin Jackson), 2nd (Robert Hunt) and 4th (Solomon Kindley), plus big FA acquisitions in WR Will Fuller and C Skura to go along with the most productive TE room in Miami Dolphins' history. So, if Tua cannot succeed ... it's not because we didn't surround him with talent. That's like 9 of the other 10 starting positions on offense fully invested in building around Tua. We have set Tua up for tailor-made success. If it doesn't work ... it's on Tua.

So the clock starts ticking. What is our offense's PPD (Points Per Drive), what is Tua's YPA (Yards Per Attempt), what is our 3rd down conversion rate? These are now all on the table as valid discussion topics. He's fully healed, fully supported, stocked with lots of top talent from both the legacy team, draft, and free agency. If Grier is going to build a winner ... the time is now.

No more talk about us rebuilding. We are rebuilt.

Now let's WIN. The clock starts NOW.

 

[Beach Bum]

I agree. Kudos to Grier and Flores. I think they have done well. However, even though we have work to do, I don't think we are finished yet. I have no idea how we will do this year, especially against Buffalo and the others in our division. I am encouraged and damn excited about the possibilities and can't wait until we start seeing some action. Then we should know more.

 

[dolfan91]

I'll say its all a big "IF", for now. Things seem to be moving in the right direction, especially with Flores as the coach and the people who've been assembled in the F/O.

With that being said, lots of IF's all around.

1) If Miami's young offensive linemen come together and play an improved game as a unit, a unit that showed too many cracks late in the season. They need to improve, if not, its a long season.

2) If Miami's young secondary players can make the Improvements necessary to take the next step in helping the secondary become the Elite Unit fans expect. There is an awful lot of talent back there, to give up the yards they did. Improvement is needed. The coverage ability of Rowe and now Holland should help.

3) If Miami's front seven can take the next step in pressuring the QB, the entire defense, has a chance to transform itself.

Overall, it appears Grier, Allen and McKenzie are slowly building the team in a way that resembles what happened in New England. They prioritize coverage in the secondary and pressure up front, from various looks. They are righting the ship from past mishaps. If the last 2 draft classes make strides sooner rather than later, Miami may become perennial threat to the division.

 

[Ray R]

While there's no way to know how successful a draft is just hours after it's completion, by all account it sure looks like Grier/Flores nailed it. We are hearing that from scouts and media, which are almost all in agreement. The Sporting News ranked the teams drafts from 1-32, and the Dolphins were at #1. Mel Kiper said "Miami crushed it." Just a few views, but I also felt the same way. I am cautiously optimistic, knowing that these assessments can go south in a hurry and how much injuries factor into NFL success.

On paper, Miami looks ready to compete for an AFC East title, though. Buffalo certainly has to be the favorite and I don't think you can discount New England either. At first glance, all the rivals in the AFC East looked like they drafted well. The one player I am unsure about is Rousseau, who went to Buffalo in R1. Unlike Phillips, he doesn't win at the snap, but he is a good closer and has good vision to the ball. I do think Basham is underrated. Elijah Moore to NYJ was an absolute steal for them, as was Barmore to New England.

Anyway, back to the Dolphins. With free agency and the draft, Grier has improved the wide receiver room significantly, the offensive line, the secondary and potentially the pass rush. Skura could be an upgrade over Karras and the linebacker room is potentially better, although that could be debatable.

What do you all see as the team's weakness at this point? Is it running back, center?

I would like to have seen a center drafted, but we did cushion that position in Free Agency prior to the draft.

I'm glad we took a RB in the later rounds. The OL didn't help out RB's very much last year.

I love the idea of a balanced passing and running game. I saw improvement in the OL last year, but with all those new people in the OL, not having a functional preseason really hurt us. I was expecting this year to be a very different story for the OL and with our new draftees I see a possibility for even more improvement then I originally anticipated. We may find out many of our RB's are better then we have given them credit for. Adding another good one makes things even better! Boosting the receiver group with this draft should also help the running game.

As our running game improves, it will also enhance our passing game. Those two aspects of the offense should feed off each other in a positive way and also give us the tools to over power teams if their defenses are weaker in one of those two areas.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I like that the Dolphins didn’t draft a RB in the first two rounds. I think its better value to draft RBs in the later rounds. The Dolphins have a pretty young team so that might be a weakness. The team should only get better in the next few years.

Good call. Impossible to predict how young players will do. In particular, Miami has three second year starters on the offensive line and likely one rookie with Eichenberg. That's assuming Kindley beats out Fluker, which I think he will.

 

[The Ghost]

RB and LB are the two biggest weakness's but are kind of in the irrelevant category for now.

So much of our potential rests with the OL, DL, Secondary and revamped WR's along with Tua that these weakness's won't really matter if the primary investments pay off.

Then you can attack those remaining weakness's next year.

They always say RB's should come last.

I've seen what Flores can do with no talent. I've seen what Flores can do with young players. Now let's see what he can do with a lot of young talent.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Two ways to look at this.
1) For those of us looking to get a top player at a position of need, there can be few complaints. No, Miami didn't get a RB nor an OC, but WR, Edge OT, safety were addressed and some lower picks look like potential starters.
2) Those wanting specific names or ONE position (e.g., RB), not so much.
Weaknesses? Who knows? OC, but how will Skura work out? RB? I'm not convinced Flo is through with the churn. Again, no R1 back, but we're told 3-4 of them will be 'generational' when, in fact, all of us know all of them won't. I was hoping for a R2/R3 RB, but I want an upgrade at RB any way I can get it.
Unrelated, but FAs look good. Nothing is known for sure, but I see no downgrades and many should be significant upgrades.
I agree, kudos.

I definitely am curious as to how Miami see's Long's contributions year one. Do they view him as insurance in case Gesicki proves hard to sign, or goes elsewhere? Do they see two tight-end sets with Long and Gesicki? Was he simply too good to pass up, their top rated player on the board?

I mention Long specifically because Sermon was there for the taking in round three. I have no idea which player turns out better, but that is something to watch IMO.