Offensive First Guys Missing the Point?

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I saw every Dolphin game and Miami needs offense in the worst way. But I also feel that fans are overrating the team's defense, often pointing to its #5 ranking in support of going offense, offense, offense in the draft. True, the defense was highly rated but its best players - Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Joey Porter and Vonnie Holiday - are all 30+. This team needs a young playmaker on defense as badly as it needs one on offense. Looking three years down the road, as every good team does, who are the playmakers on this defense? I believe Matt Roth will become a good player and Channing Crowder is solid, but that's about it. Thomas will be 37, Taylor 35, Holliday 34 and Porter 33. All four could be gone.

So if the best player on the board at #9 is defense, which I think is likely, why not go defense? The draft is seven rounds and offense will come, but I'd hate to see the team reach for a Ted Ginn at #9 over an Abomi Okoye, Pat Willis or Adam Carriker -- three guys who I think will become dominate defenders.

 

[TexanPhinatic]

It all depends on what you consider a reach. You consider Ginn a reach, I would not.

The point is, why pass on an offensive playmaker which we desperately need, to add to a defense that has some age but is still performing well. Offensive need>defensive need at this point. Should no real playmaker be around (say Quinn/Russell/Ginn are all gone, i dont like Levi) then I wouldnt be opposed to Willis or Landry/Nelson, but for the moment we are good on D and can address THAT in the later rounds.

You work on the pieces that are broke and fix it rather than ignoring it and trying to prematurely stave off a breaking part. If we cant put more points on the board than we did last year we will be in the same boat.

 

[Crowder52]

I saw every Dolphin game and Miami needs offense in the worst way. But I also feel that fans are overrating the team's defense, often pointing to its #5 ranking in support of going offense, offense, offense in the draft. True, the defense was highly rated but its best players - Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Joey Porter and Vonnie Holiday - are all 30+. This team needs a young playmaker on defense as badly as it needs one on offense. Looking three years down the road, as every good team does, who are the playmakers on this defense? I believe Matt Roth will become a good player and Channing Crowder is solid, but that's about it. Thomas will be 37, Taylor 35, Holliday 34 and Porter 33. All four could be gone.

So if the best player on the board at #9 is defense, which I think is likely, why not go defense? The draft is seven rounds and offense will come, but I'd hate to see the team reach for a Ted Ginn at #9 over an Abomi Okoye, Pat Willis or Adam Carriker -- three guys who I think will become dominate defenders.

Yes, absolutely they are missing the point. You don't limit yourself to one side of the ball in the first round, you take the player you think has the brightest future. Obviously you don't take a RB when you have Ronnie or something like that, but our D-Line and secondary especially could both use some young talent.

 

[Nr. 54]

I like the BPA approach! No matter what side of the ball!

My (hopefully realistic) 3 Round Mock would be:
1. Landry S
2. Stanton QB
2b.Ugoh OT
3. Ben Patrick TE

I would rather take Carr than giving up a pick for thousqnd years old Green. And i think Carr is a lefty, which means LT wouldn´t be that much of a problem since we got Carey at RT!

 

[BlueFin]

I saw every Dolphin game and Miami needs offense in the worst way. But I also feel that fans are overrating the team's defense, often pointing to its #5 ranking in support of going offense, offense, offense in the draft. True, the defense was highly rated but its best players - Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Joey Porter and Vonnie Holiday - are all 30+. This team needs a young playmaker on defense as badly as it needs one on offense. Looking three years down the road, as every good team does, who are the playmakers on this defense? I believe Matt Roth will become a good player and Channing Crowder is solid, but that's about it. Thomas will be 37, Taylor 35, Holliday 34 and Porter 33. All four could be gone.

So if the best player on the board at #9 is defense, which I think is likely, why not go defense? The draft is seven rounds and offense will come, but I'd hate to see the team reach for a Ted Ginn at #9 over an Abomi Okoye, Pat Willis or Adam Carriker -- three guys who I think will become dominate defenders.

The three defensive players you named are the three that really intrigue me.

I do think they are all excellent prospects who will thrive in the NFL, particullary Pat Willis who I think is a "can't miss" Pro Bowl linebacker.

But, I will defer to Mueller on this, I really didn't watch enough of Ginn this year to give him an overall grade, but I do understand where your coming from.

 

[HEDAZHELAS24]

david carr is not a lefty but he is somewhat mobile which eases the LT job but we still need a top notch anchor over there or were never going anywhere...it all starts in the trenches

 

[Lab3003]

It all depends on what you consider a reach. You consider Ginn a reach, I would not.

The point is, why pass on an offensive playmaker which we desperately need, to add to a defense that has some age but is still performing well. Offensive need>defensive need at this point. Should no real playmaker be around (say Quinn/Russell/Ginn are all gone, i dont like Levi) then I wouldnt be opposed to Willis or Landry/Nelson, but for the moment we are good on D and can address THAT in the later rounds.

You work on the pieces that are broke and fix it rather than ignoring it and trying to prematurely stave off a breaking part. If we cant put more points on the board than we did last year we will be in the same boat.

I 100% agree.

 

[Austin Tatious]

This is an absolute great post SF Dolphin Fan. We need to draft BPA period, and we should every year. That's how you build a team for the long haul.

I suspect that Mueller gets that. Besides, he does not have the conflict of interest that inept coaches like Saban and Wanny had, where they make shortsighted personnel moves for constant immediate gratification.

If you take BPA, filling positions will take care of itself.

Landry at 9 would be a steal. Willis would be a good pick too. Carricker has great measurables and I would project will be far better and more well rounded than Grant Wistrom.

 

[ticophin]

Landry at 9 would be a steal. Willis would be a good pick too. Carricker has great measurables and I would project will be far better and more well rounded than Grant Wistrom.

If Landry, Quinn, or any other top 8 elite prospects are gone, perfect scenario would be to move down 4-5 spots, get either Wilis, Carricker,Staley, Nelson, or 1 of the multiple WRs available, and then load them weapons in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. We need not only to think down the road, but to stike fear into our opponents with something other than our D. Let`s balance this team!

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Yes, absolutely they are missing the point. You don't limit yourself to one side of the ball in the first round, you take the player you think has the brightest future. Obviously you don't take a RB when you have Ronnie or something like that, but our D-Line and secondary especially could both use some young talent.

Exactly. People keep forgetting that the draft is more than Round 1 and that this team needs help in a lot of areas, not just offense.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I like the BPA approach! No matter what side of the ball!

My (hopefully realistic) 3 Round Mock would be:
1. Landry S
2. Stanton QB
2b.Ugoh OT
3. Ben Patrick TE

I would rather take Carr than giving up a pick for thousqnd years old Green. And i think Carr is a lefty, which means LT wouldn´t be that much of a problem since we got Carey at RT!

I like your mock. Not sure what to expect from Ugoh, but he is a guy with talent. I've always liked Landry and I think Stanton would be a great qb for Cam to groom.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

The three defensive players you named are the three that really intrigue me.

I do think they are all excellent prospects who will thrive in the NFL, particullary Pat Willis who I think is a "can't miss" Pro Bowl linebacker.

But, I will defer to Mueller on this, I really didn't watch enough of Ginn this year to give him an overall grade, but I do understand where your coming from.

Willis was way underrated until the combine and personal workouts. How many linebacker run in the 4.3 range with his kind of talent? I think he will be great. Agree with you on Ginn. I haven't seen enough of him, but I do question whether his hands are good enough to merit top 10 consideration.

 

[maverick50]

sigh i sure miss having all our draft picks but most importatn its not the talent by itself that has doomed us, its the damn coahes and former gm that has ruined this franchise. :ninja: :boohoo:

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

This is an absolute great post SF Dolphin Fan. We need to draft BPA period, and we should every year. That's how you build a team for the long haul.

I suspect that Mueller gets that. Besides, he does not have the conflict of interest that inept coaches like Saban and Wanny had, where they make shortsighted personnel moves for constant immediate gratification.

If you take BPA, filling positions will take care of itself.

Landry at 9 would be a steal. Willis would be a good pick too. Carricker has great measurables and I would project will be far better and more well rounded than Grant Wistrom.

I think Jevon Kearse is a great example of that. Tennessee really needed a wide receiver, but Kearse was still on the board. They made the right choice and he was a big reason the team went to the super bowl. Can you imagine Miami adding someone like Okoye in the middle of the defense. You'd have Taylor and Porter coming from the outside with Okoye harrassing the qb in the middle. With that kind of move and a little more consistency at qb (Green could provide that) Miami could surprise.

 

[JT#1]

Exactly. People keep forgetting that the draft is more than Round 1 and that this team needs help in a lot of areas, not just offense.

Lets say we go defense with our first round pcik and say we get willis, would he even start this year? And would he make a big enough impact on the team to immediatly improve us? Sure he can take over the reigns after Zach leaves/retires, but crowder has already shown he can one day step into that roll and do fine once Zach leaves. Now lets say we get hall, will his impact on defense translate onto the offensive having a shorter field enough that it improves how many points we can score? As for defensive line depth we have drafted players in previous drafts to provide some depth, we just don't know how good they can be because our d line is full of verterens.We didn't lose games last year cause of defense, our offense played like crap, our defense was the only reason we won anything and we already improved it drastically by signing porter.