Rounds 1-3 Draft Grades | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Rounds 1-3 Draft Grades

Chubby

Chubby

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Lets here it folks. Whats your grade for each round and overall so far?

Sorry folks, i am not a Dolphin Apologetic who thinks every move or pick is the greatest thing since slice bread.. Hickey did an above average job in Free Agency minus not filling the RG or RT positions but the draft is where GM's are made or broken.

Round 1-Grade C+
Desperation + Huge Gaping Need = Reaching for a player.
James - Will most likely come right in and play at RT.. who can be upset with that? But..... while he is an immediate upgrade at Pass Protection... His run protection leaves lots to be desired.. Most had James slotted as a 2nd to 3rd round player.. I truly beleive he was a mid to late round prospect.. So yes.. like it or not we reached and could have traded back and still landed him.. I dont buy this BS AZ interest rumors being slung around by Fin fans on twitter. It's not real folks dont believe it.

Round 2- B-
Good Player, But luxury pick with so many other gaping needs.
Landry- Love this guys game but would have preferred a few other guys who we could have landed. But you can play that game every year with almost every pick... so again Good pick but a luxury pick at this point.

Round 3- C+
Turner- Yes I know there are a bunch of you who have had a hard on for this guy for along time. Watching his videos i can see why.. He Dominated his competition... Thats just it... That level of competition was pretty average... Facts are he struggled as a OT in the Senior Bowl and no one I repeat No one knows if he can transition well into a Guard role successfully. But I think of all the guys drafted so far he has the most potential and highest ceiling.

Overall-C
Reaching for a pick, taking a luxury pick and semi reaching for a small school player normally doesn't bode well for GM's.. We will see.
Chubbs
 
Stopped reading after the C+ grade for the 1st round pick then the explanation of why round 2 was a B+- total contradiction.
 
I think Hickey did a commendable job by getting Shelley Smith and Jason Fox as veteran guys who if healthy can fill spots on the line . . . he addressed the OT/OG spots in the first 3 rounds. Our offensive line has 9 guys now (Albert/Pouncey/Smith/Fox/Thomas/James/Turner/Brenner/Garner) . . . an impressive feat all things considered.

I'd rate the draft a B/B- so far. . . I like that Hickey brought us high character, solid players at positions of need. I'd admit that he possibly could of been more crafty and gotten "more value" but I'm cool with the job he's done. The elephant in the room was Offensive Line and he addressed it with guys he wanted. The Landry pick was a nice surprise as well.
 
Agree completely with your analysis but not the grades.
Even though James was a reach, he at least deserves a B for being the best RT in the draft.
I'm ok with Landry's grade mostly because we could have had Allen Robinson.
A lot of pundits think Turner was our best pick and he actually did well at the Senior Bowl. B
 
Round 1 - James - B+ - He is a very good player taken earlier than expected by the pundits. Filled huge hole. We possibly could have traded back and still got him, but it is never a certainty.
Round 2 - Landry - B+ - Dynamic and reliable receiver, but a little bit slower than elite speed. He plays bigger and faster, and catches everything thrown to him.
Round 3 - Turner - B+ - Nasty, Tough, Versatile, and ready to plug in and start at LG. He went lower because he graduated from Div II school. Good scouting job.
I give the draft a B+ so far.
If we land Seastrunk and Crowell at RB, and a run stiffing ILB, and a space eating big DT, call it a draft. Most of our needs and concerns were addressed.
 
LANGER72 said:
Round 1 - James - B+ - He is a very good player taken earlier than expected by the pundits. Filled huge hole. We possibly could have traded back and still got him, but it is never a certainty.
Round 2 - Landry - B+ - Dynamic and reliable receiver, but a little bit slower than elite speed. He plays bigger and faster, and catches everything thrown to him.
Round 3 - Turner - B+ - Nasty, Tough, Versatile, and ready to plug in and start at LG. He went lower because he graduated from Div II school. Good scouting job.
I give the draft a B+ so far.
If we land Seastrunk and Crowell at RB, and a run stiffing ILB, and a space eating big DT, call it a draft. Most of our needs and concerns were addressed.
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with James that makes me somewhat uneasy is his strength. He is very Jonathan Martin like from that aspect and you hope he comes in and hits that weight room. The good thing is, he should be a marked improvement in pass pro which is what we needed more than anything else. If he puts the effort in, this could really be a great bookend tackle combo for the next 4 years.

The Texans reached on Duane Brown(according to experts) in 2008 and took him in the first round . . . he is arguably the best tackle from that class now.
 
Kdawg954 said:
The biggest problem with James that makes me somewhat uneasy is his strength. He is very Jonathan Martin like from that aspect and you hope he comes in and hits that weight room. The good thing is, he should be a marked improvement in pass pro which is what we needed more than anything else. If he puts the effort in, this could really be a great bookend tackle combo for the next 4 years.
Click to expand...
And truthfully this is a big concern of mine... Between him and Albert our OT's run blocking is average at best... which was a huge hole last year. Lets see
 
Chubby said:
Lets here it folks. Whats your grade for each round and overall so far?

Sorry folks, i am not a Dolphin Apologetic who thinks every move or pick is the greatest thing since slice bread.. Hickey did an above average job in Free Agency minus not filling the RG or RT positions but the draft is where GM's are made or broken.

Round 1-Grade C+
Desperation + Huge Gaping Need = Reaching for a player.
James - Will most likely come right in and play at RT.. who can be upset with that? But..... while he is an immediate upgrade at Pass Protection... His run protection leaves lots to be desired.. Most had James slotted as a 2nd to 3rd round player.. I truly beleive he was a mid to late round prospect.. So yes.. like it or not we reached and could have traded back and still landed him.. I dont buy this BS AZ interest rumors being slung around by Fin fans on twitter. It's not real folks dont believe it.

Round 2- B-
Good Player, But luxury pick with so many other gaping needs.
Landry- Love this guys game but would have preferred a few other guys who we could have landed. But you can play that game every year with almost every pick... so again Good pick but a luxury pick at this point.

Round 3- C+
Turner- Yes I know there are a bunch of you who have had a hard on for this guy for along time. Watching his videos i can see why.. He Dominated his competition... Thats just it... That level of competition was pretty average... Facts are he struggled as a OT in the Senior Bowl and no one I repeat No one knows if he can transition well into a Guard role successfully. But I think of all the guys drafted so far he has the most potential and highest ceiling.

Overall-C
Reaching for a pick, taking a luxury pick and semi reaching for a small school player normally doesn't bode well for GM's.. We will see.
Chubbs
Click to expand...



Wait, so you are condemning Hickey for reaching....AND taking a luxury pick? Which one is it? Do we reach and draft for need? Or do we take luxury BPA? You can't have it both ways.
 
James - B I think we could have still got either James or Bitonio in trade down and received a 3rd round pick. Very good players still in the third round or could have moved up again into the second round with the extra 3rd round. I think Bitonio can play RT just as good as James.

Landry B+ - We needed a WR and got a Bolding/Carter/Welker type. These all pros all run slow but are quick and catch everything. I wanted Jordan Mathews but he was gone. One can argue Allen Robinson is better but I think not.

Turner B - Maybe a little reach but he may start at a guard position. I think he is better then Thomas/Brenner/Garner so this is an upgrade. I think they reached for him cause he can play every position on the line even Center. He is like your poor mans Zach MArtin who they could not get. This essentially fixes our OL which lost 4 starters. Think about that.

Now we go after lb and CB in the 4th round.
 
Kdawg954 said:
The biggest problem with James that makes me somewhat uneasy is his strength. He is very Jonathan Martin like from that aspect and you hope he comes in and hits that weight room. The good thing is, he should be a marked improvement in pass pro which is what we needed more than anything else. If he puts the effort in, this could really be a great bookend tackle combo for the next 4 years.

The Texans reached on Duane Brown(according to experts) in 2008 and took him in the first round . . . he is arguably the best tackle from that class now.
Click to expand...


Actually he is nothing like Martin. Martin's lack of strength showed up in his pass protection. He could not anchor at all in his pass protection. He actually looked better going forward in his run blocking. James is the exact opposite in pass protection. He is awesome at anchoring and moving his feet in pass protection. He is not a mauler in run blocking, but that is not what is needed as much in a zone blocking scheme. Plus I have a lot of confidence he will get stronger working full time in an NFL weight training program.
 
At first I was thinking Landry sounded like a Devon Bess type guy, not real fast, but quick and can catch everything....but then I watched what the guy has done....Not like Bess at all lol Bess couldn't do what this guy is capable of at all.
 
Wasn't condemning actually gave it a decent grade did I not? But I mention there we're need players there who we could have picked. Again gave it a good grade. What else do you want ?
 
I think all that trading down was ridiculous when we moved back up anyway, for a guard who will play in 2015. When we were collecting extra picks like m&m's, I thought, well he's going the quantity route. But we started the draft with 1 pick in each of the first four rounds and that is where we ended up. I'm no draft guru but that kind of tells me they weren't exactly wizards at this.

Let's see what we get with that 5th rounder and if he makes the team.

I don't agree with the overall graft grade though, because you have to grade the players, not just the maneuvering. We have a solid RT that best case scenario, will anchor our line for years, and we added a weapon for Tannehill. That's a B.
 
Yeah, it's funny how some have bashed Hickey for not taking the BPA in round 1 and then bashing him for taking whom he considered the BPA in round2. When you've got one of the 4 or 5 highest rated receivers, aside from Watkins, the only other available HS 5-star recruit, commonly compared to Boldin, with 1 drop all season (did you hear that Wallace?) and credited by some for making Beckham Jr look good, in a pass happy league, it's a little inconsistent arguing against the pick.

James: our GM after doing his due-diligence considered him the Best of The Rest, and obviously by a wide margin, and in light of last season, drafted a high character, durable and SEC-effective plug and play RT (and a great pick according to SlimmJr). Grade B.. but only that low due to the circumstances and Ireland hole Hickey had to dig out from.

Landry: "A minus" (not an "A" based on value because staying put and IMO drafting Hyde would have been that) Quality kid whose work ethic will take him far

Turner "B": dominating with a winner's mindset and chip on his shoulder....whether he can make the transition is TBD, but I wouldn't bet against him (file under "Zach Thomas-analogous")

Overall Grade: "B+" or maybe 88/100 numerically.



 
Chubby said:
Wasn't condemning actually gave it a decent grade did I not? But I mention there we're need players there who we could have picked. Again gave it a good grade. What else do you want ?
Click to expand...

Chubby - I read and like TON's of your pot but your flip flopping is what Some of us is getting at. You mark him for taking a needed player (a good one at that) in the 1st, then turn around and say he picked another good player BUT there were other positions of need. Yes there was a huge need at OG at that point but NONE worth taking at that point. Hickey even traded down a few spots and still got the WR that I think was also a position of need contrary to many in the forum.

I give the draft thus far a B - B+ grade. I think the oline is fixed and we add a playmaking wr. I wouldn't be surprised if another line man is drafted and we have a need for a ILB.
 
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