Every year this site is filled with "We Need OL In this Draft" or "It all Starts with the OL" or "We Need to take this Guard in Second Round"
I'm going to tell you why this ignores history and ignores what the successful teams have done to build their teams and OLs.
It seems like way too many fans want an entire line full of first and second round picks and the swing tackle to be a high pick as well. It's gotten so ridiculous it's almost become a parody of crazy fans. This morning a fan texted the Joe Rose show that our draft should go OL. OL, OL, OL, OL, OL and then maybe a DE in round 7.
This would be funny if I knew the guy and many fans weren't dead serious about doing this. It's like a broken record that says the wrong thing year after year,
Let's look at why it's a counterproductive thing to do on most years. If you need a LT and are picking in top 10 or one slides to you then by all means draft one in Round 1. We're not in that situation. We're talk about a line that needs a guard and a swing tackle and far better coaching (more on that later)
Look at the OL's of the four remaining teams in playoffs
They aren't full of first and second rounders. The Pats have two high round tackles who aren't healthy but have managed to fill in their interior lineman spots with college free agents like David Andrews and fourth rounders like Tre Jackson and Bryan Stork.
Carolina has Ryan Kalil who was a first rounder but is also full of guys like fourth round All Pro Trai Turner and some late round picks. Oher, Turner, Norwell, Kalil and Remmers was not built through the first two years of Panther drafts
Denver has a line full of free agents and low rounders (remind me again why we didn't sign Evan Mathis) The line of Vasquez, Mathis, Harris, Schofield and Paradis did not cost the Broncos any high draft picks.
Arizona has a line with a mixture of guys but I can't remember a high round pick that starts. Iupati and Veldheer were free agents and Larsen, Massie and Sendlein were lower round guys.
The final four offensive lines are good for several reasons , highest among them I would think is that their FO's and coaches are great at identifying the right players for their systems and then getting them through free agency or on days 3 and 4 of the draft.
We had an absolute disaster of a HC who was labeled an OL coach who was a big proponent of this philosophy of drafting OL high every year. Where did that get us? We may have wasted two thirds and a fourth on guards taken in the last three drafts. The biggest disaster may be the guy that Joe Philbin went to go see in the Senior Bowl three years ago and pounded the table to take with a third round pick that should have been spent on a player, any player, who could have provided a bigger impact.
That player, of course, was LG Dallas Thomas, who is the worst guard I've ever seen and based on his play shouldn't be on this roster one second more.
I don't blame him as much as I do Philbin and Ireland who had the arrogance and stupidity to think they have to have a slug like Thomas who should have not even been drafted. the fact that they took him with a shoulder injury in the THIRD round was a joke.
Opportunity Costs
Guards have no value in round 1-3 imo. Unless you want to dig up John Hannah, why would I take a guard in Round 2 or 3 when I can get one 2 days later or even as a college free agent? Bettter yet, get a guard in free agency who already knows how to play. There's no guarantee any of the OL you guys drool about can step in and play next year. If you get a top ten tackle, sure, your odds are better but look at all the rolls of the dice our 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounders have produced. Jon Martin, D Thomas, Jamil Douglas and Billt Turner have all been disasters, even in years 2 and 3 of their careers.
College centers usually don't usually give back high round value either. If you have multiple needs (ala fixing the entire Dolphin defense) it makes no sense to take a guard or a C or a RT over a position which could offer more impact like a LB, CB or RB/WR.
I like J'Wan James but there's no way he offers as much value as players picked behind him such as Brandin Cooks, Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, Kelvin Benjamin, or Deone Buchanon. especially if you look at the long term potential of those guys.
If you saw some of the players taken AFTER Dallas Thomas, you'd yak. I have and I have.
Hickey and Philbin got LOCKED into the idea that they HAD to have a RT in that draft and they reached big time, they panicked and when I read these fan pleas for more OL through the draft I hear the same panic and illogical thinking that has derailed many a Miami draft.
2004- Miami had many needs but at the top was OL in dopey Ricky Spielman's mind. He panicked, traded up one spot, while wasting a pick to do so, and picked a RT/G in Round 1. Vernon Carey had a solid but brief NFL career. The guy picked one pick behind him by the team that keeps winning Super Bowls was Vince Wilfork, who has had a long, productive Hall of Fame impact kind of a career. That's a big reason why they're where they are and why Miami fires GM's as often as Trump fires his barbers.
The facts support that good teams are taking impact players in rounds 1-3 and guards, RT's and centers later and through free agency. Miami is a team that needs more youth and speed and talent on defense. You get that in the draft. Good teams do not have MULTIPLE 1st-3rd rounders invested in their OL. Please no more, " we need the Stanford guard in round 2 (really, Jon Martin didn't turn you off to Stanford OL forever?) or the Marshall guard in round 3"
We need better OL coaching and a FA guard not more Flat Earth thinking that was the hallmark of the Failbin/Ireland administration.
I'm going to tell you why this ignores history and ignores what the successful teams have done to build their teams and OLs.
It seems like way too many fans want an entire line full of first and second round picks and the swing tackle to be a high pick as well. It's gotten so ridiculous it's almost become a parody of crazy fans. This morning a fan texted the Joe Rose show that our draft should go OL. OL, OL, OL, OL, OL and then maybe a DE in round 7.
This would be funny if I knew the guy and many fans weren't dead serious about doing this. It's like a broken record that says the wrong thing year after year,
Let's look at why it's a counterproductive thing to do on most years. If you need a LT and are picking in top 10 or one slides to you then by all means draft one in Round 1. We're not in that situation. We're talk about a line that needs a guard and a swing tackle and far better coaching (more on that later)
Look at the OL's of the four remaining teams in playoffs
They aren't full of first and second rounders. The Pats have two high round tackles who aren't healthy but have managed to fill in their interior lineman spots with college free agents like David Andrews and fourth rounders like Tre Jackson and Bryan Stork.
Carolina has Ryan Kalil who was a first rounder but is also full of guys like fourth round All Pro Trai Turner and some late round picks. Oher, Turner, Norwell, Kalil and Remmers was not built through the first two years of Panther drafts
Denver has a line full of free agents and low rounders (remind me again why we didn't sign Evan Mathis) The line of Vasquez, Mathis, Harris, Schofield and Paradis did not cost the Broncos any high draft picks.
Arizona has a line with a mixture of guys but I can't remember a high round pick that starts. Iupati and Veldheer were free agents and Larsen, Massie and Sendlein were lower round guys.
The final four offensive lines are good for several reasons , highest among them I would think is that their FO's and coaches are great at identifying the right players for their systems and then getting them through free agency or on days 3 and 4 of the draft.
We had an absolute disaster of a HC who was labeled an OL coach who was a big proponent of this philosophy of drafting OL high every year. Where did that get us? We may have wasted two thirds and a fourth on guards taken in the last three drafts. The biggest disaster may be the guy that Joe Philbin went to go see in the Senior Bowl three years ago and pounded the table to take with a third round pick that should have been spent on a player, any player, who could have provided a bigger impact.
That player, of course, was LG Dallas Thomas, who is the worst guard I've ever seen and based on his play shouldn't be on this roster one second more.
I don't blame him as much as I do Philbin and Ireland who had the arrogance and stupidity to think they have to have a slug like Thomas who should have not even been drafted. the fact that they took him with a shoulder injury in the THIRD round was a joke.
Opportunity Costs
Guards have no value in round 1-3 imo. Unless you want to dig up John Hannah, why would I take a guard in Round 2 or 3 when I can get one 2 days later or even as a college free agent? Bettter yet, get a guard in free agency who already knows how to play. There's no guarantee any of the OL you guys drool about can step in and play next year. If you get a top ten tackle, sure, your odds are better but look at all the rolls of the dice our 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounders have produced. Jon Martin, D Thomas, Jamil Douglas and Billt Turner have all been disasters, even in years 2 and 3 of their careers.
College centers usually don't usually give back high round value either. If you have multiple needs (ala fixing the entire Dolphin defense) it makes no sense to take a guard or a C or a RT over a position which could offer more impact like a LB, CB or RB/WR.
I like J'Wan James but there's no way he offers as much value as players picked behind him such as Brandin Cooks, Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, Kelvin Benjamin, or Deone Buchanon. especially if you look at the long term potential of those guys.
If you saw some of the players taken AFTER Dallas Thomas, you'd yak. I have and I have.
Hickey and Philbin got LOCKED into the idea that they HAD to have a RT in that draft and they reached big time, they panicked and when I read these fan pleas for more OL through the draft I hear the same panic and illogical thinking that has derailed many a Miami draft.
2004- Miami had many needs but at the top was OL in dopey Ricky Spielman's mind. He panicked, traded up one spot, while wasting a pick to do so, and picked a RT/G in Round 1. Vernon Carey had a solid but brief NFL career. The guy picked one pick behind him by the team that keeps winning Super Bowls was Vince Wilfork, who has had a long, productive Hall of Fame impact kind of a career. That's a big reason why they're where they are and why Miami fires GM's as often as Trump fires his barbers.
The facts support that good teams are taking impact players in rounds 1-3 and guards, RT's and centers later and through free agency. Miami is a team that needs more youth and speed and talent on defense. You get that in the draft. Good teams do not have MULTIPLE 1st-3rd rounders invested in their OL. Please no more, " we need the Stanford guard in round 2 (really, Jon Martin didn't turn you off to Stanford OL forever?) or the Marshall guard in round 3"
We need better OL coaching and a FA guard not more Flat Earth thinking that was the hallmark of the Failbin/Ireland administration.
