WalterFootball.com -- Day 1 winners & losers -- Yup, Dolphins are losers

[eric1317]

I respect hickey's evaluation on James. I hope and pray he is the player Hickey thinks he is, but that doesn't change his mistake. If James was the perfect fit for the fins, he was not for every team. His failure was not accurately accessing his opponents. He could have accepted a similar deal with Cleveland and had a good opportunity to pick up the same player. My estimation is he could have been a 10 to 1 favorite to still get his guy at 26, but was afraid to take a chance. Anytime you get ten to one you take it. If your confident you assume you'll get another starter in the third. If you miss on James oh well. Pick a different starter and nail the extra 3rd rounder.

 

[NYPhinzFan]

Walter Football is correct. James is a good player and fills a dire need, but the highest I had seen him rated anywhere was the top half of the 2nd round. I'm happy we have James on our team, and it makes us better, but it was still a reach.

Is it really a reach if he won't be there the next time you pick? Also, at the end of the day, noone knows if he would've been there even three picks later. As Hickey indicated, they had 5 tackles ranked in the first round and he was the last on the board. If it's a need, you have him ranked highly, and you like the kid, why risk it?

I get it wasn't a "sexy" pick. I was a little bummed myself by the pick, and not because of James, but because all the playmakers that I hoped would fall to us, didn't. At that point, just take your tackle. I also LOVE the fact that he played RT in college and we're not asking a career LT to switch sides and pray that he plays at just as high a level at a different position.

 

[gafin]

I didn't like the pick, but it's time to move on. I still like the Dolphins. As Parcells used to say "it is what it is."

 

[TruthBeTold]

He is a right tackle in college during his career. Not a playmaker or even a left tackle. Not a first round pick but a glorified guard. Just my opinion. Weak choice. We're still screwed as always.

 

[NYPhinzFan]

Valid point, but all we can do is react now with the info that is available today. I hope I'm wrong, and I want James to be a Pro-bowler for the next 10 years. That would make me very happy. But the pick left me very dissatisfied, and I am now very skeptical of Hickey's ability to conduct a draft. That's just how I feel, and I can't help it. Sorry.

This sounds like a personal problem that you should work on. I get not being thrilled about the pick for your own reasons, but to be skeptical of the entire draft after one pick (pick of which details you, I or any of the media have no insight into as they don't see our boards or in team meetings) is pretty sad. Do you turn off the game if the team is down 7-0 after the first quarter too?

 

[NYPhinzFan]

CBS Sports ranked James as the 38th best player. That is actually a much higher ranking than most other sites, but that is still 19 spots later than where Miami picked James.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospectrankings

38th best player doesn't mean that the player is drafted at #38, you realize this right? Tons of teams draft for need while some draft for want. The second rated player in the draft could easily go #12 if none of the other 11 teams need a player at his position. What are you guys not getting? So we drafted Clinton-Dix even though we signed a young possible starter in Delmas, to have him sit on the bench while a highly rated player of dire need is available for us to draft? I'm sorry, but that logic makes zero sense to me.

 

[Pachyderm_Wave]

Well, Ja'Wuan James can flat out play. You have to start at the beginning.

Coach Saban and Kirby Smart recruited him hard to Alabama, even AFTER we had locked up the top offensive lineman in the country to play right tackle in D.J. Fluker. James was a 4-Star prospect and everybody in the SEC was on his tail. He's absolutely incredible in pass protection, although he needs work on his run blocking. He lacks pop on contact in the run game and he's not a finisher. However, once he gets his hands on the defender and locks out, it's over. I don't care who it is. He has an extremely wide powerbase in vertical pass sets, and nearly impossible to get around those long 35" arms.

There's a lot of DE's that went in the 1st round last night and top 100 picks last year that Ja'Wuan James has absolutely dominated one-on-one in pass protection. Nevermind what that talking heads and websites say. Watch the tape. He's just superb in pass protection. He needs to add upper body strength and could be a bit more physical, but it's not nearly enough to discount the quality of his pass protection. This is why he deserves a high grade for the pass happy NFL.

Boring pick? Absolutely. Especially for a team that just continues to invest top picks along the offensive line because they can never get it right, even when they do. But when you look at the board and what was available to Miami with the pick, there just wasn't any other specific talent available that addressed a desperate need after players like Fuller, Shazier, Mosley, and Martin were gone.

I'm quick to call out a team like Miami for their continued investments in non-impact offensive lineman while passing up talent at impact positions.... but can't justify it in this case. It was the right pick. Miami is absolutely desperate to fill 3 spots along the offensive line because of Jeff Ireland's failures, and none moreso than the right tackle spot. I mean, they're on the verge of not even being able to field 11 guys on offense if they had a game tomorrow because of the offensive line. I think they did away with one of those concerns last night.

Pay attention to this guy's lateral movement skills. They're literally off the charts... proven by his cone and shuttle times at the combine. Which is why he's such a good fit for a team like Miami that wants to zone up front. It's hard to critique this pick for a team that can't protect their young quarterback and just allowed a team record 58 sacks. I'll bet high they don't approach anything near that in 2014.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

Here is what all the people commenting on the pick are forgetting, the draft "experts" are wrong at least 50% of the time, probably more. Walter Football had Nate Solder as their 5th rated tackle in 2011. The Pats took him with the 17th pick (second tackle taken). Clearly (according to Walter Football) the pick was a reach. The Pats blew it, right? No. I'm pretty sure they are happy with the pick regardless of where a bunch of analysts had him ranked.

 

[Jonny]

If you look at Walter footballs strengths and weaknesses he sounds like a pretty fantastic player. Only three weakesses and they are easily coached.

 

[fininpsl]

If you look at Walter footballs strengths and weaknesses he sounds like a pretty fantastic player. Only three weakesses and they are easily coached.

Not that most people on here want to hear it, but it's possible the talking heads and most of the amateur talent scouts were flat wrong on James from the get go with their rating on him , and the proof is in precisely what you are pointing out. There are very few evaluations of him that have much negative to say about him. It's not at all uncommon for a guy to be ranked as a 2nd round prospect by the "experts" who don't get paid to make these pick, and for players to be more highly rated by those in the NFL. I'll take it as a very big positive that both CK, and Slimm sign off on this kid. MAYBE we could have traded back and still got him, but he was our guy. Was it really worth the risk to drop back and risk losing him if your Hickey, and this is the guy you wanted all along? Everybody acts like they know he would have still been there, but I'll wager a bet that not one of those people thought Dallas was going to take Zach Martin. Not one. But ask them and they'll say they know how it would have shaken out had we traded back.

 

[andyahs]

If you look at Walter footballs strengths and weaknesses he sounds like a pretty fantastic player. Only three weakesses and they are easily coached.

And we have a pretty good new o-line coach.

 

[Greatness920]

If you think about it this guy was projected mid 30s... our next pick is 50... no chance we get him second round so if no trades down then pick the guy you want. not a big deal its not like he was staring martin, mosley or shazier in the face and didn't pick them. he followed his chart and rolled with it. we just gotta hope something falls to us.

 

[JCPHIN_PHAN]

Well, Ja'Wuan James can flat out play. You have to start at the beginning.

Coach Saban and Kirby Smart recruited him hard to Alabama, even AFTER we had locked up the top offensive lineman in the country to play right tackle in D.J. Fluker. James was a 4-Star prospect and everybody in the SEC was on his tail. He's absolutely incredible in pass protection, although he needs work on his run blocking. He lacks pop on contact in the run game and he's not a finisher. However, once he gets his hands on the defender and locks out, it's over. I don't care who it is. He has an extremely wide powerbase in vertical pass sets, and nearly impossible to get around those long 35" arms.

There's a lot of DE's that went in the 1st round last night and top 100 picks last year that Ja'Wuan James has absolutely dominated one-on-one in pass protection. Nevermind what that talking heads and websites say. Watch the tape. He's just superb in pass protection. He needs to add upper body strength and could be a bit more physical, but it's not nearly enough to discount the quality of his pass protection. This is why he deserves a high grade for the pass happy NFL.

Boring pick? Absolutely. Especially for a team that just continues to invest top picks along the offensive line because they can never get it right, even when they do. But when you look at the board and what was available to Miami with the pick, there just wasn't any other specific talent available that addressed a desperate need after players like Fuller, Shazier, Mosley, and Martin were gone.

I'm quick to call out a team like Miami for their continued investments in non-impact offensive lineman while passing up talent at impact positions.... but can't justify it in this case. It was the right pick. Miami is absolutely desperate to fill 3 spots along the offensive line because of Jeff Ireland's failures, and none moreso than the right tackle spot. I mean, they're on the verge of not even being able to field 11 guys on offense if they had a game tomorrow because of the offensive line. I think they did away with one of those concerns last night.

Pay attention to this guy's lateral movement skills. They're literally off the charts... proven by his cone and shuttle times at the combine. Which is why he's such a good fit for a team like Miami that wants to zone up front. It's hard to critique this pick for a team that can't protect their young quarterback and just allowed a team record 58 sacks. I'll bet high they don't approach anything near that in 2014.

I feel so relieved now after reading this. Thanks for the insight. Who would you target in the 2nd round if you were the phins GM at th 50th pick?

 

[tay0365]

As soon as I saw the headline, I knew the Dolphins were on the losers list. Pretty obvious.

http://walterfootball.com/draft2014winnerslosers.php

I went to sleep furious, and woke up furious. New GM, same stupidity. I don't get it.

OH NO!!! I guess the season is over, if Walterfootball did not like Miami's pick. So what if this will allow Tannehill to actually concentrate on the play and not saving his butt from the continuous pass-rush each play.

 

[Vaark]

I don't get what you are trying to say. They predicted us to make a terrible pick. They had info before the draft that Miami had a first round grade for JuWuan James. Based on that info, they mocked James to Miami. Just because they mocked him to us, doesn't mean they agreed with the pick. They predicted properly, and then bashed Miami for being predictably stupid. Your logic is flawed. Take a minute to think it through. Lol.

I'm gonna type this s-l-o-w-l-y: go read the actual mock (and if you're too lazy to do so before condemning it, I'm gonna make you work by not furnishing the link). But the Monarch Notes version essentially declares how dire the offensive line needs are and if Martin is off the board which he will be early, James is the logical next pick. Also provides two alternative picks (you can look em up but both are off the board already too). No where does the mock condemn the pick other than saying it's not one of the top 4, which is moot anyway.

It's like a judge telling you beforehand that if your life and limb is in jeopardy, shoot first and ask questions later, doing what you need to do, and then at your trial lecturing you that you did the wrong thing and should have found other alternatives (which he still couldn't suggest). Sheeesh! Sorry if reality got in your way on this :idk: