Eop05 said:
Or maybe if he does fall to 16, Saban wants to look interested so another team will get desperate and trade up with the Dolphins for him
That's exactly right. Saban is bringing in for workouts the top players at skill positions so that when DENVER finishes with the 15th pick at least 10 teams call him up to see what he'd want to trade down.
By feigning interest in a bunch of first round talent and by being active in FA and being able select BPA at #16 (at least that's the postion he's trying to project) that maximizes the possibility of a trade down which frankly, given the depth of this draft is the best thing the Dolphins can do.
In my opinion, giving up the #16 pick in exchange for a late first round pick (swap of picks) in addition to a Second Round pick and a Fifth Round pick sounds about right. That way we move back ten spaces, pick up Nick Mangold, get our second rounder and fifth rounder back and still manage to get value out of it.
We may trade out of the truly elite players, but we'd still get good players that would impact our team. Think of it this way, How many CHANNING CROWDER caliber players could this team use?
My contention is that once you're out of the top ten college players, picks #11 - 96 are a crapshoot and roughly (and arguably) even, depending on any given team's scheme.
We chose in the second round Matt Roth who might be great one day but so far hasn't done much, and then we chose in the third round Channing Crowder who has been spectacular. Roth went 32 picks earlier than CROWDER, but has he been 32 picks BETTER as a rookie than CROWDER? Nope. Like I said, one day he might come on but right now you'd have to say that CROWDER was the better player, all things considered. By trading down we're giving ourselves more opportunities to select another CROWDER. It's our best move.
By trading down we give ourselves a chance to not just two more players of CROWDER'S caliber, but four. Four guys like CROWDER, young and strong and resilient could put this team over the top. A big LB, a C, a speed WR and a CB could be the difference in winning 8 games or winning 12 games!
When your philosophy (SABAN'S) is all about building a team through the draft, 2 first day picks just won't cut it. Nick is trying to generate concern from about ten teams that their "guy" won't be there and that a trade up is the only way to go and secure the player they want.
Either way we'll be ok because I believe that Nick will indeed grab the BPA if we have no viable trade partner and frankly, I hope we grab SANTONIO HOLMES so that DAUNTE has a speed weapon on the outside to scare defenses and so that we can move CHAMBERS around on third down and really scare the crap out of Defensive Coordinators around the league. We just don't scare anyone if they can double CHAMBERS, but adding speed to the outside or in the slot will really open things up for us. BOOKER is a possesion guy and WELKER's speed is more about quickness, no safety fears that guy. CAMPBELL was out of football last year and for all we know won't even make the cut so, we can't BANK on him. A speed WR will make this offense GO, of that there is no doubt.
Still, having said that, I still hope we can trade down. I'll put my money on SABAN's and MUELLER's picks in the mid rounds over almost any other team's selections right now, including PITT and NE.
I believe that this year, my beloved PHINS are indeed going to be special.
CAN'T WAIT UNTIL DRAFT DAY!!
Go PHINS!!!
