Now that the draft is over, my biggest concern is at guard. The projected starters are Wynn and Eichenberg. That's not a comfortable feeling.
I'm not disappointed in the draft, as Grier was looking for the future while balancing the need for edge rushers, but would have like to add a quality guard.
Others on the roster include Cotton, Driscoll (added as a free agent), Hayes (a later rounder last year), Hines, and Robert Jones. There were a few added as UDFA as well.
Do we think Grier signs another offensive linemen, or hopes some young players step up?
I anticipate the Dolphins are not done bringing in players for training camp.
I anticipate there may be some more OL players brought in. As to which positions are brought in, that is more a question of which good players are available as opposed to where we are weakest at. And like our recent draft, the FA's we bring in are going to be a kind of BPA as opposed to being direct fills for weak spots.
I will point out that there are posters here so tied up in their personal "angst" over a players' past performance that it blinds them to any improvements that a player may or may not have made. They become terribly "myopic" in terms of some of our OL players from last year. One player didn't have any notable success until the end of the season when he started to show some serious competence.
He now has both experience and has started to perform effectively. Should we discard him for someone who may not be much better as of today and would want a lot more money? The answer should be an obvious NO, unless we can bring in someone who is in the top 10 in the NFL and has 5 or more years of effective play left in him, if such a player exists. If he does exist, would we be able to afford him? NO, we would not be able to afford him.
In the end, it's overall team improvement at depth which appears to be the FO's goal this season - based on who they have already brought in as FA's, along with our recent draft picks.
This represents a significant turning point in the way the Dolphins are developing as a team, as opposed to when desperation drove our player selection process. One typical indicator is the loss of some good players leaving to enter FA. This is most noticeable on good teams because they have better players!
We still have some seriously good players on the OL and have bought in some potential replacements to improve weaker spots on the OL. We are also bringing in some potentially future elite players. Only time and experience will tell, but we are certainly "setting the table" with our recent draft with some solid selections and some potentially super selections of untested (in the NFL) players.
First off though, they have to make the 53-man roster. Until then, complaining about who we picked is just an exercise in ego inflation. As we delve into UDFA's where we appear to have a much higher success rate that other teams have, we can see where the FO is going and that is for strength in depth and one or two riskier picks that show a plausibility to be "real studs".
Last year we made the playoffs even though we were riddled with injuries - worse than any other team in the league - and finished the season with a lot of third string players on the field. That says more about this team than any of our "Lemmings" hyperbolic, inaccurate, and most often, erroneous posts.
This year I am satisfied we will be starting with a slightly better team, but one that will have significantly better depth across the board. For those reasons I feel we will win our division and be very competitive in the playoffs.
That's the facts Jack. - LOL
