The NFL draft kicked off last night in Kansas City, and the first round saw a number of trades, a few surprises and left a slew of quality players on the board for Friday in rounds two and three.
Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier decided to stay put and not make any moves to re-enter the first round. Of course, the Dolphins once were in the first round twice, but one of those picks turned into Bradley Chubb, and the other was taken away from the NFL due to tampering.
When looking at the first round, the talking points that are pertinent to the Dolphins were the two running backs taken in the top 12, Bijan Robinson to the Falcons and Jahmyr Gibbs to the Lions. Internet rumors swirled that Miami had inquired with teams about moving into the first, however, the assets it would’ve taken, and Grier’s economic stance on running backs, proved this was indeed just a rumor.
Secondly, with just one tight end selected, Dalton Kincaid by the Buffalo Bills, the Dolphins could end up with one of the remaining top five at the position. Should they stay at pick No. 51, names like Michael Mayer of Notre Dame, Luke Musgrave of Oregon State, Georgia’s Darnell Washington, Sam LaPorta of Iowa and South Dakota State’s Tucker Kraft are all available entering Friday, when the Pittsburgh Steelers start Day 2.
Miami is also in the market for offensive lineman help, and with about 20 picks until their scheduled first selection in this draft, a number of prospects could be intriguing to Grier.
Cody Mauch of North Dakota State, Matthew Bergeron of Syracuse, Dawand Jones of Ohio State and Steve Avila of TCU are four names to keep a watch on for Friday.
If the Dolphins elect to go tight end or offensive lineman, should the board fall a certain way from picks 32-50, Miami could have some excellent options and even have a choice to trade down a tad, say six to ten picks, and pick up another Day 2 selection.
If Grier could move down the board, pick up another pick, and still select a top-five tight end or quality offensive lineman, this would be a potentially massive win.
Miami may also be heading for an opportunity to potentially bring in a running back after June 1. The Dalvin Cook saga has been playing out the last few months, and with Minnesota set to save the most amount of money via a cut after June 1, the move may just be to wait.
Should the Vikings simply wait until then, a cut of Cook would save them $11 million and create a dead cap of just $3.1 million. As much as Miami fans would like this type of announcement to occur on draft weekend, patience will likely still have to be a virtue in this situation.
Of course, running backs are deep in this class, so Miami could always consider one via draft selection, but as Grier has demonstrated consistently, he doesn’t use top-end draft assets on runners, nor does he break the bank contractually.
While patterns are there to analyze, and the draft boards and strategies change with each pick, Miami enters Day 2 with options, and that’s the best thing you can hope for during the selection meeting. Miami is scheduled to pick at Nos. 51 and 84, with Day 3 picks scheduled at Nos. 197 and 238.
