Draft Nuggets

MATT RYAN TO DOLPHINS?
As first pointed out by "Natalya" as a comment in this diary, Matt Mosley writes the following in his Hashmarks blog on ESPN.com:

First, let's say this.  Mosley was a long time Cowboys beat reporter, so he is familiar with Bill Parcells, Jeff Ireland, and Tony Sparano.  

However, Mosley began this entry by saying that the Dolphins are "the most tight-lipped organization in football right now."  If that is the case, how in the world would Mosley himself know that the Dolphins will draft Matt Ryan if they can sign him to a deal before the draft?

And let's not forget the fact that drafting a player because Miami can sign him to a deal early really isn't the best way to select a player.  If that's the lone criteria that separates Ryan and Chris Long in Miami's eyes, then I'd really question this front office's decision making.  But I highly doubt that "signability" is going to be a deciding factor in all this.

To me, this whole thing just stinks of being a smokescreen.  And if it is (as I think it is), it's becoming one of the most elaborate smokescreens I can remember.

And one last thing about this, Adam Schefter said on Tuesday's edition of Total Access that he still thinks the pick will be Chris Long and points out that Parcells' last 6 1st round picks have all been on the defensive side of the ball.  Again, it's just more speculation.  But I do trust Schefter more than Mosley.

GLENN DORSEY STILL IN MIX?
I was reading a recent blog post by Omar Kelly, who does an excellent job for the Sun-Sentinel and there was one thing that really caught my attention:

And since LSU's pro day was yesterday, let's quickly touch on Dorsey's results.  He weighed in at 6'1, 297.  Again, that's too small for a 3-4 nose tackle.  He ran the 40 in 5.14, which isn't bad at all for a defensive tackle.  He also benched 225 pounds 27 times, which isn't bad but also isn't overly impressive.  I think the thing I take away from all the numbers from his pro day is that nothing really jumped out at me enough to convince me that he should go #1 overall.  Also, he'd have to move to defensive end in a 3-4 kind of like a Vonnie Holliday type player.  I'm not sure that it's worth taking a risk on a player like this with injury risks with the #1 overall pick.

But you tell me.  Am I wrong here or would you prefer the Dolphins not to take Dorsey?

FINS MEETING PRIVATELY WITH TOP PROSPECTS
Here's an interesting little nugget that comes to us courtesy of Barry Jackson:

Noticeably absent from this list of private meetings is Vernon Gholston.  Though I wouldn't read too much into that, as there's still plenty of time to meet.  

One thing I began pondering, though, when reading this is if the Dolphins will open negotiations with all 3 of these above guys (and even others like Gholston or Dorsey) in the week prior to the draft.  After all, it wouldn't hurt to reach deals "in principle" with all the guys the Dolphins are looking at just to avoid a holdout of any kind.  Reaching a deal with Matt Ryan would also serve as yet another way to thicken the smokescreen the Dolphins may be creating.

With all this said, I think over the next 3 weeks, we are going to get a much better feel for who the Dolphins will take #1 overall.  Until then, though, let's just all enjoy the ride.  Because this is the first time in a long time that the Dolphins are the center of attention in the NFL world.

Thoughts?