FanPost

Rating Draft Picks thru Rd. 3

Round 1 - 8th pick: Ryan Tannehill, QB, Texas A&M

Well love it or hate it, Ireland finally went with the franchise QB. IMO taking Tannehill at 8 is a little high for a guy that started all of 18 games at Texas A&M, but I guess the potential is there and that is what our front office (FO) is banking on.


The fact is Sherman coached the guy and therefore he could be biased, but I think having coached him in college gave our FO the insight that no one else really could have (i.e. his work ethic, type of person he is, etc. to go along with his playing abilities).
Ultimately, with the success Matt Moore had and the signing of David Garrard pretty much tells me that Tannehill is probably not going to see many snaps under center this year, which is fine by me. The reason being, this is one of the primary reasons we targeted Philbin, he has the ability to develop young quarterbacks (i.e. Aaron Rodgers Super Bowl and NFL MVP, as well as Matt Flynn who was a 7th rounder and is now considered a NFL starting QB). So if anyone is going to get the maximum potential out of Tannehill it is going to be the combination of Sherman and Philbin.
And if all else fails, we could always covert him back to WR...haha just playin.
Round 2 - 42nd pick: Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford
I really like this pick. We have a huge hole on the right side and needed to take a tackle/guard, preferably tackle, and we got just that. We could have possibly waited and taken one in the third round, but once our third round pick came around the talent level dropped off significantly at the tackle position.
Some experts are saying Martin is more of a 'finesse' tackle (whatever that means), but the fact is the guy has good footwork which is what you want in a tackle and the guy has some of the longest arms of all the tackles in this years draft. They also say his strength is a weakness of his, but once he gets in the weight room the Dolphins strength and conditioning coaches will solve that problem in no time.
Ultimately, the guy has first round talent and will be an anchor on the right side (opposite the best LT in the game) for the next decade; and we now have three lineman who are pro bowl caliber players to protect Tannehill once he takes control of the offense.
Round 3 - 72nd pick: Olivier Vernon, DE, The U
I do not know much about this guy, but I do know he was suspended for 6 games this year for accepting improper benefits and that if he was to have played the entire season he probably would have been a higher pick. One of my good friends goes to Miami and is a Jet fan, yet he tells me this guy is a beast and that we got a steal taking him in the third. So I am hoping he is right and that we struck gold with this pick and found that pass rusher to line up opposite of Wake.
Round 3 - 78th pick: Michael Egnew, TE, Missouri
The guy is 6'5" and change, he ran a 4.62 at the combine and had a 36" vertical leap. In other words, he is a match up nightmare. Now myself, and probably along with many other Dolphin fans were yelling for the Fins to take a receiver here; but the more I looked into Egnew, the more I grew to love the pick. Just a little comparison: Jimmy Graham is 6'6", had a 38.5" vertical and ran in the 4.53-4.62 range in his 40 times. Now is Egnew gonna be the next Graham, probably not because Graham is a freak but he has similar skills set. McShay put it in good context when he said Philbin probably drafted Egnew to be his JerMichael Finley in his developing Dolphin offense.

What we as fans have to realize that this is Philbin's first year drafting players and offenses are not built in one draft. Would it be nice to get an immediate replacement for Marshall...of course it would, but we did not have 3 second rounders like the Rams did so taking Tannehill and Ignew in his first year are solid pieces in the construction of his future offense.
Not to mention we still have a 4th rounder (103), 5th rounder (145), two 6th rounders (183 and 196), and a 7th rounder (215)
Now as for the rest of our picks...once it gets to the 4th round and later I believe you should take the best talent that is left on your draft board. Now, I would still love to see us grab a WR and Tommy Streeter out of The U is 6'5" and ran a 4.40 in the 40 at the combine. I also got to see him play in college and the guy is big time play maker and it would also fill a glaring need of ours.

If Streeter is not available I think Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa would be a a solid pick up for several reasons. For one, if we are going to follow suit with drafting players that were coached by their former college coaches then this would make sense because our new wide receivers coach is Ken O’Keefe who was Iowa’s offensive coordinator for the last 13 years. Also, McNutt is just a solid WR prospect: 1) he has good size at 6’3” and 216 lbs; 2) he has a vertical jump of 37 inches; 3) he ran his Combine 40 in 4.54 seconds; 4) he also ran a 4.07 in the 20 yard shuttle which is pretty good considering the best time was 3.90. Additionally, this past year he had 82 receptions, 1315 yards receiving, averaged 16 yards per catch, and 12 touchdowns. So, all in all, the guy would be a solid pick up with any one of our picks we have left.
Other positions I can see us adding depth at is safety, outside linebacker, guard, and you can never have too many pass rushers and/or corners. But I think along with myself, the rest of Dolphin nation are going to be pleading with the FO to take a receiver with at least one of our 5 picks we have left.
All in all though, I think Philbin and Ireland have done a decent job with this draft and we still have 5 picks to go.



This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.