In just ten days the Miami Dolphins will be back on the clock and looking to bring home a strong draft to supplant them firmly in the AFC East division race. While Miami's drafts over the last 10 years come out to "average" at best, it certainly correlates to Miami's disappointing performance over the last 10 years, and the fact that they haven't won a single playoff game in that span. Good teams make the most of the draft.
However, Miami has certainly made some good picks in that span. Unfortunately, they have made some bad picks as well, a knack that even the most successful of teams haven't been able to avoid. Let's take a look at Miami's BEST and WORST picks over the last 10 years.
2015:
Best Pick- Jay Ajayi, Round 5, Pick 149.
Worst Pick- Cedric Thompson, Round 5, Pick 150.
The jury is still out on this draft class because it's less than one year old, however the future looks promising. Devante Parker looks to be the right guy for the job at pick 14, and Miami was fortunate for him to fall that far. While Parker and Ajayi both look to take over as starters in their second season, I have got to give the slight edge to Ajayi here, who has lived up to his expectations so far about being a possible diamond in the rough in Round 5. The very next pick, Cedric Thompson, unfortunately gets the Worst Pick honors, as he is the only member of the draft class who didn't make the 53-man roster.
2014:
Best Pick- Jarvis Landry, Round 2, Pick 63.
Worst Pick- Arthur Lynch, Round 5, Pick 155.
Miami struck gold by selecting Jarvis Landry in Round 2 in 2014, who easily gets the honors here. Landry was the 11th receiver drafted this year, in possibly the best WR class in recent memory. Ju'wan James was a solid first round selection, as was Matt Hazel and Terrence Fede in the last 2 rounds. No major busts to report, however Lynch never did stick around to find any playing time in Miami.
2013:
Best Pick- Jelani Jenkins, Round 4, Pick 105
Worst Pick- Dion Jordan, Round 1, Pick 3
Miami didn't strike anything but crap in this draft, with Jelani Jenkins looking like the only saving grace as a solid mid-round selection. Miami's first three round picks, Dion Jordan, Jamar Taylor, and Dallas Thomas, all haven't panned out, however youth is on their side for the opportunity to turn it around. Jordan gets the nod here though, considering Miami moved all the way up to third overall to select him. This was a draft to forget.
2012:
Best Pick- Ryan Tannehill, Round 1, Pick 8
Worst Pick- Michael Egnew, Round 3, pick 78
2012 was a hot and cold draft with a handful of very good picks and a handful of very bad picks. Miami got good production by a pair of Hurricanes when they selected Olivier Vernon in the third, and Lamar Miller in the 4th. Both guys ironically departed for new teams this offseason. While the value may be better with those two guys, I still have to give credit for Miami's selection of Tannehill at pick 8. Many people thought he was well behind Luck and Griffin in that draft, and although the jury is still out on him, he still could end up the franchise signal caller we drafted him to be. Jonathan Martin and Michael Egnew were two mega-busts of the same draft, and while I dispise Martin for crippling the clubhouse at his departure, he atleast was a 2 year starter prior to "BullyGate". Egnew didn't do a thing here except suck, so he gets the honors here for worst pick.
2011:
Best Pick- Mike Pouncey, Round 1, Pick 15
Worst Pick- Daniel Thomas, Round 2, Pick 62
2011 turned out to be one of the better drafts in recent memory, with a slew of all-pros all being drafted in the first round. Miami saved face by drafting Mike Pouncey in the middle of the first round who has been a solid fixture at center since he came into the league. Charles Clay may have even provided better value in Round 6, however I went with Pouncey considering he's been a starter since Day 1, while Clay was almost cut (twice!) before blowing up in a career year in 2013. Daniel Thomas and Clyde Gates were two busts in this draft, with the former getting the honors considering we traded up to go get him. Maybe he will redeem this decision this year, but I don't think any of us are holding our breath.
2010:
Best Pick- Reshad Jones, Round 5, Pick 163
Worst Pick- AJ Edds, Round 4, Pick 119
Miami got decent starter production from a handful of guys in the 2010 draft, however nobody matched the production of Reshad Jones. He's been one of the league's best safeties over the last three years, dispite not being recognized as one. AJ Edds seemed to be promising in training camp, but never pulled it all together. He was released, signed on by the Patriots and couldn't make it there either.
2009:
Best Pick- Brian Hartline, Round 4, Pick 108
Worst Pick- Pat White, Round 2, Pick 44
Along with 2012, this was one of Miami's best drafts, yet seemed to be hot and cold as well. Vontae Davis and Sean Smith were both solid selections as Miami took two of the best players in the entire draft with picks 25 and 61. Unfortunately, neither corner hit their full potential with the team, with Vontae doing his best work in Indianapolis and Sean Smith hitting his stride in Kansas City. Brian Hartline however had been a starter since Day 1, and had solid production every season including back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons in 2012 and 2013. Miami also crapped the bed with a handful of selections this offseason, including Pat White, Pat Turner, John Nalbone, Andrew Gardner and JD Folsom. Rock bottom was when Miami traded Jason Taylor to Washington for a second round pick, in which they selected Pat White. We all know how big of a disaster that turned out to be.
2008:
Best Pick- Kendall Langford, Round 3, Pick 66
Worst Pick- Phillip Merling, Round 2, Pick 32
Miami took Jake Long with the #1 overall pick, and although I stand by that selection today, injuries took a toll on his career, and put us that much farther from selecting the franchise QB we ultimately needed. The Dolphins attempted to do so by taking Chad Henne in the second round, however he never progressed to the QB we needed him to be. Kendall Langford provided great production in the 3rd round, but overall Miami had a very forgettable draft, which is unfortunate considering we had the number 1 overall pick.
2007:
Best Pick- Brandon Fields, Round 7, Pick 225
Worst Pick- John Beck, Round 2, Pick 40
The infamous Ted Ginn draft... no wonder we went 1-15 this year. Paul Soliai and Samson Satele were productive Dolphins but the best thing coming from this draft was the selection of Brandon Fields, who was the team's best player starting punter for almost a decade. While Ted Ginn was well over-drafted as a glorified special teams player, he is coming off possibly his best season ever in Carolina, and ironically is only one of three players (along with Joe Thomas and Adrian Peterson) selected in the top 13 guys of this draft who are still in the league today. Personally, I'd rather have selected those two other guys! John Beck gets the worst pick here, never doing anything worthwhile as a starting QB.
2006:
Best Pick- Devin Aromashodu, Round 7, Pick 223
Worst Pick- Jason Allen, Round 1, Pick 16
This was probably the worst draft in recent memory. Devin Aromashadu wins the trophy here, albeit by default, as he didn't do a thing in Miami. He did put together a solid year in Chicago though, not that it helped us any. The six guys drafted before him, Jason Allen, Derek Hagan, Joe Toledo, Fred Evans and Rodrique Wright, were actually NFL players believe it or not! While they all busted, I gave the edge for worst pick to Jason Allen because despite being a high draft pick he was more remembered for getting burned than anything.
2005:
Best Pick- Channing Crowder, Round 3, Pick 70
Worst Pick- Travis Daniels, Round 4, Pick 104
I was in attendance in NYC for this draft and I take pride in being the first Dolphin fan to fully congratulate Ronnie Brown for becoming a Dolphin after being selected #2 overall. While he was a very solid back here in Miami, we will all be wondering what could have been if we decided to draft Aaron Rodgers instead, who slid 22 more spots before being selected as Brett Favre's backup in Green Bay. Channing Crowder was a solid inside linebacker for Miami for multiple seasons before his knees ended his career short. Travis Daniels was promising on draft day but ended up being a pretty terrible cornerback.
Agree? Disagree? Who was Miami's best and worst pick over the last decade? Let's all cross our fingers that Miami crushes this draft next weekend and puts the Dolphins back on the map.
-Turtle