The Last DOLPHAN to Post on this thread WINS!

but I am a little underwhelmed by this draft class.

Any chance I can get you to expand on that?
Read that line and was curious to know what caused that reaction.
There were so many draft type threads going on, if you posted it already I think I may have missed it (or don't recall).

I'm trying to keep from issuing any sort of "grade" this year........so it makes it difficult to sum up with a nice little bow.
Outside of my reluctance to accept Tannehill leading up to the draft, if I had a complaint or felt there was a pick(s) that was open for legitimate criticism, it was how they handled the third round picks.  My favorite pick was probably the Miller pick.....The Miller pick was probably even out of character, but it had the potential to reap a huge reward.

To me, aside from the QB, it just seemed to me to be a typical Ireland draft. I thought they took a RT too early, when there were some high quality skill players, and pass rushers still on the board. Not saying I think it was a terrible pick as they obviously had Johnathan Martin rated highly. 

Oliver Vernon seems raw, and not a 3 down lineman time will tell on this pick. Coincidently, there were tackles still on the board at this point rated as highly as Martin. (Donald Stephenson taken by the Chiefs just a few picks after)

I like the Egnew pick. We need a big, pass catching TE, but was he too not overdrafted a bit? Again, he's somewhat raw, and not a very capable blocker.

Taking Lamar Miller in the 4th seems like a good long term move, but he's another guy who seems to be a one trick pony. Did they really need to move up to get him? I am not so sure. I would not expect a major contribution from him this year...maybe returning kicks is a possibility?

Josh Kaddu also seems like a player who needs work, and Green Bay selected Terrell Manning who had a higher grade 8 picks later. 

B.J. Cunningham seems like a kid who has a chance for a late round WR, but did we really need another possession WR? 4.59 doesn't excite me too much. We'll see about him. 

The last two guys, nothing too inspiring there. Depth most likely, if they make the roster.

So overall, I can't fault them for taking Tannehill. (I would have preferred Weedon, but positioning for him would have been difficult) and beyond that it just did not seem like we got a lot of people who are going to come in and make an immediate impact. Which on a team that finished 6-10 is not overly encouraging to me. So yes, a tad underwhelming, but if some of these guys, like Vernon surprise it may not be as "safe" a draft as it appears.





 

Since we're on the topic, I thought this appropriate. I have no doubt these kids will be on the field early, my concern is will they be ready?

Mel Kiper Jr.: Joe Philbin, Mike Sherman will maximize Ryan Tannehill’s talents

by Brian Biggane

ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. was never a proponent that Ryan Tannehill should be a top-10 pick in this past weekend’s NFL Draft, having slotted him as the 18^th best player on his Big Board. But now that Tannehill is in Miami after being picked eighth, Kiper said Monday he couldn’t have wound up in a better spot.

“However good he is going to be at the pro level, whatever he is going to develop into, this was probably the best-case scenario for him because of the help he’s going to get,” Kiper said on a conference call to wrap up the draft Monday.

“(Coach) Joe Philbin is the guru of quarterback gurus,” Kiper went on. “He developedMatt Flynn and Aaron Rodgers (in Green Bay), and he not only developed them, he altered the delivery of Rodgers and he made Flynn tweak his mechanics.

“So in Tannehill he has a work in progress, and he’ll understand that. So he (Tannehill) can watch and learn and it’ll be a nice situation. How good is he going to be? Nobody knows that. Nobody knew Aaron Rodgers was going to be as good as he is right now. He went 24^th in the draft.”

Kiper said giving Tannehill significant playing time as a rookie would be akin to what Jacksonville did with Blaine Gabbert last year. Gabbert, picked 10^th overall out of Missouri, wound up with the worst passer rating in the NFL among those who qualified.

“Right now he (Tannehill) is not good enough,” Kiper said. “He makes too many bad decisions. He doesn’t understand you’ve got to throw the ball away. You’ve got to live and fight for another play. He’ll force it; he’ll make some ill-advised throws that result in interceptions.

“He showed he could throw on the move _ he had some great throws on the move. He also had some inaccurate ones. But in the red zone he was good, (which) was shocking. His completion percentage (there) was right around what (Robert Griffin III’s) was, like 64 percent. His bad decisions were on the rest of the field.

“He’s got to be groomed. Second year, at best, is when he should be out there. Does he have the ability to be a starting quarterback in this league? Sure he does. Is he going to work on and completely change the areas of concern? It’s up to (offensive coordinator) Mike Sherman and Joe Philbin.”

Kiper also weighed in on some of the other Dolphin draft picks. Some of his thoughts:

OT Jonathan Martin (second round) _ “I think he will be their right tackle (this year). He fits their scheme. He’s got to get more power, get stronger in the weight room.”

DE Olivier Vernon (third round) _ “I don’t know about Vernon, just because he didn’t play enough last year. He wasn’t on the field enough. He showed he could play the run for his size very effectively, and he was a good pass rusher at Miami when he was out there.”

TE Michael Egnew (third round) _ “He caught the ball very well; his numbers were down (last year) because of the play of his quarterback. But he’s going to get a lot bigger and stronger. He’s going to be 265 (pounds) in  a couple of years, with the same ability to catch the ball.”

RB Lamar Miller (fourth round) _ “A heckuva runner for where he was picked. He’s a game-breaker. That was a real value pick. I like him in the role as a pure runner … He’s a lot bigger than some people think. A lot of people think he’s 180 or 190; he’s 214.”

LB Josh Kaddu (fifth round) _ “He showed pass-rush ability at Oregon.

WR B.J. Cunningham (sixth round) _ “Can he get open? Is he just going to be a good college receiver? He got more consistent catching the ball late in his career.”

DT Keeston Randall (seventh round) _ “Randall was an underachiever.”

WR Rishard Matthews (seventh round) _ “I think Matthews can surprise, and help that wide receiver corps.”

When it was suggested to Kiper that several of the picks might be projects who need time to develop into NFL players, he disagreed. “Other than Tannehill,” he said, “most of these guys should be able to step in and contribute right away.”

 

Josh Kaddu also seems like a player who needs work, and Green Bay selected Terrell Manning who had a higher grade 8 picks later.

Manning was my pick in my "mock draft" lol.

That's actually the reason I'm trying not to be too critical.......If I am it's going to be because they didn't pick those handful of guys that I decided I liked.  Once they went Tannehill I decided I wanted Curry.  And then there was that handful of guys I familiarized myself with and really liked and was talking about the last month.........Like Boykins (CB), Manning, Mosley (RT), McNutt, etc.
I know that wasn't the case for you since you were refraning from such things........but for me, it seemed silly to get too worked up simply because they didn't have the guys that I targeted/liked with my limited information.

What I'm really hoping for at this point is that Tannehill is on the bench at least for a bit initially.......
During that time I hope that Griffin sucks hard.  Michael Floyd can't seperate and is struggaling to show he is a capable starting WR. 
Justin Blackmon is lighting things up in Jax.  and other such things that are the exact opposite of what I "predicted" the past month.
It will put my mind at ease......show whatever I think is an educated guess at best.........and by the time Tannehill takes the field, I'll have no reason to believe any of the negative things I feared/projected will hold true. lol

Seriously, it's so hard to project. There's a reason only 25% of 4th round picks contribute. It's easy to look at a player, especially in college where the competition varies much more, and say wow! This kids an athlete! But, once they get to the pros where everyone is good, and the speed of the game so much faster, it takes a certain mental toughness that most guys just don't need in college to be successful. It's the guys with the proper self motivation, and work ethic that tend to overcome those long odds. A guy like Zach Thomas. 

The day to day grind is much tougher on these kids, especially initially.

Did you read the entire article by Peter King? Specifically, the schedule RGIII had with the media the other day? It's mind boggling. 

Speaking of RGIII, I personally think he will do okay this year. He's got more to work with then Luck does with the Colts. 

I hope you didn't take my critique as overly negative. I hate the idea of really evaluating a draft immediately. There's so much room for error. I remember all the talk last year of what we all thought Gates was going to add to the offense....

We're still waiting. 

In case you missed it, here it is.

Is there any doubt the NFL will settle for nothing less than total world domination?

So you want to know what the draft is all about these days? Media, baby. All media, all the time. Check out Robert Griffin's two-hour, eight-minute media experience after being the second pick in the draft Thursday night.

I mean that: 128 minutes of doing interview after interview. Happily, apparently. I was in about the 111th minute, and he greeted me with, "Hey, I read the story in Sports Illustrated! Great stuff!'' (We put him on the cover last week, in a story I wrote.)

The roster of Griffin's interviews:

1. NFL Network.

2. ESPN.

3. The NFL's in-house interview at Radio City, heard only by fans at the draft.

4. SiriusXM NFL Radio

5. FOX Sports Radio

6. The BBC.

7. A Waco, Texas, radio station.

8. ESPN radio.

9. Redskins media conference call back to club headquarters in Ashburn, Va.

10. Redskins Nation TV.

11. Washington-area media at the draft.

12. A radio interview with Eddie George.

13. Press conference with national media at the draft.

14. Wounded Warriors on site at the draft.

15. Four brief one-on-one interviews with Washington-area media.

16. Me.

17. Nippon TV (Griffin was born in Japan, where his parents were stationed in the military. "I just want to say to all the fans -- I take pride in where I came from, Japan."

This was my favorite scene backstage at the draft. Redskins PR czar Tony Wyllie was taking Griffin from one interview to the next, and trying to make sure everyone got a little piece of him, and Nippon TV was on its fourth question when Wyllie said urgently but quietly: "Hey Japan! You said, 'Two questions!' '')

18. Armed Forces Radio.

19. Pro Football Talk.

20. Another ESPN interview.

When I got to him, I marveled that he was still able to answer questions with some thoughtfulness. "I want to be fair to everyone,'' he said. "Plus, my teammates might be watching. I want to be sure I make a good impression. Then, once this is all over, I won't have to talk about myself for a while.''

Au contraire. You've only just begun to feed the monster, young man.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20
12/writers/peter_king/04/30/mmqb/in
dex.html#ixzz1tddsevwQ 

^
At least Griffin's itinerary doesn't include - Replacing the most beloved player on the team and arguably the greatest QB ever.  Who could have been retained and just happens to be in the league motivated to show he is not "done" and that he is still great.

I hope you didn't take my critique as overly negative.

Nah, especially since I was just saying any projection is really just an educated guess......and really just formulating the probabilities of potential outcomes. There are no certainties......If there were it wouldn't be very compelling now would it? 
I just tend to trust myself because me iz smarts.
Be it football or whatever, I tend to see things differently......see/formulate/proc
ess things from a million different angles at once.  It doesn't mean you can't (or are never) wrong, just that you can feel your educated guess is going to be as good as any.
(And now I'm going to go into my shell lol  Not say anything further about myself, before I'm called an idiot and wind up in some flame war lol)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDS8qg3UlC0&feature=youtu.be

Todd McShay reluctantly ranks his top five teams in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Eagles
Bucs
Steelers
Patriots
Dolphins 

^

McShay was probably the most pro-Tannehill "expert", so I'm not too surprised that he'd be giving the Dolphins some love.
I never had the chance to mention (not sure if anyone else caught it) but before the draft he was on one of the ESPN radio shows making the case for Tannehill......To the point where he said he liked Tannehill more than Matt Barkley. 

To the point where he said he liked Tannehill more than Matt Barkley.  

I do too 'cause he's a Fin, and Barkley isn't. 

Game is over!
What do I win? Surprised to see this still around........

Hey the Dolphins are being talked about nationally!

On the SVP show they are debating the most relevant irrelevant Franchises in sports........They haven't given the list yet, but they've been debating if the Dolphins or Cowboys are the leader in that category when it comes to the NFL.
lol

I'd like to do a "face palm"......though I've been a bit optimistic about things moving forward, so in that spirit, I will admit being "relevant-irrelevant" is better than simply being irrelevant.  At least there's a history, and a fan base out there........even if there hasn't been a lot to cheer about recently.

Run Reggie Bush Run.  Go Dolphins!

Almost 800,000 people tuned in for Hard Knocks when it aired initially.

^
Is that good?

Not that it matters a ton (I don't really care if non-Dolphins fans are amused and tuning in), but I'm not sure how that compares to past seasons.


It was my second favorite show of the week......Dolphins may be my favorite sports team.........but as far as hour long televised drama, it was no Breaking Bad. 


Happy football is back though, excited to watch any football......Even pre-season.
Watching the NFL network whip-around coverage right now.  Just saw He who shall not be named 2.0 throw a TD pass.

Hmmm.......You learn something ne everyday.  I had no idea Ronnie Brown was with the Chargers now.

I am watching Breaking Bad as well. I just started season 3. Good show. If you like that type of thing, and you have not seen Prison Break you might like that as well. It's on DVD and Netflix.

And yes, 800,000 viewers is very well for a cable channel non live event. That figure does not include DVR numbers.

yeah, rym , he signed with them back in june, 1 year deal.

Hard Knocks viewership was up 44% over 2008 when again it went against the Olympics to put things in perspective. 

Yeah!  Got my first new Dolphins card of the year.  Not my favorite player at the moment, seems to kind of suck, but at this price figure I'll buy in just in case he turns out good.


[http://www.ebay.com/itm/19071499341
1?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649]


With Tannehill I finally have a Dolphin I'm not going to be able to get for $5 or under lol.
Sucks that while I was in the process of moving I missed an opportunity to buy in on him low......His stuff has pretty much doubled since the first pre-season game and now that he's been named a starter.