The Miami Dolphins and Draft Grades: What Is Your Take?

The NFL draft is less than 60 days away and the Miami Dolphins need to have a great draft to put us back on the right track, but what is considered a good draft? What is considered a great draft? I think most people's opinion of each would vary.

Me, I think that I am a lot harder to please than most. What I consider an average draft class several others would consider a great class. As the old saying goes "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder".

What I would like to hear from everyone is what do you think constitutes a successful draft class? To me, drafting guys who end up being starters is a great place to start. The problem with that is, if the team was terrible to begin with the players that are drafted may just be the best of a bad batch of players. Just because they are starters on a bad team doesn't make them a good draft choice.

A rule of thumb is that it takes two to three years to know what you really have in any given draft class. That would be true on a team that has talent on it. If your team is devoid of playmakers, the impact of a draft class should be more immediate. The first thing that has to happen is impact players have to be taken. You can't fill your roster with players that are average and do nothing but add depth to your roster. Those type of players are a dime a dozen.

In the first three rounds teams should be drafting this year's starters or a replacement for a current starter they assume they will need to replace in the near future. A miss here can be a disaster to the rebuilding process of a team.

The new rookie wage scale lightens the burden a little bit. When rookie wages were out of this world bad teams got worse if an early pick didn't pan out. The guaranteed money would just eat the team's cap, and they wouldn't be able to get rid of a bad player's contracts.

In rounds four through seven a starter can sometimes be found. A lot of late round gems have become All Pros. Normally these rounds are used to fill roster spots for depth and special teams players.

Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, the Miami Dolphins have done a very poor job of drafting in the past several years. And I'm not just talking about Jeff Ireland. Randy Mueller wasn't much better. The Dolphins have lacked anything that resembles a playmaker for quite some time. The Ted Ginn Jr experiment failed in the end, but I give them credit for at least an attempt on that. Ronnie Brown tried to be a playmaker, but he just wasn't. I couldn't tell you the last playmaker we had that we actually drafted. 

There have been playmakers available in the last few drafts, and why we choose to go in a different direction I have no idea. I still don't understand the Daniel Thomas pick when Torrey Smith and Randall Cobb were both still available and we were in desperate need of a playmaker wide receiver. But, we did what we did. There are several other examples just like that but I'm not going to reference them all.

I'm just not sure whose feet to lay the blame on this. Ultimately, it's the general manager's job to make the right picks, but teams pay a group of scouts hundreds of thousands of dollars to put the proper research in the general manager's hands so he can make the right choice. Quarterbacks, head coaches, and general managers get all the praise and glory when teams win, so I guess it's only fitting that they get the blame when teams lose.

So, with that being said I think we have to look at our general manager and ask "has he made the right moves to get us the playmakers to make us competitive?" My answer would be look at our record and tell me if something between 6-10 and 8-8 every year is doing a good job. I would have to say no, but that's just me.

I know I covered several points, but ultimately the question is this: does anyone think that the players we have drafted constitute us getting a passing grade and what actually constitutes a passing grade?

So, I will go back to my opening sentence: what is considered a good draft and what is considered a great draft? Please someone tell me! After the draft I will write a follow up article where everyone can give me their grade for this year's draft.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to everyone's opinion.

Miami Dolphins Place Franchise Tag on Randy Starks

The Miami Dolphins have placed the franchise tag on Randy Starks, according to Jason La Canfora. This move comes as no surprise as reports surfaced yesterday that the Dolphins were already planning on franchising Starks.

The franchise tag gives Randy Starks $8.3 million next year and keeps Miami's strong defensive line intact. With free agency just around the corner it will be interesting to see what the Dolphins do with the rest of their free agents.

Starks tweeted earlier that he didn't want to be tagged, but apparently that wasn't enough to prevent Miami from placing it on him. Hopefully he and the Dolphins will be able to agree on a long-term deal some time in the next year.

Thanks for stopping by. Email me at paul@dolphinshout.com. I'm on twitter @PaulDSmythe.

Should the Miami Dolphins Take a Look at Dashon Goldson?

Back in January I wrote an article on free agent Safeties that the Miami Dolphins could sign. I excluded Goldson figuring he had been tagged last season and wouldn't be available this off season.

Well, now his availability is a strong possibility. Goldson did not want to be tagged and the 49ers have stated they won't (at least not yet). Like the Dolphins, the 49ers have a list of free agents to consider, and with 12 picks in this year's draft and a good group of safeties available they may cut ties with Goldson and draft one.

Both Goldson and the 49ers are far apart on a contract, with Goldson possibly looking for eight million a season. This is where the Miami Dolphins come in. Currently, we are $40 million under the cap, and with Miami looking to make waves this off season Goldson is one that cannot be ignored. The Dolphins could be looking to draft a safety, and that would be great, but imagine Reshad Jones and Dashon Goldson working together in the same secondary. Tight ends, receivers going over the middle, and quarterbacks would all have to account for the Dolphins secondary.

Goldson is 6'2", 200 pounds, and in six years in the league has earned a reputation as one of the hardest hitting safeties in the NFL. Here are some of his stats:

• 346 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, and 14 interceptions
• Made the Pro Bowl in 2011 and 2012
• All Pro in 2012

Here is some video on Goldson:







Goldson is always attacking the ball carrier. He hits strong and is a play stopper. I would love to see him in a Dolphins uniform, along with a drafted cornerback like Xavier Rhodes or Jonathan Banks. Our secondary would quickly become respected.

So, for me it is a definite yes. The Miami Dolphins should take a look at Dashon Goldson.

Let me know your what think. Email me at shawn@dolphinshout.com