Draft Loaded With Talent At Positions Of Dolphins Needs But

Every year for the past decade, I always liked to watch the Senior Bowl to see some of the incoming talent in the draft. This year was no different. I also follow mock drafts and rankings leading up to the draft. I don’t really pay much attention to the NFL combine because they are workouts, and at the end of the day, it comes down to on the field.

This year’s draft is clear. This isn’t a good quarterback class and one that would have a team looking to trade up unless they are a desperate team. The wide receivers aren’t as deep as in years past, but they do have intriguing prospects, such as Jack Beck from TCU. Think about it: last year’s draft was dominated by quarterbacks and wide receivers in the first 14 picks last year, and that won’t be the case this year.

This year’s class is loaded with offensive and defensive linemen. The draft has good depth at safety, running back, and even the tight end position, which are all needs for the Dolphins. My problem is the man who will be making the picks, general manager Chris Grier.

Grier likes to take the best player available, which is fine and the best thing to do. However, he fails to have the foresight to get players at positions of need when the Dolphins clearly need to, and some players are taken within a handful of picks after. He also has a knack for taking a prospect at a bigger school over a small school because of the level of competition, but that should no longer be the case with the transfer portal and players transferring year after year.

In 2023, in the 2nd round, Grier took cornerback Cam Smith, who he said was the best player available despite the depth the Dolphins had at cornerback. Smith has been a non-factor and is entering the label of being a bust if he doesn’t start getting on the field. About eight picks later, the Buffalo Bills took guard O’Cyrus Torrence, who has been a solid starter and is a cornerstone on the Bills offensive line.

Grier doesn’t stockpile on the offensive line like he should consistently. If he had looked ahead, he would have realized that Robert Hunt was going to be a free agent and, instead of having a potential replacement, were left with Liam Eichenberg, who has been average at best. Grier could have had a better option to replace him. The Dolphins have had bad luck with injuries, bad play, and horrible decisions picking players on the offensive line, such as Eichenberg. The offensive line has had its moments at times but has durability concerns, and in big games against better defensive lines, have come up short way too many times. Grier failed to see that, and now he says we have to invest in the offensive line this offseason. I’m not sure if he can make the right decision on that one.

He also goes with bigger school prospects. In 2018, the Dolphins had a need at tight end, and they selected Mike Gesicki from Penn State despite the fact that as good a pass catcher as he was, he was a pathetic in-line blocker, which is something a tight end has to do. Grier felt he could get coached up on that, but that never happened, and frankly, Gesicki didn’t have that physicality mindset. Seven picks later, a small school tight end, Dallas Goedert, from South Dakota State, was taken by the Philadelphia Eagles and has been a good all-around tight end for them, while Gesicki has been a journeyman of a player and may going to his 4th team this offseason as he hits free agency again. The Dolphins need a tight end that can not only catch the ball but is willing to get physical with inline blocking. Grier missed on that one and the Dolphins have struggled to find one over the years.

One player who stood out at the Senior Bowl was guard Grey Zabel from North Dakota State, a small school. He played well at guard but also can play center, and some scouts and personnel feel that he could potentially be the best center and become an all-pro. Again, I wonder if Grier would be open to a smaller school prospect.

The Dolphins have a need for a short yardage running back that can give them the tough physical yards that this offense needs. This offense under Mike McDaniel has become too predictable because teams are not in short-yardage situations the Dolphins will throw because they don’t have a tough physical runner to get them 3 yards or less in a critical situation. Grier doesn’t value running backs, especially early in the draft. In 2020, he had a chance to take Jonathon Taylor with the 30th pick and instead took cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, who turned out to be a bust. Taylor has been a top-10 running back since.

Heck, the Dolphins could have had him again in the 2nd round at pick 37, but he took Hunt, who was a good player until Grier let him walk in free agency. Taylor is still one of the better backs in the league, but Grier doesn’t value running backs very high in the draft, which is one reason I don’t think the Dolphins would draft the best running back in this class in Ashton Jeanty from Boise State at pick 13 if he happened to fall to the Dolphins. The Dolphins need a tough physical running back to compliment DeVon Achane and have a strong 1-2 punch at running back.

I will say in Grier’s defense; he had had a good track record of drafting safeties. He drafted Minkah Fitzpatrick in the 1st round in 2019, Brandon Jones in the 5th round in 2020, and Jevon Holland in the 2nd round in 2021. They are all good, talented players. The problem is that he hasn’t been able to keep them for a variety of reasons, either not working well with the head coach, underestimating the market, o,r in the case of Holland, as talented as he is, not performing well in a contract year so he won’t get a high-end contract from Grier. Grier has found players at the position in various round,s so I think he can get a couple of safeties.

Grier has a chance in this draft to get some tough, physical players at all of the positions I mentioned because they are loaded in this particular draft. The problem is, outside of safety, I don’t have a lot of confidence in Grier making the right pick. This team is a finesse team, and they have to change that, especially if they want to become a contender like the Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, the Bills, and the Baltimore Ravens. The Bills are the team they are chasing in the AFC East, and frankly, they are way ahead of the Dolphins for a variety of reasons, but one reason is they are a tougher and more physical team. Grier has a chance to make this team tougher in this draft, but will he be able to make the right decisions with all of the picks they have?