If the Dolphins keep No. 48, who should they take?

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The Dolphins have the 16th pick in the 2nd round (#48 overall) and the 15th pick in the 3rd round (#78 overall).  After taking Christian Wilkins 13th overall, the Dolphins have gone a long way to solving their issues on the interior Defensive line, but they have Nothing on the Edge, are under staffed in the secondary, and can use Linebacker depth.  The work on Defense has just begun.  Good thing they got some draft luck as the entire NFL conspired to ignore the entire Secondary group till the Giants took Deandre Baker at #30 (This writer’s CB2).  Then we have the Rosen trade drama, and Drew Lock possibly dropping to #48. What happened to Jawaan Taylor?

It’s an intriguing day 2.  So here is the wishlist (in order of preference) for pick #48:

1. Greedy Williams, CB, LSU

2. Chase Winovich, EDGE, Michigan

3. Rock Ya Sin, CB, Temple


4. Jawaan Taylor, RT, Florida


5. Drew Lock QB, Missouri

6. Eric McCoy, C, Texas A&M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skTg8cDxcHA

7. Nasir Adderley, S, Delaware


8. Juan Thornhill, S, Virginia


9. Hakeem Butler, WR, Iowa State

10. Cody Ford, OG, Oklahoma

Report: Dolphins Close To Trade For Josh Rosen

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Dolphins fans might have been disappointed they didn’t get their quarterback on Day 1 of the NFL Draft, with Dwayne Haskins on the board at 13, but they might get their guy on Day 2, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network described trade talks as “Dolphins or bust” earlier today and that the trade could be finished as the Dolphins are on the clock.

Further reporting from NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo has the Dolphins potentially asking for a later round pick as well from Arizona because they feel giving up the #48 pick would be too much.

Dolphins fans should definitely stay tuned here and to Day 2 of the draft tonight.

Day 2 options for the Dolphins

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The NFL draft resumes Friday night, and the Dolphins have picks in the second (48) and third (78) rounds.

There are plenty of options at positions of need — because, for the Dolphins, every position is a position of need.

Here’s more, this from Chris Kouffman…

 

Look for a new episode of Three Yards Per Carry to post on Friday afternoon.

 

 

Christian Wilkins: ¿la escogencia correcta de los Dolphins?

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Christian Wilkins fue el escogido por los Miami Dolphins con su primera escogencia la noche de este jueves en el Draft de la NFL.

Para muchos analistas los Dolphins iban a buscar a un mariscal de campo, pero Miami decidió volver a la ruta de los tackle defensivos.

Wilkins es un personaje, y ya ha dado sus primeras muestras de quien puede ser.

Anoche casi tumba al comisionado Godell de la emoció que tenía por firmar como profesional.

Además, demostró sus dotes de bailarín:

¿Porqué escogieron a Christian Wilkins y no a un quarterback?

Los fanáticos de los Dolphins no estaban contentos con la escogencia.

Preferían a un mariscal, pero ¿qué le trae Wilkins a Miami y a los Dolphins?

Ethan Skolnik y Chris Wittyngham lo analizaron en una edición especial de Five Reasons Flagship:

Además, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Leandro Soto y Alejandro Villegas tuvieron la oportunidad de conversar con Eduardo Martell, comentarista en español de los Dolphins de Miami:

Five 1st Round Picks From South Florida In NFL Draft. None From UM.

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As most first rounds are, the NFL Draft saw South Florida represented well beyond just the Dolphins picking at 13. Five players from the Dade/Broward area were selected in the opening 30 picks.

Nick Bosa, the Fort Lauderdale product who went to St. Thomas, went 2nd to the 49ers.

Devin Bush, the Flanagan alumnus from Pembroke Pines, went 10th to the Steelers, who traded up to get him

 

Brian Burns, from Plantation and American Heritage, went 16th to Carolina

Hollywood Brown is from… Hollywood, Florida and went 25th to the Ravens

Deandre Baker went 30th to the Giants, who also traded up to get him, and went to Miami Northwestern

The talent in our communities is staggering. Unfortunately, from a college point of view, none of those players went to UM. Bosa followed his brother to Ohio State. Bush came out of Michigan. Brian Burns from FSU. Hollywood Brown went to the least Hollywood place in America, Oklahoma. And Deandre Baker went to Georgia.

While none of this is a particular indictment on anyone currently in the program. Nor is there any reversing the reality that major college football programs are going to come to Miami and Fort Lauderdale on the lookout for the best players in America.

But we really won’t see the University of Miami back at the highest levels of college football until the commissioner starts saying “from the University of Miami” at the end of these picks. Which seems obvious, but Manny Diaz has a lot of work to do to regain his turf.

Everyone is here now, but this talent base is the reason why UM should always be at the top of this sport. And it’s his job to win these recruiting wars and have the NFL stars stay in their backyard and win ACC Championship for the Hurricanes.

Chris Grier isn't a perfect general manager, but he does not deserve to be fired.

Is Josh Rosen still in play for Dolphins?

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Chris Grier didn’t give anything away.

And neither have the Arizona Cardinals… yet.

Following the selection of Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins in the first round, the Dolphins GM was asked about interest in now-displaced Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen — interest everyone knows the Dolphins have.

Grier demurred, and the media moved to other topics. But as the draft moves to round 2 on Friday, and the Cardinals now have a new franchise quarterback (No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray), the Rosen-to-Miami stuff isn’t going away.

It sure appears — now that Giants and Redskins have also drafted quarterbacks — like the Dolphins have considerable leverage, as the only team really in play.

So what would it take?

Well, the chatter was about a third-round pick, and maybe the Cardinals hold out for that or more, and deal with the consequences of having an unhappy quarterback in their camp.

Especially after this all-time @OldTakesExposed tweet:

And they seem to be using Adam Schefter to get some leverage back:

Could Rosen be a redemption story? Here?

Caleb Smith: el as de los Marlins en Abril

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Caleb Smith ha lanzado como un as de rotación durante sus primeras cinco aperturas en 2019.

Los Marlins vencieron 3 a 1 a los Filis la noche de este jueves gracias un jonrón del dominicano Starlin Castro en la parte alta del décimo inning en el primer juego de la serie de fin de semana que Miami disputa en Filadelfia.

Para los Marlins fue la cuarta victoria en los últimos seis encuentros, tras vencer dos de tres en la serie ante Washington y dividir en Cleveland.

Caleb Smith y Aaron Nola se enfrascaron en un duelo típico de dos número uno de rotación.

Smith es el quinto en el esquema de Miami, pero en la práctica ha funcionado como un stopper.

Sus cinco salidas han sido de calidad, incluyendo dos ante los propios Filis de Filadelfia.

Para Smith, esta ha sido una prueba de fuego.

Se ganó su puesto a pulso en el Spring Training, y ha dejado bien parado al cuerpo técnico de los Marlins, que lo escogió por encima de Wei-Yin Chen.

Los números de Caleb Smith en Abril

Caleb Smith está entre los zurdos con más abanicados por cada nueve innings, con 37 en tan solo 29 innings.

El zurdo de Texas ha sabido salir de las situaciones complicadas que ha enfrentado en lo que va de campaña.

El jueves, retiró a Bryce Harper y Rhys Hoskins con hombre en tercera y un out, para sacar el sexto inning de los Filis y cerrar su gran actuación.

A Smith aún le falta ir más allá del sexto episodio.

Nunca ha pitchado más de seis innings, y ese quizás sea su próxima meta.

Por ahora, los Marlins seguirán cuidando ese brazo que se está convirtiendo poco a poco en la referencia de esta joven rotación.

Miami Dolphins take Christian Wilkins in first round

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The Dolphins had a shot at a quarterback.

But they’ve taken only three in the first round in 42 years, and that didn’t change Thursday.

Miami passed on Dwayne Haskins at No. 13, and didn’t trade down as many expected, instead taking two-time collegiate champion defensive tackle Christian Wilkins.

Wilkins introduced himself to the NFL by screaming as he emerged from the green room, and then shoulder-bumping NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the most affection that any NFL player has ever shown Goodell.

“Man, I’m just so excited, man,” Wilkins told pseudo-interviewer Deion Sanders. “This is awesome.”

Clemson University thought so, too.

He tends to be excited a lot…..

NFL Network analysts were excited too. A couple of them said they had Wilkins much higher, touting his athleticism and leadership.

“I really love this pick, because he relies on his quickness,” former Panthers receiver Steve Smith said on NFL Network. “He has active hands.”

Dolphins GM Chris Grier addressed the media, and said that they considered the quarterbacks available, but that “Christian was higher on the board for us, the highest player on our board.” He spoke highly of Wilkins’ intelligence, noted that Wilkins had an “elite skill set for his position,” and referenced Wilkins’ charisma.

“He told us it was the best decision we ever made when we picked him,” Grier said.

Dolphins players welcomed him on Twitter.

 

 

Wilkins addressed the media by videoconference.

 

He was, um, excited.

 

The national media liked it too…

CK Parrot on the Dolphins draft options

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Chris Kouffman (@CKParrot) is everywhere.

(Well, he’s actually in Tampa watching tape and managing money, but you get what we mean.)

He appeared on more than five hours of draft previews on our popular Three Yards Per Carry podcast. He made a stop in with Brendan Tobin and Brett Romberg and our Kevin Mayer on the 790 The Ticket morning show.

And he popped in for an hour with Ethan Skolnick and Chris Wittyngham on the Five Reasons flagship podcast.

You can find that episode here. 

We spent a lot of time debating Josh Rosen — Ethan likes trading a third round pick for the Arizona Cardinals quarterback, and CK does not.

Here are some of CK’s takes on players who may be available to Miami at some point in the draft:

Jawaan Taylor, Florida (OT): “He is the best tackle in the draft. The best left tackle in the draft specifically is Andre Dillard of Washington State. And he’s going to get pushed up because he is a left tackle. But Jawaan Taylor is the best tackle period. He reminds me of Laremy Tunsil. He would give me pause certainly if he were available at that 13 overall pick, even looking at him next to a Jeffrey Simmons. But most likely they’re going to try to trade down.”

Isaiah Johnson, Houston (CB): “This is a guy that is a lengthy corner that has genuine speed and good hips. Whereas Greedy Williams is not going to help you much in the run game and support tackling, Isaiah Johnson has a different sort of attitude and will come up and hit you and be really physical. I’m not saying he’s better than Greedy Williams. He is a wide receiver convert and so it’s going to take him a little bit of time. But again, if you don’t care about 2019 as much, you will allow him to develop. I think that will be a fantastic pick for the Dolphins somewhere in Day 2.”

L.J. Collier, TCU (DE): “A Trey Flowers clone. If you watch him on tape and watch him play against offensive tackles, I counted like six times in two games that he just straight up punched an offensive tackle to the ground. It wasn’t that the tackle tripped on somebody. He just knocked his ass up. He’s got those heavy hands, he’s a very powerful passrusher, he’s got different pass rush moves. He can pass rush inside, outside. Really productive guy at TCU. He went to the Senior Bowl and Pro Football Focus had him with the highest pass rush win rate of anybody.”

For more evaluations, check out this story from Josh Houtz here.

 

Your preference for Dolphins on Thursday: Punt

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There’s usually great excitement for the NFL Draft, as fans dream of the player their team will add in the first round.

Dolphins fans?

They’re not really feeling that.

After an offseason of relatively inactivity — other than changing coaches, letting respected veterans walk, floating a tanking agenda to the media and signing some guys from a quickly-defunct football league — the Dolphins are supposed to pick 13th on Thursday.

But Dolphins supporters don’t really want them to.

Here is how the poll went tonight:

“Trade down” won.

“Improve the trenches” was second.

“Get a QB” and “CB or skill player” trailed by a lot.

Maybe fans have bought into the Tank-For-Tua plan.

Maybe they don’t don’t trust the Dolphins to pick anyone decent anyway.

Or maybe they believe as I do, that Miami just needs to add as many players as possible, like Jimmy Johnson did in 1996 and 1997, to give itself a chance of falling into a Zach Thomas (fifth round, 1996) or Jason Taylor (third round, 1997) because they have picks to burn on projects.

But whatever it is, we’re going to hold the fans to it.

If the Dolphins do nothing Thursday but back down, we don’t want to hear whining.

After all, for this season, it’s not really about winning.

 

(Photo by Tony Capobianco).