Click here to return to the 2023 Reports List
Miami Dolphins May Scouting Report
Jimmy The Finger
5/22/2018
The NFL Draft is in the books and it looks like the Miami Dolphins did quite well.
If you perused my previous dispatch you might remember I was hoping, if all those teams who were supposedly going to Draft QBs actually drafted QBs then Miami might be able to land a premier defensive prospect at Pick 11. Well, it came to fruition and my top pick was still on the board – LB Tremaine Edmunds. Instead The Fins opted to draft DB Minkah Fitzpatrick from Alabama. He was actually Second on my list of who I wanted after Edmunds, after LB Roquan Smith and before CB Denzel Ward, who were already off the board. So I can’t grouse much, even if Edmunds was a Dolphin Legacy and the linebacking corps looks like it needs a lot more attention than the secondary.
Aside from ignoring the Dolphin Legacy, the only thing that kinda bothers me about this pick were the announcers talking about how close Adam Gase was to Nick Saban. This is not a pleasant association for Fins Fans. Bad Juju.
Second Round, with the 42nd Overall, the Fins selected TE Mike Gesicki. Love this pick, he was my top rated Tight End. After years of swinging and missing at supposedly good veterans at this position I guess the Dolphins figured to go organic. This guy’s got great hands and hopefully projects to soak up a lot of the targets they have to spread around now that Jarvis Landry’s not there. Fantasy-wise, my theory has always been to look at the Quarterback. Some QBs, it seems, go to their Tight Ends, and some do not. Tannehill’s kinda in the middle. But considering he’s no longer got Jarvis Landry, someone else will have to figure in those short to middling routes, and Gesicki might have some upside. Just beware he’s got the asterisk when you start drafting your Fantasy team.
For the record – my belief is the main beneficiary of Landry’s departure figures to be WR Kenny Stills. The guy’s played very well last couple years when they have gone to him, and unless DeVante Parker suddenly blossoms – and I ain’t holding my breath here – I think the Fins Receiver to target should be Stills.
In the Third Round Miami selected a warm body for their Linebacking Crew, taking Jerome Baker from Ohio State, who gets mixed reviews in all the scouting reports.
In the Fourth Miami had two picks, which is all they were able to receive for trading two Pro Bowl players away – Jarvis Landry and Jay Ajayi. With one they selected blocking TE Durham Smythe, and with the other they took RB Kalen Ballage. The latter is an intriguing pick, with good size and speed, and some pretty nice highlights. Miami did sign RB Frank Gore, but Ballage is probably the best handcuff for RB Kenyan Drake. He might be worth stashing.
In the later rounds the Fins selected another DB (Cornell Armstrong) and LB (Quentin Poling), but the pick that really mystified me (and a lot of others) was Kicker Jason Sanders in the Seventh. He connected on 25 of 35 attempts in college, which is only 71%, though he lead the nation in percentage of kickoffs for touchbacks in both his Junior and Senior years, with 83% and 81% respectively. I don’t understand this pick at all. This guy probably would have been available as an Undrafted Free Agent afterwards, and it just looks like the Miami Front Office just ran out of picks, didn’t know who else to draft otherwise. You can’t swing a dead cat at the Free Agent Pool, not hit a dozen 70% or better Kickers you could sign for a song and a prayer, and all it really tells the rest of the League is that you’d rather help your weak-ass D than score points.
Cody Parkey, in 2017 with the Fins, hit 21 or 23 attempts (91.3%), hit 88.9% with the Eagles in 2014 and 80% with Cleveland in 2016. In addition, Parkey hit a couple of long game winners.
Ultimately, we should accentuate the positive. Minkah Fitzpatrick should help the D, especially if he can cover a Tight End, and Mike Gesicki could be the next Jimmy Graham. Still, we find it hard to believe the Dolphin Defense got much better through this off-season and unless the Fins can field one of the highest scoring Offenses in the NFL they will have little hope of going anywhere this Season.
End.
The Definitive Fantasy Information Service
FFMastermind.com Wins Another $1,500!
Sunday, January 7th, 2024
Many patrons ask Why should they subscribe to FFMastermind.com Premium Services when they are other cheaper services? Well, FFMastermind.com's Michael Nazarek did it again!
Read the Full Mastermind Moment