Dolphins Draft Grade: C+

The 2011 NFL draft has come and gone and it was another pretty predictable one for the Miami Dolphins. Not bad, but predictable. Let’s go through the picks.

(1) Pick No. 15: OG/C Mike Pouncey (Florida)
What the Dolphins would do with the 15th pick in the draft seemed to be one of the hottest pre-draft story lines. Would they try to move up and go after a franchise quarterback? Would they try to move down and acquire more picks to fill the many holes they had on the team? Would they take the best quarterback available at 15? Would they take Mark Ingram? Would they play it safe and draft one of the many first round caliber offensive linemen?

Well, for the people that know Tony Sparano best, the selection of Mike Pouncey probably came as no surprise. He is a versatile offensive lineman who can play the guard and center position (he will probably start at center and then move to guard after a year or two once he learns the NFL better). He is a proven winner, having won three state championships in high school, and one national championship in college. He obviously comes from a great pedigree, with brother, Maurkice Pouncey being drafted in the first round by Pittsburgh last year and having a lot of success in his rookie season. Most of all though, he fills a major need that the Dolphins have on offense.

I’m sure many Dolphins fans would have liked to see a flashier pick at 15, but this was a safe and good pick. Pouncey should be a staple on that offensive line for years to come, and that will help immensely in the development of the young running backs and quarterbacks the Dolphins will be grooming over the next couple of years. Also, look at it this way Dolfans, you don’t want the Dolphins to go and draft a franchise quarterback only for there to be a coaching change in a year or two.

(2) Pick No. 62: RB Daniel Thomas (Kansas State)
Like Pouncey, Daniel Thomas should help solve an immediate need for the Dolphins. With Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams both likely gone next season, Thomas will be responsible for a lot of the work in the backfield, regardless of who else the Dolphins might pick up in free agency.

Thomas might not be the fastest running back around, but he is a bruiser and extremely athletic. At 6’0” and 238 pounds, he is big enough to run over linebackers and defensive backs, but is also very elusive for his size. In his senior year at Kansas St., Thomas led the Big 12 in rushing with 121.9 yards per game and he scored 19 touchdowns.

The most interesting part of the Thomas selection though wasn’t his running ability, but his passing ability. Thomas spent his first two years of college as a quarterback at Northwest Mississippi Community College. He is said to have near pro-caliber passing abilities. Obviously, the Dolphins were really the first team to bring the wild cat offense to the pro level, and with the probable loss of Ricky Williams, it should be interesting to see how and if the Dolphins utilize Thomas in this area.

Overall, Thomas seems like another solid selection at a position of need that the Dolphins desperately needed to address, but considering they gave up a third-round pick, a fifth-round pick and a seventh-round pick to move up and get him, they better hope he produces, or this turns from a pretty good pick, to a pretty bad pick.

(4) Pick No. 111: WR Edmond Gates (Abilene Christian)
The Dolphins have been looking for that deep, home run threat to compliment Brandon Marshall and Davone Bess, and they hope that is exactly what they got with the selection of Edmond Gates in the fourth round. This guy is all about speed.

He might not be the biggest (6-0, 192 lbs) or the most polished wide receiver, having played basketball exclusively for the last half of high school, and the first half of his college career, but the guy can run. He ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the NFL combine two months ago. A time he called one of the worst he has ever run.

If Gates turns out to be what the Dolphins hope he can be, he should be a deep threat for many years to come.

(6) Pick No. 174: FB/TE Charles Clay (Tulsa)
He may have been a sixth-round draft pick, but the Dolphins sure must like him, because they again traded up to get him.

Although he is listed as a fullback, Clay is expected by most to move permanently to the tight end position. With only Anthony Fasano under contract, the Dolphins could use some help there. At 6’3”, 245 pounds, Clay is a very physical runner with the ball in his hands, but his catching abilities is really what he is known for.

(7) Pick No. 231: DT Frank Kearse (Alabama A&M)
The offensive side of the ball is really where the Dolphins needed to concentrate in this draft, and that’s exactly what they did until the seventh round. At 6-4, 315 pounds, Kearse will fight for a back-up spot at nose tackle in the Dolphins 3-4 defense.

(7) Pick No. 235: DB Jimmy Wilson (Montana)
Umm, good luck?

The upside here is that Wilson is said to be a versatile player who can play either the cornerback or safety position well, and he would have had a much more notable college career if it wasn’t for his troubled past. The downside? Well, his troubled past ...

Wilson was out of football for three years, two of which were spent in prison after he was arrested for shooting his aunt’s boyfriend to death in 2007. He was eventually acquitted, but in 2010 he ran into trouble with the law again when he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct for biting a woman.

So, once again, good luck.

Summary
Now, many people may be wondering why the C+ grade for the Dolphins when they filled a lot of their needs with quality players. Well, first of all, draft grading is a pretty subjective thing, but I question some of the moves the Dolphins chose to make in the draft, and I question even more the one move they apparently decided not to make.

I think Daniel Thomas is a very good player and could end up being a very productive running back for the Dolphins, but I do not agree with the decision to trade all the picks they did to move up and get him. He’s not a guaranteed stud like a Mark Ingram, and the Dolphins could have used the extra two draft picks to help fill the many needs they still have.

If they hadn't made the trade for Thomas, Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett would have basically fell into their lap in the third round. Obviously, quarterback wasn’t as big of a priority to Sparano and Ireland as many people thought, but there is no way they would have passed up on him in the third round. Apparently though, even after trading up for Thomas and watching Mallett drop as far as he did, the Dolphins did try to trade back into the third round to draft the quarterback that many of the “experts” had ranked as one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. At that point though, they probably didn’t have the ammunition to make the trade. To me, the Dolphins could have come away from the draft looking a lot better if they were able to get Mallett, as well as address a lot of their other needs.

Again, I don’t think it was a horrible draft by the Dolphins, but I think it could have been better. In the end, it just felt like a normal, predictable draft class by Sparano, Ireland and co.

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-- KELLEY BYDLON
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