It was announced today that former Michigan Offensive Tackle, Jake Long, will be the first pick by the Miami Dolphins in Saturday’s NFL Draft. The Dolphins negotiated a deal with Long that will make him the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL, the deal is worth $57.75 million over five years. Even though Bill Parcells has been hired to oversee the resurrection of the struggling franchise, I could not disagree with drafting Jake Long as the top pick more.
Like most teams during a year where there is not a consensus number one pick, I am sure that the Dolphins’ first choice would have been to move back in the draft and exchange it for multiple picks later on. Since there is no number one pick-worthy quarterback or running back this year, which are generally the two reasons why franchises or positions prompt a trade up for the very top pick in some drafts, no one has to have it this year it seems.
If I were the Dolphins, I would have taken Chris Long. Depending on where Long is drafted, he will end up playing defensive end most likely, but could also move to linebacker depending on the scheme of the defensive coach he ends up with after Saturday’s draft. The Dolphins missed an opportunity to do something really special here, could you imagine Jason Taylor and Chris Long, chasing the quarterback every Sunday? The amount of pressure that would put on the passer, once Long inevitably cements himself as a solid defender in the league, would constantly result in big days for Miami’s secondary, especially in the INT column. Having one defensive end that is dominate on your team, can greatly favor your team on Sundays in today’s league, more than the majority of positions I’d say. I cite the New York Giants having two of the most dominate defensive ends in the league (Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora) as the biggest reason as to why they were able to win the Super Bowl this year. Also, Taylor has contemplated retirement at times as of recently, he will be thirty-four years of age around the beginning of next season, and he did not seem to make Dolphins’ management to happy when he announced he would be doing Dancing With The Stars this year, so he could be on his way out soon? It just does not make sense why the team would miss the chance to dominate at a certain position, in order to fill one of obviously many other needs, much less, with such a huge chance of not being solid in a couple of years if something happens to Taylor?
Even if Chris Long did not have such an amazing upside and the potential to be dominate, or was not even in this draft if the Dolphins just do not think he is right for them, I think that they could use a lot of help at so many other positions rather than use the top overall pick on an offensive lineman. While I am not sold on former Boston College quarterback, Matt Ryan, the Dolphins could really use a quarterback and he is the consensus top player at that position in this year’s thin draft as far as that position goes. I think that it is irresponsible to use the top pick on an offensive lineman, especially when you are drafting the position in order to make your team better, Jake Long is being brought in ostensibly to make sure that no one harms the quarterback or disrupts play at that position, but if you do not have a quarterback who can play anyways, what does it matter and what good will it do? Absolutely none.
No comments:
Post a Comment