The 2019 NFL Draft is this month, which means that The Game Haus will be doing draft profiles for every team. Each NFL team will be looked at heading into this year’s draft including what their needs are and who they could be targeting. The Miami Dolphins will be the 13th team evaluated.
Summary
The Dolphins have shed a lot of their talent on their roster the last few seasons, including Jarvis Landry and Jay Ajayi. Surprisingly though, they were still able to win seven games. The seven wins were not enough to save Adam Gase’s job, as he was fired and then hired by the Jets. Former New England Patriot assistant Brian Flores has been brought in to try to take the Dolphins back to prominence.
On offense, Miami averaged 19.9 points per game, which ranked them 26th in the league. They were average at running the football, but were 30th in passing yards per game. Ryan Tannehill played his last season for the Dolphins with just 1,979 passing yards. Danny Amendola and Kenny Stils were the leading receivers and both had over 500 receiving yards. Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake split carries, with both of them averaging around 4.5 yards per carry. Laremy Tunsil and Ju’Wuan James played decently at the tackle spots, but the rest of the line played questionable at best. James is now in Denver, Tannehill is in Tennessee, Gore is in Buffalo and Amendola is in Detroit. Ryan Fitzpatrick was signed to play quarterback, the offense is going to need a major overhaul.
Miami gave up 27.1 points per game on defense, which also needs to be improved. The defensive line wasn’t a strong unit, as Cameron Wake and Robert Quinn were the only ones with six sacks or more. Kiko Alonso racked up the tackles at linebacker and Raekwon McMillan got a solid start to his career after being injured all of 2017. The secondary was solid at the top with safeties T.J. McDonald and Reshad Jones to go along with cornerback Xavien Howard. Wake and Quinn are both on to new teams, as the defensive line specifically will need to be reworked.
2019 NFL Draft Picks
The Dolphins have seven picks to rebuild their roster with in the 2019 NFL Draft.
First Round (one pick):Â No. 13
Second Round (one pick):Â No. 48
Third Round (one pick):Â No. 78
Fourth Round (one pick):Â No. 116
Fifth Round (one pick):Â No. 151
Seventh Round (two picks):Â No. 233, No. 234
Team Needs
Quarterback-Â Ryan Fitzpatrick is a stop-gap/mentor for this season. They need a new face of the franchise.
Wide Receiver- Davante Parker still hasn’t lived up to his potential and Stills needs some help.
Offensive Tackle- James needs to be replaced at right tackle.
Interior Offensive Line-Â The Dolphins don’t have a quality interior offensive lineman on the roster and won’t be able to move the ball without a solid line.
Edge Rusher-Â With their top sackers gone from last year’s team, they need someone who can give them double-digit sacks.
Defensive Tackle-Â Miami wasn’t good against the run and need to get better up front.
Cornerback-Â Howard is a good corner, but more is needed.
2019 Draft Targets
First Round:
Pick No. 13:Â Drew Lock, Quarterback, Missouri
Miami needs to address the quarterback position with Fitzpatrick as the current starter. This may be early for Lock, but the Dolphins likely won’t have Haskins or Murray fall to them. Lock has a strong arm, but is inconsistent. He’ll be able to make any throw required of him at points and miss receivers altogether at other times. With a year to learn under Fitzpatrick he could be successful. If Miami wants Haskins or Murray they should explore trading up.
Second Round:
Pick No. 48:Â Elgton Jenkins, Offensive Guard/Center, Mississippi State
Jenkins can play any position in the middle of the offensive line. He has good athleticism and should be able to develop as both a pass and run blocker in the NFL. The offense won’t improve if they don’t get better interior linemen and they’ll need to get protection for whoever their young quarterback ends up being.
Third Round:
Pick No. 78:Â Austin Bryant, Defensive End, Clemson
With their top two pass rushers from last season no longer with the team, the Dolphins need to address the position at some point in the draft. Bryant may not get as much recognition as some of the other players from Clemson’s defensive line, but he was a solid pass rusher. He gets sacks in bunches then has dry spells though, so he’ll need to work on that to be a truly great player.
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