Miami lands their new back late in the draft
I’ll admit, after watching us fail to draft a Running back round after round, by the 3rd round I was furious. Clearly, the Dolphins don’t value running backs, especially after having multiple 1st and 2nd Round picks in a row and still passing on a top tier running back prospect. It was extra aggravating when I read a report that said Miami was actively trying to trade back into the 1st round to get ahead of the Steelers so they could select Najee Harris. As long as Harris stays healthy, he’ll be an absolute beast with the Steelers for years to come. Why couldn’t it be us?
I figure many of you Phins fans felt the same way.
Poor luck, poor planning, or the plan?
All that talk of teams not drafting a Running back in the 1st Round, and the first team to select one is a perennial playoff team, has had very good running game for decades, and won 6 Super Bowls. So forgive me for being sour, but I think it’s easy to see that the Steelers know the importance of a solid rushing attack. They had no problem using their only first round pick on the top running back prospect in the draft.
Maybe the Steelers know what they are doing?
Let’s hope the Phins do.
With ALL that being said, I sure hope Jaelan Phillips can prove me wrong and turn out to be a better NFL player then Harris. Well, to be fair to Doaks, I hope he at least proves to be effective and can numb a bit the hurt of missing out on Harris.
3 strikes and you’re out!?
Not only did Miami miss out of Harris, but they missed out on Etienne and then got jumped by the Broncos, who selected Williams. This one might have hurt the most. The Broncos said they traded up in front of the Dolphins because they believed Miami was going to draft him.
This was another reason why we should have just drafted a running back of our choice at 18. Yes, Phillips has special talent… but, all those injuries!
Instead, we didn’t even bother drafting a running back until our last pick in the 7th Round with Cincinnati running back Gerrid Doaks. Now I’ll be a downer here to some, but not only was he a 7th Round pick, over 3 years in the less competitive American Conference, Doaks didn’t have earth shattering stats.
Looking over Doaks career
Doak’s best season was his senior year where he ran for 673 years, 7 touchdowns with14 catches for 202 yards, and 2 touchdowns. However, he did have a decent career yards per carry average of his three years of 5.2 yards per carry on 331 rushing attempts, which is very solid in college. In addition, he’s a bigger back at 230 pounds, so hopefully this pays off and Miami strikes gold here.
Either way, this shows once again Miami doesn’t value running backs at all. I don’t understand because historically, besides QB, running backs have collected the most MVPs. I bring this up because a very good running back can put a team on his back and carry it to the playoffs. Just look at Derrick Henry!
I’m not saying we need that type of running back, but it would be nice to have a stud running back that could make our offense more balanced.
Run, Ricky! Run!
What we have is alright!
Nothing against Gaskin, Ahmed, and Brown, but I just don’t see any superstars in that bunch. And Gaskin and Ahmed showed they weren’t as durable as hoped. Both missed games due to injuries last year. That’s two years in a row for Gaskin, if you are counting.
So, it would have been nice to get a top running back prospect added to this group for competition and a safety net if one of them gets injured… again. I believe a playoff team needs a quality running game. Coach Flores hasn’t been given much talent to help his rushing attack, and it’s been two years with a terrible run game.
Next draft we won’t have two 1st and 2nd Round picks, so I don’t have much hope that we’ll draft a running back high next year either. Let’s hope we get a big surprise from one of the runners on the roster!
What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans’ thoughts of our lack of desire to address our running game this draft?