There is less than a week until the 2014 draft, and the closer we get to the draft, the more the rumors and speculation begin to increase. The two latest rumors are that the Dolphins are in love with offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio from Alabama, who had a terrible Combine performance and has a nagging knee injury. I sure hope this rumor is a smoke screen, because Kouandjio does not appear like a sure thing at all, and a first round pick needs to be as close to a sure thing as you can get. The other rumor is that the Dolphins are thoroughly analyzing the WR position, which is one of the deepest positions in the draft. It was leaked that Hickey is looking to replace one of his starting receivers this season or next year. My guess is that if Mike Wallace does not live up to his lofty price tag this season, then he will become a cap casualty next year. Two first round WR’s that the Dolphins are taking a closer look at are Odell Beckham Jr from LSU, and Marqise Lee from USC.
When the Dolphins are on the clock at the 19th spot, the biggest position of need is Right Tackle, however most football gambling fans are betting that the top 4 tackle prospects, Greg Robinson, Jake Matthews, Taylor Lewan, Zack Martin will all be off the board. So the Dolphins will have to make a decision, either reach for a tackle, or pick the best player available at a position of a lesser need. However there is a 3rd option that has not heavily been discussed, which is to trade down.
Personally if the top tier tackles are off the board, then the best move is to trade back. This is one of the deepest drafts in recent history due to the abundance of quality underclassman that declared early. Lets face it, the Dolphins have more than one area of need, so one player is not going to mean the difference between the Dolphins making the playoffs or not. However, if the Dolphins can manage to trade back and give themselves the opportunity to draft 3 players or more in the first two rounds then there is a greater chance of the Dolphins landing potential quality starters. During Ireland’s tenure the draft had mixed results, which many would say had more busts than starters drafted. But now Ireland is gone, and Hickey is in charge of buying the groceries, and if he can find 3-4 starters from this draft then phins fans should be ecstatic. Besides making strong solid picks, and not reaching or drafting project players, another great way to increase your success in picking is to add more picks. If the Dolphins can increase their number of picks in the first two rounds, then they will also be increasing their probability of finding more starters from the 2014 draft.
I would even say trade back twice in the first round, and give yourself a total of three 2nd round picks and two 3rd round picks, then with those 5 picks, draft the BPA tackle, guard, linebacker, wide receiver and corner back. In a draft this deep, there should be no doubt that at least 2 of those players will be contributing starters, and the others will hopefully see some game time action. And if Hickey really knows what he is doing then it is possible that with 5 picks in the first 3 rounds he can find 3-4 starters.