Grading the Miami Dolphins Draft

By Hugo Guzman  |   Friday, April 29, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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Nick Saban decided to stay close to home when choosing his draft picks for the Miami Dolphins 2005 draft, especially in the rounds one through four. The first three players taken in this year's draft (Ronnie Brown, Matt Roth, and Channing Crowder) faced off against Saban's LSU Tigers at least once. The fourth round pick was one of his own players at LSU.

That strategy is extremely sound in my opinion, because it means that Nick Saban is relying on direct experience from his recent college tenure to determine which players will make an impact on the field. Brown, Roth, and Crowder all lit up Saban's LSU Tigers at one time or another, so Saban decided he rather have those players line up for him instead of against him at the NFL level. Travis Daniels played virtually every position in Nick Saban's defensive backfield during his career at LSU. Nobody has better insight into Daniels' playing ability than his college coach right?

As for the 5th and 7th round picks, I'm not really all that concerned either way. It's not all that common to have a fifth round player become a starter, much less a 7th round selection. So if either of these players work out I'll consider it nothing more than a pleasant surprise.

The 5th round selection, Anthony Alabi, is a strong man of sorts who can bench press 500 pounds and is physically imposing at 6' 5' and 322 pounds. Those are usually good traits to possess when you're an offensive lineman. Kevin Vickerson is a fairly athletic defensive tackle that could end up finding a niche on special teams. Again, the key here is that if we get any significant playing time out of either of these guys it will be considered a unexpected "bonus" of sorts.

Even though I have yet to see any of these players strap on the pads and step on a football field for the Miami Dolphins, I am comfortable stating that this year's was above average. I give Mr. Saban a B+.

Hopefully, I'll be able to look back in a few years and change that grade to an A+.
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About Hugo Guzman

Co-founder of RealFootball365.com. Born in Argentina, of Dominican descent, living in Hoboken, but from Miami through and ...
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