My biggest worry about the draft...

...is that Tannenbaum continues to focus on specific players instead of focusing on BPA. Last season, we absolutely HAD to have Howard and Carroo...so we traded valuable picks to trade up and get those players. My philosophy is...don't trade up unless you have a chance to get an absolute can't miss stud...and that's usually a QB. Trading up to get a CB in a draft where comparable players were available after that pick (in the case of Howard) or, worse, trading future picks for a WR (Carroo) that could never get higher than #4 on your roster, is just plain stupid. Dynasties are created through the draft in the NFL. You simply cannot fall in love with one player to the extent that you trade valuable picks to move up to get him...again, unless it's a QB. Every other position in the draft is loaded with viable candidates...you can't just focus on one player.

The biggest issue is that Tannenbaum doesn't value draft picks. He zeroes in on specific players, and he tries to get those players regardless of cost. That's a short-sighted way to view the draft, and ultimately it hurts your team.

Mark Sanchez

Let the draft come to you...can't sell the farm for one player when the draft is loaded with talent, especially this year.

JMP wrote:...is that Tannenbaum continues to focus on specific players instead of focusing on BPA. Last season, we absolutely HAD to have Howard and Carroo...so we traded valuable picks to trade up and get those players. My philosophy is...don't trade up unless you have a chance to get an absolute can't miss stud...and that's usually a QB. Trading up to get a CB in a draft where comparable players were available after that pick (in the case of Howard) or, worse, trading future picks for a WR (Carroo) that could never get higher than #4 on your roster, is just plain stupid. Dynasties are created through the draft in the NFL. You simply cannot fall in love with one player to the extent that you trade valuable picks to move up to get him...again, unless it's a QB. Every other position in the draft is loaded with viable candidates...you can't just focus on one player.

The biggest issue is that Tannenbaum doesn't value draft picks. He zeroes in on specific players, and he tries to get those players regardless of cost. That's a short-sighted way to view the draft, and ultimately it hurts your team.

I actually agree with Tannembaum's philosophy and disagree with the notion that dynasties are built through the draft. There's only one dynasty in the the NFL and that team has arguably the best coach and QB in NFL history. Their drafts have been mediocre and they've used the stop gap method more than any team in the NFL. Both the Bengals and Bills have drafted very well the last 10 years. Neither team has a coach or QB and neither will ever win a Super Bowl.

The Patriots have absolutely been built through the draft - Brady, Edelman, Gronk, Hightower, Butler, the whole OL, Flowers, Chung, McCourty - all Patriot draft picks. If that's mediocre, I'd love to see the Phins rise to that level some day.

100% agree with JMP. Caroo may have made it to our pick without trading future picks. His 2-3 catches last year didn't match his cost in the draft

CarsonChris wrote:100% agree with JMP. Caroo  may have made it to our pick without trading future picks. His 2-3 catches last  year  didn't  match his cost in the draft

Trading all those picks for a guy that was never going to get higher than #4 on the depth chart was just plain stupid, and it shows exactly what happens when you fall in love with a specific player that you just must have. Let the draft come to you...no need to sell out for one player. There are always other players at that position -and other positions. In this instance, the Patriots took WR Malcolm Mitchell 26 spots after the Phins took Carroo. Mitchell battled some injuries, but wound up having a pretty good season and looks like he's going to be a solid player moving forward. Carroo, on the other hand, looks like a career benchwarmer.

But again, this is what Tannenbaum does. It's how the Jets ended up with Dustin Keller instead of Jordy Nelson, Shonn Greene instead of DeAndre Levy, and Stephen Hill instead of Bobby Wagner - to name a few. If they had just stayed in their original spot instead of trading up, they could have had Nelson, Levy and Wagner...a far cry from what they actually got. Of course, Tannenbaum being Tannenbaum, they probably wouldn't have drafted those guys anyway...but this points out how he just can't help himself when he locks in on one specific player.

Just watched one of the Madden Youtubers I follow do the exact same thing in his draft yesterday--fall in love with a particular player, to the point of trying multiple times to trade up for him, only for that player to turn out to be...not that good. It's *really* out of character for this particular guy to do that sort of thing, and at least he admitted his mistake afterwards. To compound it, there actually was a far better player he could've traded up for, using the exact same 2nd rounder he spent on the mediocre guy as part of the offer.

As for the Pats, they've had some hits but far more misses in the draft than you'd think, ESPECIALLY with all the extra picks they're gifted with every year. For example, they haven't really been able to assemble an adequate WR corps or secondary for years. Yet Brady still shreds the league in passing and somehow their mediocre DBs still get tons of INTs by modern NFL standards.And also, they're somehow able to bring in big name FAs and make it work when almost no other team can pull it off (Moss, Revis, Corey Dillon back in the day). And to top it all off, they constantly get other team's castoffs and turn them into stars/contributors. It's not just Welker, but guys like Rob Ninkovich, Blount, etc. But yeah, the whole operation is driven by a QB who fell to them in the 6th round of a draft 17 years ago and a coach who was a complete flop in his previous stint in Cleveland--and went 5-11 in his first season with the Pats when Brady was riding the pine and even their own fans didn't know who he was.

There's GOT to be some cheating involved with this, NOBODY's this lucky.

DolFan 316 wrote:
As for the Pats, they've had some hits but far more misses in the draft than you'd think, ESPECIALLY with all the extra picks they're gifted with every year. For example, they haven't really been able to assemble an adequate WR corps or secondary for years. Yet Brady still shreds the league in passing and somehow their mediocre DBs still get tons of INTs by modern NFL standards.And also, they're somehow able to bring in big name FAs and make it work when almost no other team can pull it off (Moss, Revis, Corey Dillon back in the day). And to top it all off, they constantly get other team's castoffs and turn them into stars/contributors. It's not just Welker, but guys like Rob Ninkovich, Blount, etc. But yeah, the whole operation is driven by a QB who fell to them in the 6th round of a draft 17 years ago and a coach who was a complete flop in his previous stint in Cleveland--and went 5-11 in his first season with the Pats when Brady was riding the pine and even their own fans didn't know who he was.  

The Pats have tons of draft picks every year, so their hit ratio is going to be low. But the hits they do have are the backbone of the team. Yes, they use free agency and trades too, but all those guys that I mentioned are a huge reason why they are who they are. Sure, Brady is the catalyst - but they've drafted some damn good players...and I didn't even mention players that they drafted and then later traded, like Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins.

When you have a ton of picks every year, you can afford to be flexible and work your draft board. The Dolphins aren't in that position, because they trade picks away instead of adding more.

And you talk about Brady...the Pats drafted him in the 6th round and developed him into the best QB ever. The Dolphins drafted Tannehill in the first and developed him into...well...6 years later we still don't know what he is. Point is, you not only have to draft the guys - you have to develop them too. The Phins have failed miserably in that department. The hope is that Gase will change that, but who knows?

My biggest fear is another Dion Jordan or someone that gets Caroo's production. We need playmakers or solid players. We seem to whiff on way to many picks

CarsonChris wrote:100% agree with JMP. Caroo  may have made it to our pick without trading future picks. His 2-3 catches last  year  didn't  match his cost in the draft

One catch for every pick Tannenbaum used to trade up. Not a good ratio.

I agree to a point. I am all for trading up for the player that you think will not be there when you pick later and you KNOW can come in a fill a role for you.

I just NEVER saw the need for Caroo. It doesn't seem like he will fill a role.

Anyway...the whole approach to the draft seems to be to get "someone, anyone" in free agency to fill a hole so you can go
BPA in the draft, but then it seems like they DECIDE where a player should go and use THAT as THE requirement for picking a player. Instead of "letting the draft come to them", Tannenbaum goes after a player he has ranked higher that has slid.

Again, I suspect had the whole BONGMASK incident not occurred, we would have seen something abysmal happen on draft day.

I certainly HOPE they draft well this year. At least a COUPLE of starters would be wonderful, and maybe a couple of role players that make you think their future is bright would make me GIDDY!!

The way they handled free agency, by giving starter's money to stopgap veterans, it tells me that they are NOT really looking for starters in this draft. Maybe at guard, but that's about it.

Think about it...what starting position besides guard is up for grabs? We have our starters everywhere else on both sides of the ball. You could argue that a rookie OLB could start, but the only LB spot open is a position that is on the field for about 25% of the time. And if Misi is healthy (ha!), that job is his.

Seems to me that we're looking at yet another draft full of role players and backups.

I think they feel they're almost a wildcard team, which is kind of accurate really, and if they can get the Phins back into the playoffs, they'll have improved and will save their jobs. I don't think they're looking at building a champion, just a competitor. That's about 90 percent of the league right there. Just trying to stay "competitive", which is the loser's term for "meh".