Dolphins need to draft OL in the 1st round

...according to Omar.

sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-kelly-dolphins-offensive-line-0417-20150416-story.html?track=rss

Omar wrote:Miami must follow the Dallas Cowboys 'model for building a playoff caliber NFL team by continuing to invest in the offensive line.

Omar wrote:That's why the Dolphins need to give serious thought to selecting Iowa's Brandon Scherff, LSU's La'el Collins, Miami's Ereck Flowers, Florida State's Cameron Erving or Florida's D.J. Humphries with the No. 14 pick.

i know the idea of picking another 1st round O-linemen should generate some grumblings.

The Cowboys' model for building a team included adding one of the NFL's top WRs, one of the NFL's top RBs, one of the NFL's top TEs and one of the NFL's top QBs before they started heavily investing in the OL. The Dolphins have none of those things.

More importantly, the Dolphins have been building the OL for years, and they still haven't had a winning record. No team in the NFL has invested more money and high picks on the OL than the Dolphins over the past few years. Three 1st round picks (Long, Pouncey, James), a bunch of 2nd and 3rd round picks (Turner, Thomas, Martin, Jerry), and a bunch of FAs (Albert, Smith, Fox, Colledge, Clabo, Colombo, etc.) AND - Albert is one of the highest-paid linemen in the game, and Pouncey is the highest-paid center.

Despite all this, our line sucks year after year. And the solution is to invest more high picks in the line???? Hell no! The solution is to learn how to identify and draft linemen outside of the first 2-3 rounds. Stop drafting garbage like Martin and Thomas, and draft guys that can actually play. The biggest problem the Phins face is that their scouting department has no ability at all to find linemen anywhere but the first round. It's absolutely absurd.

Let's surround Tannehill with some talented playmakers first and foremost. Then, we can continue to build the OL through the draft in the lower rounds.

At 14, any of the OL that are on the board would be too much of a reach for me. There are guys to be had later, and we need help in other areas as well.

Right now, the way this team is built, I'm not expecting a real championship competitor at all, and I'm not a big fan of, "well, we were competitive."

Yes, the thing the Fins absolutely, positively need to do is start imitating a team who had their first playoff win in  5 years and only their second in the past 19 years last season

Then again, the sad part is if they HAD gone O-line in the first 3 years ago instead of trading up for Dion Jordan they'd have actually been better off, despite the fact that absolutely NOBODY wanted them to do that

But yeah, Jmp is right (as usual, until I disagree with him, that is ). What this team *really* needs to do is fire all their scouts and get new ones who can actually identify talent. They've had multiple coaches and GMs, dozens of new players, and even changed owners over the past 15 years and yet the drafts are always just as crappy for the same exact reasons. The scouts are the only common denominator left!

DolFan 316 wrote:What this team *really* needs to do is fire all their scouts and get new ones who can actually identify talent. They've had multiple coaches and GMs, dozens of new players, and even changed owners over the past 15 years and yet the drafts are always just as crappy for the same exact reasons. The scouts are the only common denominator left!

Exactly! Time for some new blood in the scouting department!

I've been kind of tense thinking about this. BUT I must say I have zero faith in Alberts ability to stay healthy. I'll be pissed if OT is the pick but if all the playmakers are gone I understand the logic.

We are virtually snake-bit at LT since the days of Richmond Webb. We use our #1 overall pick and draft Long, only to get about 3 serviceable seasons out of him, when the plan was to lock the spot down for a decade.

I'd rather stick with Albert and a capable backup (like Fox) at left tackle, over drafting yet another prospect there. Also, teams have proven that you can - and should - "grow" a guard by developing lesser known prospects. Kind of like we're doing with Turner, even though he was drafted relatively high. We are locked at center and right tackle for a relatively long term, this should give us time to develop guards.