Peter King predicts Dolphins will take TCU’s Andy Dalton in first
Peter King is one of the most respected sports writers in the business, so when he pencils in Andy Dalton to the Dolphins 15th overall in his latest mock draft, as much of a reach as that may be, it may be time to expect the unexpected in next week’s draft. King’s inside information into Dalton’s latest visit with the Dolphins may have something to do with that prediction.
King writes that the Dolphins sent a portion of their playbook to Dalton only a few days before they were scheduled to meet with him and told him to digest every one of the 100 something formations- including all of the motions, shifts, and protections. According to Dalton, he did fairly well when tested over the playbook by the Dolphins. He didn’t think he fared quite as well on the other test offensive coordinator Brian Daboll threw at him, though.
Daboll supposedly flew into the meeting room shouting at Dalton about not getting the football thrown his way, supposedly to simulate how Dalton would handle a disgruntled receiver like, oh I don’t know, a Brandon Marshall. That’s quite the microscope the Dolphins put on Dalton, even if they do similar test to every quarterback they’ve met with in the pre-draft process. Call Peter King crazy for thinking the Dolphins could be targeting Dalton in the first round, but you have to believe he could at least become a strong possibility in the second and third rounds if Miami hasn’t drafted a quarterback yet and Dalton is still on the board.
Brandon Marshall promotes Ryan Mallett, predicts Dolphins-49ers Super Bowl on Twitter
We couldn’t go a whole week without having Mallett’s name in the title of a post. Thanks to Twitter, Brandon Marshall just keeps giving us more material to discuss. When he first set up his account, Marshall was arguably running a campaign ad for the Dolphins to sign his former teammate at UCF Mike Sims-Walker. Marshall has stayed clear of attention-getter tweets as of late, but last night he must have been feeling a bit controversial.
Marshall openly endorsed one of the draft’s most polarizing figures and a prospect many believe the Dolphins are strongly considering taking a chance on in the first round when he tweeted “Listen to me. Ryan Mallett will be an All-Pro Qb.” Could it be that Marshall was simply talking out loud when he was probably watching the special on ESPN last night that highlighted Mallett, or was he trying to send a subtle message to the front office to draft Mallett because he desperately wants the Dolphins to move on from Chad Henne? Either way I don’t think it really matters. I highly doubt the front office will be swayed by what Marshall wants come draft time.
Brandon didn’t stop there, though. A few hours later he tweeted “Rt it.. Blog it.. Hate it.. Criticize it.. Dolphins and 49ers in Super Bowl XLVI.” A couple tweets later, Marshall said “tonight we will start our movement on getting our team and fans#believing again. Power of the tongue.”
Part of me likes Marshall’s attitude because as cliché as it sounds, you have to believe before you can achieve, but part of me is a little irked by this because these are the same sort of statements that the New York Jets make. I believe you have to win in this league before you are allowed to say certain things. After back-to-back 7-9 seasons the Dolphins aren’t entitled to much bravado, and Marshall, having yet to play in a postseason game, certainly isn’t either. The second tweet about getting the fans to believe again doesn’t bother me at all, but let’s stay away from Super Bowl predictions when the Dolphins don’t even have an answer at quarterback yet Mr. Marshall.
Taiwan Jones skyrocketing up draft boards?
The Miami Herald’s Jeff Darlington wrote an interesting piece on Eastern Washington running back Taiwan Jones this morning. Jones, once thought of as a late round pick, is considered the fastest back in this year’s class and after running a blazing 4.27 forty at his Pro Day last week, could be taken in one of the middle rounds. The Dolphins, who at least want everyone to believe that they will be adding more speed this offseason, visited with Jones on Monday.
We know they will use at least one draft pick on a running back in this year’s draft, but have they shifted their philosophy from bigger is better to speed kills enough to take a small, speedy back like Jones who could be the next Chris Johnson but also may not be able to stay healthy or carry much of a workload in the NFL?
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