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| Ryan Tannehill/AP Images |
By Joe Diglio
The 2011 season ended on somewhat of a high note, as the team won six of its last nine after starting 0-7. However the off-season has been a disappointment. The team lost out on every big name quarterback. They won’t get a chance at Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III because their strong finish lowered their draft position, and they couldn’t land Peyton Manning, Matt Flynn or Alex Smith in free agency, settling instead for David Garrard. The team then made a head-scratching trade, giving away Brandon Marshall, its best skilled position player, for a pair of third-round picks.
Miami is in a good position at the number eight pick in this year’s draft, but the talent of this year’s draft class has put the team in an awkward situation. By position, the Dolphins would be best suited to go after a quarterback, since neither Garrard nor Matt Moore are long-term solutions. The top quarterback after Luck and Griffin is Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M, though he ranks just 17th on Scouts Inc.’s overall draft board. Picking Tannehill with the eighth pick might be a stretch in terms of talent, but few teams are as desperate to find a quarterback as the Dolphins.
Although there is one team that could get in the way: the Cleveland Browns, who may be done experimenting with Colt McCoy. The team could potentially take Tannehill with the number four pick. That would be an even greater reach, but stranger things have happened in the draft, and this is the Cleveland Browns we’re talking about. Should the Dolphins lose out on the Aggie quarterback, their best bet would be to go after a defensive lineman to fill out their new 4-3 scheme, most likely defensive end Quinton Coples out of North Carolina. Other holes Miami should look to fill are a wide receiver replacement for Marshall and a safety replacement for Yeremiah Bell, who was recently released. In the end, though, expect the Dolphins to grab Tannehill with the eighth overall pick and go from there.
