V's Rabbit Hole

 This feeling that I have - part disappointment, part not knowing what I feel - is exactly why I don't usually get involved in the Pre-Draft process. All the players I fell in love with went to teams other than the Dolphins. The Dolphins chose a player I expressly hoped they would not. (But let's not kid ourselves, they telegraphed it the whole way they were going to take Jaelan Philips.) I prefer to feel optimistic about the players Miami drafts. And don't get me wrong - I'm very optimistic about Jaylen Waddle. I'm also amused that both of their first round picks are named Jaelen, by one spelling or another. But so was Rich Eisen on the NFL Network broadcast, so I'm a little late in pointing it out. Can't say I'm not disappointed they won't get one of the top three running backs in this draft. The second round is for optimism. At least for me. I haven't studied any of the players left on the board, basically. Minus Javonte Williams. Do Miami tra...

  So, I've spent the afternoon watching DJ Fluker film. A first round pick in 2013, the obvious takeaway is that the man has talent – or that the (then) San Diego Chargers were desperate for offensive line help. The book on him as it was written before the 2020 season was that he was a bust. You'll hear people say he lacks footwork, or that he's a liability in pass protection. Without access to All-22 Film (and motivation to take the hours and hours it would take to watch every snap of the 88 games he's played in) and the specific gameplans and philosophy of his former coaches, I'm not the person to tell you otherwise. But I'm going to anyway. Instead of trying to act like I know what I'm talking about, I'm going to lay out my notes from the past few hours. Played with the run-heavy Giants and Seahawks before joining the historically 2020 Ravens. Great hair; strong, fast; his teams run the ball well. Don't see him on the grou...

  I keep seeing mock drafts with Miami taking an Edge Rusher with their second pick in the First Round. There seems to be some sort of consensus among, especially national, commentators that because Miami traded away Shaq Lawson they have a void at the position. And cut Kyle Van Noy. I’m not convinced. Chris Grier et al wouldn’t have let two pass rushers walk - indeed, wouldn’t have sent two pass rushers walking - if he weren’t hearing from Brian Flores and his defensive coaching staff that last year’s depth was ready to start and be impactful. Andrew Van Ginkel jumps immediately to my mind. He was a force in the first eight weeks of the 2020 season. Coming into his third season, with (the addition of) Benardrick McKinney in the middle…. I expect him to break out next year. This could and probably should be, if I were a professional, a listicle, something to the effect of the 7 players I expect to have breakout seasons in 2021. It’s not. It’s more like my way of working through my ...

  This is not my favorite part of the NFL calendar. The days between the end of the Super Bowl and the first Sunday of the Regular Season are a slog for me. Sure, it’s fun - thinking about and trying to predict what teams, specifically the Dolphins, are going to do in Free Agency and the Draft. I can very clearly remember sitting in front of my computer during the 2015 Free Agency period, refreshing and refreshing my Google search, reading articles about how Ndamukong Suh was going to join Miami and how he was going to change their franchise prospects. Which, let’s be real. For half a decade before that, in Madden, I would move Heaven and Earth to get Suh on my defense. Trading draft picks and stacking my roster with all the best players I could find. But those rosters always hit the salary cap by year three, and the little dynasty I’d made myself always blew up. I’m sure if you’ve been reading these posts, you already sort of know this about me. That’s why I’m skeptical about Free...

I listened today to Colin Cowherd talking with Mark Schlereth, who through the course of their conversation said something to the effect that if you have to scheme your running game, you don’t have a running game. That immediately made me think of two things. Two coaches, actually. Green Bay and NFL legend Vince Lombardi (how did I forget his first name for a second there? We share it) and Anthony Lynn. For the opposite ends of the same spectrum. Vince Lombardi is famous for only running a handful of plays - ever. I’m sure he had a pithy quote about it I’m not going to look for, but basically the philosophy was that if you had to scheme offense, you didn’t have an offense. Anthony Lynn got the head coaching gig in Los Angeles (with the Chargers) because he was the Running Game Coordinator for Rex Ryan in New York and Buffalo. Lynn was widely considered to be the reason those teams were successful on offense - he was regarded as the best running game schemer in the League. This is, nat...