2008 Miami Dolphins NFL Draft Thread

[DolFan619]

  Happy Draft Day Dolfans!  This is the thread to talk about and discuss the 2008 NFL Draft.  While you're sitting around, eating some food, and drinking the beverage of your choice.  Throughout this process, I've compiled many of the names of players that the Miami Dolphins have talked too.  Keep in mind, this isn't everybody they've talked too.  But these names have been gathered through various sources, i.e: Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, KFFL, 560 WQAM, etc.  Keep an eye out for some of these names, and enjoy the day, today!

Quarterbacks

- Brian Brohm, Louisville
- Chad Henne, Michigan
- Kyle Wright, Miami
- Joe Flacco, Delaware
- Eric Ainge, Tennessee

Running Backs

- Ray Rice, Rutgers
- Kevin Simth, UCF
- Yvenson Bernard, Oregon State
- RB Tim Hightower, Richmond

Fullbacks

- Rolly Lumbala, Idaho

Wide Receivers

- Adrian Arrington, Michigan
- Mario Manningham, Michigan
- D.J. Hall, Alabama
- Will Franklin, Missouri
- DuVaughn Flagler, Gardner-Webb
- Devin Thomas, Michigan State
- Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma
- Andre Caldwell, Florida
- Limas Sweed, Texas
- Darnell Jenkins, Miami
- Lance Leggett, Miami
- John Dunlap, N.C. State
- Pierre Garcon, Mount Union
- Donnie Avery, Houston
- Paul Raymond, Brown
- Dexter Jackson, Appalachian State

Tight Ends

- Jermichael Finley, Texas
- Brad Cottam, Tennessee
- Kellen Davis, Michigan State
- Dustin Keller, Purdue

Offensive Tackles

- Mike Butterworth, Slippery Rock (Yes, that's an actual school)
- Brandon Keith, Northern Iowa
- Chad Rinehart, Northern Iowa
- Duane Brown, Virginia Tech
- Anthony Collins, Kansas
- Carl Nicks, Nebraska
- Sam Baker, USC
- John Greco, Toledo

Offensive Guards

- Ryan Poles, Boston College
- Shawn Murphy, Utah State
- Andrew Bain, Miami
- Derrick Morse, Miami

[Philly Fin Fan]

Thanks for starting this thread Dolfan.

EVERYONE PLEASE KEEP ALL DRAFT RELATED CONVERSATIONS IN THIS THREAD.

We don't need 14 threads talking about the same thing!

[DolFan619]

  Moving onto the defense and specialists.

Linebackers

- Taveras Gooden, Miami
- Dan Connor, Penn State
- Keith Rivers, USC
- Beau Bell, UNLV
- Wesley Woodyard, Kentucky
- Cliff Avril, Purdue
- Jerod Mayo, Tennessee
- Kelly Poppinga, BYU
- Marcus Howard, Georgia
- Steve Allen, West Texas A&M
- Phillip Wheeler, Georgia Tech
- Gary Guyton, Georgia Tech

Defensive Ends

- Quentin Groves, Auburn
- Lawrence Jackson, USC
- Curtis Johnson, Clark-Atlanta
- Brian Johnston, Gardner-Webb
- Calais Campbell, Miami
- Bryan Smith, McNeese State
- Kendall Langford, Hampton
- Derrick Harvey, Florida
- Jeremy Thompson, Wake Forest

Defensive Tackles

- Kory Robertson, Virginia Tech
- Carlton Powell, Virginia Tech
- Teraz McCray, Miami
- Dre Moore, Maryland
- Pat Sims, Auburn

Cornerbacks

- Tyvon Branch, Conneticutt
- Justin McKinney, Kansas State
- Patrick Lee, Auburn
- Tracy Porter, Indiana
- Charles Godfrey, Iowa
- Terrell Vinson, Purdue
- Brandon Flowers, Virginia Tech
- Patrick Wells, Ferris State

Safties

- Quentin Demps, UTEP
- Thomas DeCoud, California
- Kenny Phillips, Miami

Long Snappers

- John Rochford, Miami

[DolFan619]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/04/26/will_the_dolphins_next_pick_re.html

Will the Dolphins’ next pick really be at No. 32

By Tim Graham | Saturday, April 26, 2008, 11:48 AM

NEW YORK — Now that we’ve reached NFL draft day, Manhattan — as well as the phone lines from war room to war room — are buzzing.

We can’t say for sure what the Dolphins are up to, but after trading their fourth-round pick to the Cowboys for tight end Anthony Fasano and linebacker Akin Ayodele, we know they’re open to maneuvering.

GM Jeff Ireland said at Tuesday’s news conference to announce tackle Jake Long had signed that the Dolphins would look into getting back into the first round.

“I think it is something that will be explored,” Ireland said. “I think it will depend if the right player is there whether we move back up in there and go after the player, obviously.”

So what do you think? Will the Dolphins stand pat for now and make their next pick at No. 32?

Will they move up, and why? Who will they target?

Will Jason Taylor be involved?

Let’s hear your predictions.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

I hope they can net a first rounder for JT.

[DolFan619]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-flsptoppick26pnapr26,0,1298476.story

Top selection nowhere near a sure thing in NFL Draft

By Ethan J. Skolnick
Sun Sentinel

April 26, 2008

Russell Maryland had won two national championships at Miami but had never felt such euphoria. Of all the players eligible in the 1991 NFL Draft, the Cowboys chose him first. After the defensive lineman celebrated with his family in California, he boarded a plane to Dallas.

After landing, he felt something else:

Skepticism from Cowboys fans and media.

"And everyone is like, 'This is the kid?'" Maryland said, 17 years later. "And the questions start coming, and the pressure starts mounting, it's like: 'What can this guy do to help us come back from a [7-9] season?' So it's a great amount of pressure."

It's pressure that very few men know, and Jake Long soon will.

Today in New York, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will announce Long as the Dolphins' No. 1 selection, five days after the former Michigan offensive tackle signed a rookie contract that guarantees him $30 million. At his introductory news conference in Davie on Tuesday, Long said that he welcomed pressure, promising to "work hard, try to be a good leader, make myself better and help make the team better."

Every No. 1 overall pick promises the same.

Some succeed. Peyton Manning, Orlando Pace, Troy Aikman, Bruce Smith, John Elway.

Many fail. David Carr, Tim Couch, Courtney Brown, Steve Emtman, Aundray Bruce.

None do either in the shadows. Every step is watched from the start. So NFL executives must do everything to identify the right guy.

"There's no question it's different," former NFL general manager Charley Casserly said. "You want a high-character player, because he is always going to be under scrutiny. You hope he's mature enough to handle all the pressures that come with it. Of course, it's very hard to judge that."

While running the Houston Texans' draft in 2006, Casserly sought three things in a potential No. 1 overall choice: communication skills, solid representation, supportive family. He selected North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams over Texas quarterback Vince Young and USC running back Reggie Bush, knowing the pick would be panned.

"There's never been a number one pick that ever had to go through what he had to go through," Casserly said.

Williams emerged as a star last season, and Casserly recently interviewed him for NFL Network.

"I think he's done a remarkable job of handling it," Casserly said.

Casserly called Long's transition a "piece in the cake" compared to what Williams endured.

Maryland faced a unique challenge. He joined a team already on the rise. The Cowboys were 7-9 in 1990, and acquired the No. 1 overall slot from New England by sending leftover draft choices from the Herschel Walker trade. Jimmy Johnson had recruited and coached Maryland before leaving the University of Miami for Dallas. Johnson knew what he was getting.

Not everyone did.

"The first day I walked in the locker room, my teammates were like, 'Hmm, I wonder what this guy can bring to us that we didn't already have,'" Maryland said. "You've just got to come in there and prove yourself; it doesn't happen on the first day."

Maryland approached the assignment humbly, considering himself a role player who could play the "A gap" on defense hard and well.

"I remember the first drills that I took part in, in the first training camp in 1991," Maryland said. "My first play, I made a play in the backfield, and guys were like, 'Man, This guy is quick.' And a lot of them were like this guy is a fluke, he doesn't really have any technique. Which I didn't. But the one thing that I did have was the tenacity, that a lot of the guys took [a liking] to. Because they hadn't seen that in a lot of their players before."

Maryland was fortunate to stay healthy through most of his career, playing 10 seasons, winning three Super Bowls participating in one Pro Bowl.

Many No. 1 overall picks haven't been as lucky.

The Bengals chose Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter first overall in 1995, a year after taking Ohio State defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson first overall. Carter tore a knee ligament on the third carry of his first exhibition game. Other setbacks limited him to 1,144 career rushing yards. Now a South Florida resident, Carter insists that he could have overcome the pressure had he avoided the injuries. In 1995, media coverage wasn't as expansive and stifling. No NFL Network. Few, if any, internet sites.

So that made his transition easier.

So did the proximity to his Columbus hometown. So did the guidance of Wilkinson, who hosted Carter during the first minicamp.

Carter later had one friend stay with him, serving as a supportive ear. He recommends that Long keep close friends close, while proceeding cautiously with everyone else, since "people are going to come at him from every angle." (Especially since Long signed for four times as much guaranteed money as Carter's record-setting rookie signing bonus in 1995).

Carter is often included among No. 1 overall busts, even though his struggles were caused by bad Astroturf, not inadequate ability or effort.

"Does it hurt?" Carter said. "Sometimes it does. But I'm a strong-willed person. Granted, I'm disappointed with what happened with my career too, but everything happens for a reason."

Going first: blessing or burden?

"For me, I think it was a blessing," Carter said. "Only 30-something people can say they were No. 1 overall."

Only 39 taken since the AFL/NFL merger. Only one by the Dolphins: Jake Long.

[DolFan619]

I hope they can net a first rounder for JT.

  It's not looking good right now.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/04/26/does_anyone_want_jt.html

Does anyone want JT?

By Edgar Thompson | Saturday, April 26, 2008, 11:49 AM

Word out of Jacksonville is the Jaguars no longer are interested in Jason Taylor.

The Dolphins wanted the Jags’ first-round pick (No. 26), the Jags offered one of their third-rounders (Nos. 71 or 89).

No one blinked.

Now any chance for a deal seems to be dead.

The Washington Post reports the Redskins, who need a pass rusher and want to trade out of the No. 21 pick, aren’t interested in Taylor.

One rumor making the rounds Friday is Taylor to Tampa Bay for the Bucs’ second-round pick (No. 52).

But Philadelphia CB Lito Sheppard, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, worked out for the Bucs, who would trade that pick to the Eagles.

People close to Taylor believe he’s gone. Taylor is trying not to focus on the situation.

He surely has mixed emotions, balancing leaving his home in South Florida with playing for a Super Bowl contender.

The Dolphins likely are going to keep inquiring and ultimately might drop the asking price to something that seems out of whack (a third-round pick?) for a player like Taylor, a six-time Pro Bowler coming off an 11-sack season.

Ex-Dolphins great Dick Anderson, a Pro Bowl safety for the ‘72 and ‘73 Super Bowl teams, said he hopes the Dolphins don’t let Taylor go for nothing.

“If you don’t get a first-round draft choice and a live body, I think you keep him,” Anderson said Friday. “There’s a lot of reasons to keep a leader on your team.

“You just don’t find people like Jason very often. You build teams with character.”

But Anderson knows from personal experience that in the eyes of management nearly everyone on an NFL roster is expendable.

Anderson said he was shocked when he found out a few years after the fact that he’d been dangled as trade bait following the 1968 season, when he earned AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

“There’s discussions going on all the time no one knows about,” Anderson said. ” A football player is commodity. They’re always trying to get better.

“Anybody can be fair game at some time.”

JT’s time finally has arrived.

[StL FinFan]

It ought to be interesting to see who the Rams and Falcons will take.  The media guys here are arguing Chris Long vs Glen Dorsey. 

[ARamsFan]

It ought to be interesting to see who the Rams and Falcons will take.  The media guys here are arguing Chris Long vs Glen Dorsey. 

My opinion? Dorsey is much better than Long, Gholston, and Ellis. Let's use comparisons that have been circulating. Long is compared to Kerney, or Jared Allen, or Kampfman, or Wistrom. [Okay, fair enough, good to have.] Dorsey is compared to Jerome Brown and Warren Sapp.

If you had to pick between Kerney and Brown, what would you do? Brown was not only a great player, he was second-to-none in character and heart and soul of his defense. Beyond Reggie White.

Most pass rushers don't come from the 1st round anyway, and recall that every time a team had a Cortez Kennedy, or a Warren Sapp, or a Jerome Brown, or a Bryant Young, or a Randy White, they wreaked havoc. Screw need and take the player that'll be the heart and soul of defense in 2018. That's Dorsey.

[StL FinFan]

Since the Rams have a history of blowing draft picks, I wouldn't be surprised if they take neither.  I'd better have a beer or two ready for Mr. StL so he doesn't throw things at the tv! 

[Guru-In-Vegas]

I would love for us to trade again for a shot at Chris Long.  I would become an NFL fan like I once was at 8 years old.

[StL FinFan]

Just an FYI.  ESPN.com DraftCast has a live chat going.

[TonyB0D]

RAY RICE!!!  WOHOOOO!!

[StL FinFan]

Here we go!

[Philly Fin Fan]

Jake Long? WOW! What a surprise!