The Miami Dolphins will probably have little room under the salary cap, if any, after they sign essential players who are becoming free agents in 2015. The Dolphins should be keeping some distance between themselves and the free agent market once the NFL calendar year begins, and most of the vacated positions on Miami's roster may have to be filled mostly with this year's draft choices. The Dolphins have little choice, but to hit the bull’s eye in every round of the draft this year and general manager Denis Hickey will need to improve on his late-round decisions while keeping up the excellent work on the early couple of rounds.
The NFL Combine got under way this week, and perhaps none of these annual evaluation events has been more important in recent years to the Miami Dolphins as this year's has. The needs for Miami are many, but the fan base remains in the dark as to the positions the team will prioritize. There are needs remaining on the offensive line, secondary and linebacker corps, but there are also many questions when it comes to Dolphins' free agents and players who may be traded or released of their contracts. The latter could add a new spin as to how the Dolphins prioritize draft needs, especially if high priced wide receiver Mike Wallace is let go in order to make room under the cap ceiling.
One area of the team that has worked well and which, on the surface, may seem to need no improvement on is the receivers. The Dolphins, however, have not been much of a deep threat, in spite of the fact that speedster Mike Wallace led the team in completions. Most of Miami's passes and completions have been shallow routes inside of 20 yards. The lack of a deep credible menace may be why opposing defenses have been able to afford stacking the box and only dropping the bear minimum in deep pass coverage, thus taking away the slant and other mid-level routes, which have caused the Dolphins to have to go three and out when they start lagging behind schedule or when they find themselves in third and long scenarios.
The situation in Miami with Mike Wallace, though, may be a different one. There may be a lack of chemistry, to put it mildly, between coach Philbin and Wallace which may prompt the Dolphins to re-evaluate their sole deep threat's value and cost. Should they go in a different direction, then the wide receiver position may be prioritized again, while the offensive line, linebackers, and secondary have to once again take a back seat.
Taken at face value, the Miami Dolphins should be going with a linebacker, who can be a run stopper and who is also athletic enough to assist in pass coverage. It would be expected, that if the draft was based on what some of the experts think at this point, Miami's first selection would be a linebacker, however, the second round, taken as the rankings stand today, offers interesting options at a speedster as either a complement to Wallace or in case Wallace isn't part of the team in 2015, as Wallace's replacement as a deep threat. The offensive line is still in desperate need of a guard who can line up from day one. How draft prospect rankings are affected by the NFL combine, pro days and other news, will determine in the end how positions of need are prioritized. This is the last article of this series. The upcoming series on the draft starts next week.