The Miami Dolphins’ scouting staff spent the better part of last week milling around Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida to watch the East/West Shrine Bowl. But this week? This is the main event of all-star scouting.
Because tomorrow marks the start of the 2020 Reese’s Senior Bowl, and the prospects in attendance this year are as good as ever — and the storylines at the quarterback position are absolutely fascinating. For the Miami Dolphins, it means a lot of attention eyeing Oregon Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert and Utah State passer Jordan Love.
Both players are viewed as potential top-10 picks at the quarterback position. Neither is seriously viewed as a contender to LSU’s Joe Burrow for the top overall selection, but we’ve seen crazy things happen over the course of three months of draft prep. Burrow himself was invited to this year’s event in Mobile, AL but respectfully declined his invitation.
And with Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa a junior and ineligible for the contest, that leaves Love and Herbert as the top two passers in this year’s game. Miami will undoubtedly take advantage of the extra exposure.
At this point in time, both players should be regarded as ‘Plan B’ targets for Miami. Would either one be the ideal pick with the #5 overall selection? No, probably not. But Miami has additional draft picks at play, including one at 18 overall. This is the luxury of the way Miami has attacked their rebuilding process, they’re not handcuffed into forcing a pick based on need. And with that in mind, the Dolphins will have every opportunity to continue doing due diligence on both Love and Herbert this week.
Perhaps one of them blows Miami out of the water. It seems to happen every year. The Giants fell in love with Daniel Jones in Mobile. The Browns fell in love with Baker Mayfield in Mobile. The Eagles fell in love with Carson Wentz in Mobile.
Could the Dolphins be next? They’ll have the next six days to cough up their heart, should they so desire.
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