The Miami Dolphins have seen the same name tied to the top of their mock drafts for the better part of 4 months. The whole football world expects Miami to lock in, target and acquire Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It’s been a constant theme for the last year, plus some.
But the Dolphins made the proposition of landing Tagovailoa complicated by winning five football games this past season. If you asked Miami if they could go back and give a win or two back, of course they’d tell you no. But might that answer be different come April? If Mel Kiper Jr’s latest mock draft comes to life, that answer might be yes, after all.
Kiper’s latest mock draft projects the 1st-round and he’s given the Dolphins three offensive talents:
- Quarterback Justin Herbert, Oregon (5th overall)
- Offensive tackle Andrew Thomas, Georgia (18th overall)
- Running back D’Andre Swift, Georgia (26th overall)
And the player Miami has been tied to for so long? Tagovailoa was off the board by the time Miami got on the clock at 5, with the Detroit Lions drafting Tagovailoa with the 3rd pick.
This is no time to panic, Tua fans. There’s clearly posturing taking place between the two sides of the Lions/Dolphins parties. Detroit has the higher pick — they’re a team that needs a lot of help to win now and help save the jobs of their head coach and their general manager. The Lions, surely, would tease drafting Tua if they knew it would increase Miami’s urgency to move up in a deal.
Miami has all the picks in the world, and there is no one that can realistically threaten their trade packages. And so with that leverage, Miami, surely, would tease rather having Herbert (and the picks) than Tagovailoa to passively inform Detroit that the team refuses to be fleeced in a trade.
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