The Miami Dolphins’ hopes and aspirations of securing a top offensive tackle prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft are going to require a lot of assistance from the rest of the league. Miami, which picks 5th and then again at 18 overall, is reportedly hoping to secure a quarterback and an offensive tackle in the early portions of next week’s NFL Draft. But Miami’s 13 pick void between selections looms as a significant threat to the team’s ability to successfully land one of the top four offensive tackle prospects in this year’s draft.
But a flagged drug test at the 2020 NFL Combine may deter some of the teams picking between No. 5 and 18 from drafting one of the biggest, most monstrous tackle prospects. Louisville’s Mekhi Becton was reportedly flagged for his drug test at the 2020 NFL Combine earlier this year. The report came last night from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:
Multiple players had drug tests flagged at the NFL Combine & among those is projected top 10 pick #Louisville OT Mekhi Becton, I’m told. Teams were made aware of this. Becton had no failed drug tests in college. Per new CBA rules, he goes into Stage 1 for no more than 60 days.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 18, 2020
Miami has benefitted from a potential substance issue in the draft before, as well. The Dolphins were the team that was willing to take the leap of faith with offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, who was widely regarded as a top-5 overall pick before a video of him smoking in a gas mask was leaked onto the internet just moments before the start of the 2016 NFL Draft. That decision seemed to work out pretty well for Miami — the team got 3 years of play out of Tunsil before flipping him for two 1st-round picks and a 2nd-round pick courtesy of the Houston Texans.
This situation is a bit different, as the surprise factor of Becton’s failed drug test comes with nearly a week notice instead of just minutes — which was the case with Tunsil back in 2016. But if the Dolphins get to pick 18 and Becton is still around, it may be deja vu for Miami. And if that’s the case, we can only hope that the decision this time around works out as well as it did the first time for Miami.