Pick # 15: Miami Dolphins

I’m not going to lie, the Dolphins scared me a little bit last year. Their defense was good in 2009 and they drafted two potential studs in the first two rounds in defensive end Jared Odrick from Penn St. and outside linebacker Koa Misi from Utah. Not only that, but Cameron Wake is one of the most explosive and underrated outside linebackers in the league and they made the biggest splash in free agency by signing Brandon Marshall away from the Broncos. I was a little worried. They looked good on paper. I was even more worried in the first half of the Patriots-Dophins Monday night game in week 3, when nobody knew what was in store for either the Pats or the Dolphins. Chad Henne was marching his team down the field at will against the Pats secondary in the first half and the Dolphins head coach was wearing sunglasses even thought it was night. I was shitting myself.

Then the second half started with a Brandon Tate kick off return and the two teams went in completely opposite directions for the rest of year. Chad Henne didn’t take a step back, he took a giant leap back to the point where the Dolphins now need to address their QB situation once again. They will undoubtedly bring in another QB and have him compete with Henne for the job this year, it’s just a matter of how heavily they will invest in the new QB. I think they take a long hard look at Locker if he’s still available, but in this mock he’s not, so they upgrade another position that was problematic this year and has been since the Parcells/Sparano contingent arrived in town.

(INSERT OFFENSIVE NAME) #15 OVERALL MOCK DRAFT PICK:
MIKE POUNCEY - OG, FLORIDA

The two Miami starting running backs are free agents this season, so they will take a long look at Mark Ingram here, but running backs with potential knee problems have a history of falling in the draft, and Ingram should fall as well, maybe even out of the first round. Pouncey has been rising up draft boards lately mostly because his brother turned out to be an absolute stud and one of the best rookie center’s the NFL has ever seen. Like some other brother’s I know, Pouncey will ride his brother’s coattail to success, in this case a high first round selection this April. The Dolphins already have one stud lineman in Jake Long but they have a large hole in the guard spot, where there was a revolving door this past season of Ray Feinga, Andew Hartline, and Nate Garner. It was a revolving door because they all sucked. If the Dolphins slide Pouncey into the left guard spot between Long and center Jake Grove they could feature one of the best offensive lines in the game, and the running back they take in the fourth round will run through gaping holes just as easily as Mark Ingram would have.

Entire Mock Draft:

1. Carolina Panthers - Marcell Dareus
2. Denver Broncos - Patrick Peterson
3. Buffalo Bills - Cam Newton
4. Cincinnati Bengals - A.J. Green
5. Arizona Cardinals - Blaine Gabbert
6. Cleveland Browns - Julio Jones
7. San Francisco 49ers - Von Miller
8. Tennessee Titans - Nick Fairley
9. Dallas Cowboys - Prince Amukamara
10. Washington Redskins - Jake Locker
11. Houston Texans - Robert Quinn
12. Minnesota Vikings - J.J Watt
13. Detroit Lions - Tyron Smith
14. St. Louis Rams - Aldon Smith
15. Miami Dolphins - Mike Pouncey