Well, to quote myself, Darren McFadden, the franchise/playmaker running back from Arkansas is a great start!
http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/11/miami-dolphins-select-darren-mcfadden.html
Before I wrote that post last month, and even before UVA came down to the Orange Bowl and laid a 48-0 whipping on the U-M Hurricanes at their last game ever at the Orange Bowl -easily one of the lowest moments in South Florida sports history- I was of the opinion that if the Dolphins won a couple of games before the season ended, they'd consider themselves lucky if they could grab UVA's talented and savvy DE Chris Long, a kid who never takes a down off and has a remarkable sense of anticipation. He seldom gets fooled twice.
The Baltimore Sun's NFL blog Moving the Chains by Sheil Kapadia, has an interview with Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald on his experience covering the winless team. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/blog/2007/12/qa_on_dolphins_game_1.html Armando answers the McFadden question this way:
Q:I'm sure you started receiving questions about the draft around Week 5. The Dolphins look like a sure bet to land the first pick. What direction do you see them going in?
A: I have no idea whom the Dolphins will draft because the process has really not begun. There is thinking out there that Darren McFadden of Arkansas would be a likely pick, but there is also the argument that picking a running back No. 1 is wasting the pick. No one -- not even the Dolphins -- know which player they will pick. I do know they would love to trade down and garner extra picks in exchange for a minimal move to later in the top 10.
Right, the ol' "trade down" route!
Hmmm...
Other than perhaps the 49ers about 15 years or so under Bill Walsh, who routinely outsmarted other NFL teams with their trades and draft selections the way the Patriots do now, just whom has this trading-down tactic actually worked for, under the current free agent system?
Perhaps that explains why this particular tactic is so very popular with 12-year olds with blogs of their own, who love to opine and write "trade down" on newspaper or NFL team forum sites, with little photo icons of SciFi characters next to their names. They lack a larger frame of reference to understand their own 'borrowed' thoughts lack a solid foundation in reality.
I like Armando Salguero, and even have his blog on the SouthBeachHoosier Media Links, but even at this late date, he has yet to construct a logical scenario where, well, a mystery team, can actually offer the Dolphins more riches for their #1 in an NFL draft that every other sports writer keeps writing is average at best. Like they know? Like anyone knows?
As far as the Dolphins actually drafting Darren McFadden, having gotten to the point where a wrong move in the NFL draft in April could leave them highly vulnerable to possibly losing two interdivision games a year, due solely to one player of absurd ability making one Hall-of-Fame move, I guess I'm just old-fashioned. I like proven talent in a playmaker.
In Arkansas they say: McFadden will surpass Tebow in NFL http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/12/11/columns/harry_king/121207king.txt
Not to state the obvious, but the more talent on your team the better. That's evidenced by this year's woeful Dolphin team which is so clearly bereft of talent, football intelligence and savvy. Not to mention, moxie on special teams, though the special team coach can hardly be blamed when so many components of his team have left the team thru no fault of his, and he's forced to play with guys who so clearly wear their trepidation on their faces.
It's almost like the inexperience of this year's Hurricanes team, where guys run out of bounds while trying to catch kickoffs, rather than simply let the ball sail out and draw a penalty flag, is rubbing off on them by sheer geographic proximity.
You can't let McFadden slip away in April or you'll be chasing your mistake for the next 10-12 years, and have national and local sports writers and talk radio mention it every time you play that team. Every time. Could it be any more predictable?
If the Dolphins have a brain freeze and foolishly trade down, and the lowly Jets pass on Boston selecting the Boston College QB Matt Ryan,http://bceagles.cstv.com/view.gal?id=19004&template=player_gallery either they or the savvy Patriots will swoop down upon McFadden toute-de-suite!
Then, be prepared to watch not another hammer fall on stumbling-and-bumbling Dolphin owner H. Wayne Huizenga, but rather the proverbial giant ACME anvil or piano fall on him, as constantly happened to beloved Warner Brothers cartoon icon Wile E. Coyote in his pursuit of The Road Runner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_Road_Runner
For our purposes here, the role of The Road Runner is played by the two-headed Patriot's brain trust of Scott Pioli and Bill Billichick.
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