SI 7-Round Mock Draft: Balanced selections for Dolphins

Sports Illustrated unveiled its 20th mock draft Friday morning, but this was the first one to include all seven rounds, and it went from top overall selection Joe Burrow to Mr. Irrelevant.

SI projected some trades in his mock draft, but none of them involved the Miami Dolphins, which meant he stayed with their current 14 selections.

The Dolphins got a nice mix of offense and defense in the mock, with eight players on offense and six defense, starting with Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert with the fifth overall pick.

Of course, most of the debate surrounding the Dolphins heading into the draft is whether they'll go for a quarterback at No. 5 overall and who that quarterback would be.

The other four Dolphins picks in the first two rounds, as SI sees it, would be University of Houston offensive tackle Josh Jones at No. 18, Alabama safety Xavier McKinney at No. 26, Georgia running back D'Andre Swift at No. 39 and Michigan edge defender Josh Uche at No. 56.

Uche, it should be noted, played under new Dolphins linebackers coach Anthony Campanile during his time with the Wolverines.

The Dolphins' third-round pick in the SI mock was LSU interior offensive lineman Damien Lewis, and the eight third-day selections included Michigan State edge defender Kenny Willekes and LSU defensive tackle Rashard Lawrence, who played with Davon Godchaux as a freshman.

I asked Lawrence at the combine in Indianapolis the biggest thing he took away from his one year with Godchaux.

“The biggest thing I would take is it doesn't matter where you start, it's how you finish," Lawrence said. "I think he would tell you that he didn't have his best showing at the combine but he didn't let that break him. He got better as time went on. He made the Dolphins really happy. I think he's gonna be a guy that's gonna play 10 years, 12 years and the Dolphins really like him, man. I actually got a chance to talk to him. So they love him for what he did and how he's handled himself as a man. So it's very impressive.”

Willekes gained some attention in recent days with a workout video he posted on Twitter that showed off some pretty impressive athletic ability.

"Not athletic, below-average athleticism for edge rusher"
"Physical tools don't jump off the page"
"Isn't a good athlete"
"Has pedestrian physical gifts”
Shhhh Just watch... pic.twitter.com/LpvLpzBu9C
— Kendrick (@kennyw97) March 26, 2020

Here's the compete list of Dolphins picks in the SI mock draft:

Round 1, 5th overall — QB Justin Herbert, Oregon

Round 1, 18th overall — T Josh Jones, Houston

Round 1, 26th overall — S Xavier McKinney, Alabama

Round 2, 39th overall — RB D'Andre Swift, Georgia

Round 2, 56th overall — Edge Josh Uche Michigan

Round 3, 70th overall — IOL Damien Lewis, LSU

Round 4, 141st overall — Edge Kenny Willekes, Michigan State

Round 5, 153rd overall — WR Anthony Gandy-Golden, Liberty

Round 5, 154th overall — IDL Rashard Lawrence, LSU

Round 5, 173rd overall — T Tyre Phillips, Mississippi State

Round 6, 185th overall — RB Anthony McFarland, Maryland

Round 7, 211th overall — RB DeeJay Dallas, Miami (Fla.)

Round 7, 227th overall — S Josh Metellus, Michigan

Round 7, 246th overall — Edge Nick Coe, Auburn

For the complete SI mock draft, visit /nfl/2020/04/17/nfl-mock-draft-16-all-seven-rounds?jwsource=cl

Alain Poupart has covered the Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989. You can follow him on Twitter: @apoupartFins.