New Mock Offers a Major Curveball for Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are projected to land tight end Kyle Pitts in a new mock draft, but doing so after making another move

New mock drafts keep coming out, and there were three more from national outlets Tuesday morning with all of them projecting the Miami Dolphins to take a playmaker with their first pick.

Both Eric Edholm from Yahoo Sports and former NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew for NFL.com pegged wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase to go to the Dolphins at number 6, while ESPN's Mel Kiper had them selecting Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.

If you've been reading this site, you already know that's the pick that has the most appeal from this vantage point for several reasons, some of which were laid out earlier today.

But the way Kiper has the Dolphins landing Pitts most definitely is eye-catching.

He does not have them taking Pitts at number 6, instead taking him at number 4 after making a trade with the Atlanta Falcons to move up.

Kiper hypothesized that the cost for that move would be a second-round pick and a third-round pick.

To put bluntly, it would be an absolute mind-blower.

Not so much because of the idea of trading up Pitts because, again, he's such a unique talent but because of what the Dolphins already have done.

That move would make it three trades within the first round for the Dolphins, who already have gone from third to 12th to sixth.

While we don't know for sure whether a team trading up or down in the first round three times in one draft would set a record, it's certainly not something you see every year.

Furthermore, it would continue to deplenish the draft capital the Dolphins amassed with that first trade with San Francisco when they picked up two future first-round picks and a third-round selection to move down nine spots.

If Kiper's scenario plays out, the sum total of the Dolphins' moves would be to trade the third pick, a 2021 fourth-round selection and a second-round pick for the fourth pick, a 2021 fifth-round selection and a 2023 first-round choice.

Since the argument that a second-round pick this year is just as valuable as a first-round pick in two years down the line, this will have seemed like a gigantic waste of time to make those trades when the Dolphins just as easily stayed put at number 3 to take Pitts.

Or, going again by that scenario, maybe the Dolphins have had their eyes on Pitts all along but underestimated just popular he would become as a draft prospect.

And if Kiper does turn out to hit the Dolphins pick on the nose, as much as we love Pitts as a prospect, it will only reinforce the notion that in terms of maximizing the value of that third overall pick, the Dolphins should have left it alone after the trade with the 49ers when they could have gotten a really good prospect at number 12 with additional first-rounders the next two years plus a bonus third-round pick.

But there also would be nothing wrong with landing Pitts, however it happened.