Grading the Dolphins First Round

The Miami Dolphins had the busiest night of any NFL team Thursday with their league-high three first-round picks, and they generally received good reviews for their work.

In particular, the selection of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth overall selection earned overwhelmingly positive reviews.

The reviews on the selections of tackle Austin Jackson at number 18 and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene at number 30 after a trade-down with the Green Bay Packers were decidedly more mixed.

From this vantage point, the selection of Tagovailoa had to be done even though it says here he's not the slam dunk future superstar some are projecting — even if he stays healthy.

But you're talking about a franchise that has been looking for a long-term answer at quarterback since the start of the millennium. That means you simply cannot pass up any chance to find that guy if it presents itself.

That's why the Dolphins had the right idea in trading for Josh Rosen at this time last year, even though it's now clear the franchise is ready to turn the page on that experiment.

In retrospect, that trade didn't work out, but the idea behind it was sound. Just as the selection of Tagovailoa, however risky it is, also was sound.

Furthermore, if we buy into the NFL comparison of Justin Herbert to Ryan Tannehill, taking Tua over Herbert at number 5 was an absolute no-brainer. The Dolphins went the Tannehill route and got average quarterback for seven years and discovered that Tannehill needs other elements in place to succeed, such as what it had last year when running back Derrick Henry carried the Titans to the AFC Championship Game.

The Dolphins called the Cincinnati Bengals to see if they could pry Joe Burrow away from them, but the Bengals wisely refused, so Tua was the next-best thing.

Here's how the pick was graded by several national outlets:

Danny Kelly, The Ringer: A+

Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News: B

Luke Easterling: Draft Wire: A

Eric Edholm, Yahoo Sports: A

Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: B

K.D. Drummond, Touchdown Wire: A-

C.J. Doon, Baltimore Sun: A+

Steven Ruiz, For The Win: B+

Doug Farrar, MSN.com: A-

Walter Cherepinsky, walterfootball.com: A+

Dan Kadar, SB Nation: B

Andy Benoit, Sports Illustrated: B

The selection of Austin Jackson at 18 filled a glaring need at tackle for the Dolphins. In fact, looking at things purely from a short-term view, that might have been the most pressing need for the team.

Not every analyst was sold on Jackson because his 2019 season was a bit spotty, though some of that was due to the sacrifice he made when he donated bone marrow to his sister to help overcome a rare disease.

But Jackson has all the physical attributes to become a quality NFL tackle, even if it doesn't happen right away.

This was a pick for need, and one that made a lot of sense.

The national grades:

Danny Kelly, The Ringer: C-

Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News: C

Luke Easterling: Draft Wire: C+

Eric Edholm, Yahoo Sports: C-

Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: C-

K.D. Drummond, Touchdown Wire: B

C.J. Doon, Baltimore Sun: C

Steven Ruiz, For The Win: C

Doug Farrar, MSN.com: B

Walter Cherepinsky, walterfootball.com: A

Dan Kadar, SB Nation: B

Andy Benoit, Sports Illustrated: B+

Finally, we get to Igbinoghene.

That selection caught a lot of analysts by surprise because Igbinoghene wasn't viewed as a first-round prospects on most boards and also because cornerback wasn't necessarily seen as a major need for the Dolphins.

But the truth is you can never have enough cornerbacks in today's NFL. Here's another point to consider: Look at the New England defense when Brian Flores was the de factor defensive coordinator in 2018 and point to the strength of that defense.

It was the secondary.

Now, the Dolphins have added Igbinoghene to a group that already included Byron Jones, Xavien Howard, Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe, who can't stress enough was outstanding at safety last year after switching over from cornerback.

Igbinoghene, who's got great athletic ability and good upside, represents a clear upgrade at the nickel corner position and gives the Dolphins even more flexibility in the back end.

To say the Dolphins should have gone for a safety at 30 instead doesn't make sense because the defense will have three corners on the field most of the time anyway.

You could argue, however, that the Dolphins would have been better served by adding a difference-maker at running back. But this still was a solid pick.

The national grades:

Danny Kelly, The Ringer: B

Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News: C

Luke Easterling: Draft Wire: C-

Eric Edholm, Yahoo Sports: C+

Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com: A+

K.D. Drummond, Touchdown Wire: B

C.J. Doon, Baltimore Sun: B+

Steven Ruiz, For The Win: B

Doug Farrar, MSN.com: B

Walter Cherepinsky, walterfootball.com: D

Dan Kadar, SB Nation: C+

Andy Benoit, Sports Illustrated: C+

Sports Illustrated NFL writer Andy Benoit wrote about his winners and losers of the first round and featured the Dolphins as among his winners.

And the same went for Chad Reuter of NFL.com.

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