Dolphins History Lesson: QBs and the Second Round

Maybe we should have known all along there was no way that Josh Rosen would pan out with the Miami Dolphins after arriving in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals.

The reason: a second-round pick was involved.

To say the Dolphins have had little success using second-round picks to get quarterbacks would be a massive understatement. They actually have had zero success.

As in 0-for-7.

It's truly remarkable, really, albeit not in a good way.

Let's recap:

1978 — The Dolphins select QB Guy Benjamin out of Stanford. Benjamin last two seasons in Miami, appearing in seven games as a backup before he was traded to New Orleans for fourth- and seventh-round picks. Benjamin eventually served as backup to Joe Montana in San Francisco.

2005 — The Dolphins second-round pick that year was traded to Philadelphia the previous year for QB A.J. Feeley. The Dolphins were looking for an upgrade over Jay Fiedler and decided that Feeley was destined to become a quality starter after he had performed well in scattered starts with a very good Eagles team. Feeley, however, couldn't beat out Fiedler in the 2004 training camp and when he did get into the starting lineup, he showed he was more suited for backup duties. Feeley had a poor 61.7 passer rating in 11 appearances. By October of the next season, the Dolphins shipped him to San Diego for fellow journeyman quarterback Cleo Lemon and even had to throw in a sixth-round pick to make the deal work.

2006 — Do we even need to go there? This was the offseason when the Dolphins were debating between Drew Brees and Daunte Culpepper and went with Culpepper, even tough it cost them a second-round pick when Brees was a free agent. We all know how that worked out. For the record, Culpepper played four games, went 1-3 and then was put on IR with continuing knee issues. The Dolphins released Culpepper the following July and he hooked up with the Raiders — and, of course, his first start came against the Dolphins in Miami and he accounted for five touchdowns (three rushing, two passing) in Oakland' 35-17 victory.

2007 — This time, it wasn't a trade. The Dolphins instead used a second-round pick to select John Beck from Brigham Young. He was a late riser on some analysts' draft boards, but he never panned out in the NFL. As a rookie, he started four games later in the season, lost all four, and had a passer rating of 62.0. He didn't play at all in 2008 and was waived in April 2009. His only other NFL regular season action came in 2011 with Washington when he went 0-3, though his passer rating was slightly better (72.1).

2008 — This was the start of the Bill Parcells era, and there was the decision to select tackle Jake Long first overall instead instead of quarterback Matt Ryan. Instead, the Dolphins took Chad Henne in Round 2. Henne was involved in a battle for the starting quarterback job with Beck and veteran Josh McCown in camp until the Dolphins signed Chad Pennington when he became available in early August. Henne got his chance to start when Pennington was injured in the fourth game of the 2009 season and was given the starting job at the start of 2010. But he never really flourished. He played 35 games for the Dolphins and went 13-18 as a starter. His best game actually came in a loss, the 38-24 defeat against New England in the 2011 season opener.

2009 — After the success of the Wildcat in 2008, it looked like the Dolphins started overthinking themselves and they came up with the idea of taking West Virginia quarterback Pat White in Round 2. White had a brilliant college career and had obvious athletic ability, but he clearly was undersized and didn't have a big arm. In 13 games as a rookie, White had 21 rushing attempts for 81 yards (with a long of 33 yards) and was 0-for-5 in pass attempts. His season ended in scary fashion when he was knocked out by a vicious hit from Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor. The Dolphins waived White in September 2010 and he never played another down in the NFL.

2019 — The Dolphins moved down from 48th to 62nd in the second round, picking up a 2020 second-rounder in the process, and then sent that pick to Arizona for Rosen. They also threw in a 2020 fifth-round selection for the chance to see if Rosen could develop in Miami the way he wasn't able to as a rookie for the Cardinals. The trade obviously didn't work out, but the Dolphins shouldn't be knocked for trying to find their long-term answer at quarterback. The price certainly could be questioned, given Rosen's problems as a rookie, but not the overall thought.

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