Packers 2016 Draft: Last minute NFL mock draft

Pick #13 — Miami Dolphins

Ezekiel Elliott

The Dolphins perennially find themselves just a bit short of their annual goal of finally making the playoffs again; as a reminder, they haven’t been since 2008 (re: the Matt Cassel season for the Patriots), have only been 3 times total since 2000, and only won a single playoff game in that span (in 2000 vs the Colts).

This team has chosen to take a route to roster-building that has tended not to work too well, the so-called ‘stars & scrubs” approach. They continuously put massive amounts of money into acquiring high-level stars, but that ends up with a roster filled with holes that those stars must cover up. It can work at times (Look back at the success Atlanta has had at times during the Matt Ryan era), but it leaves little room for both error and injury. They’ve shelled out for Ndamukong Suh, Brent Grimes, Mike Wallace, and others to varying degrees of individual success, but the holes elsewhere have continued to be large enough to help prevent any consistency — and ultimately, it has prevented winning.

Something that can help a team actually succeed with this star-heavy approach is doing well in the draft, which is yet another area this team has continued to fall short in. They’ve gotten a couple notable pieces (Jarvis Landry comes to mind), but for the most part have tried to hit big here and failed; Dion Jordan, Jamar Taylor, Jonathan Martin and Ryan Tannehill are all guys acquired in at least the 2nd round the past few years who have either simply underperformed or truly done nothing for them.

With this taken into consideration, there are really only two ways to go here, philosophically-speaking:

• The flashy move
• The smart move

The flashy move is to use this top pick for a guy they might not necessarily need but have fallen in love with, value be damned; that would be Elliott.

The smart move would be to target a player at one of their many holes who might succeed in their team structure and scheme; to me, that would be Eli Apple.

This team is so desolate in the secondary that you or I might do a capable job of stepping in at this point; it says something when they are so desperate for improvement there that they were willing to move down from #8 to #13 to pick up the onerous contract of Byron Maxwell from Philadelphia after he just had a dreadful season which proved yet again that players leaving Seattle’s Legion of Boom have a hard time replicating the success they experienced on a team that has one of the most talented defenses in the league, has a scheme which limits players’ individual responsibilities, and allows them to line up across from Richard Sherman. to make matters worse, their best corner for the past few years (Brent Grimes) was cut, leaving an already craptastic lineup even more inept.

Apple isn’t on the level of a Hargreaves, much less Ramsey, but he looks poised to be the next best option and someone who can have a productive career on the right team. He may have penalty issues early on (he has a tendency to hold) but he has the type of skill set that would thrive if Suh & Co could apply pressure at the rate they should be capable of.

I don’t expect them to make the smart move, however. All indications are they are prepared to yet again focus on a splashy move, so Elliot would be the pick.

Now don’t get me wrong; I think Elliot will be a fine player, and if he can show himself to be worthy of the Peterson comparisons (which is decently within reason). But this team taking this player here just reeks of the same shallow thought process the team has tended to embody no matter who the coach & GM seem to be.

Should this happen, I hope he can be for them what guys like Peterson are for their teams and drag the team forward; Dolphins fans have had to live through plenty of grief and disappointment with the mismanagement and failed moves they have constantly dealt with, and it would be nice for that team to actually make a step forward for the first time in years.

Unfortunately, the evidence from recent history just doesn’t make it seem all that likely.