This is the last look at defensive players for this draft after covering the DT’s, LB’s and Safeties. I skipped DE since we’re heavily stocked there. Every team needs a lot of good CB’s, and we may already have some, but there are definitely question marks. X really came on strong at the end of the season, but is that the real Xavien Howard, or is the X we saw 3/4 of the season the real X? Howard wasn’t the only CB to have an uneven season. Rookie CB Cordrea Tankersley showed well at times, and struggled at times as expected. The rookie 3rd RD pick was thrust into action after the Dolphins let go of Byron Maxwell. Tank started 11 games last season, had no INT’s, and had 7 passes defensed. Not known for his tackling, I thought he did well at times tackling, better than expected. Sometimes maligned slot CB Bobby McCain was easily our best CB last year. McCain was played in all 16 games, and was the most consistent DB we had in coverage. Tony Lippett should be back from his achilles injury which occurred last August, but I don’t know his recovery is going, and if he will indeed be ready. In other words, CB should likely be one of our picks in this coming draft. Let’s see what’s out there . . .
Denzel Ward 5’10 191 Ohio State
A little undersized for what we’re usually looking for, Ward is nonetheless the best cover corner in this draft. He projects well at nickle, and we have Bobby McCain. He can definitely play outside as well, but would we change our prototype and take a smaller CB? The basic rule is you don’t go against your prototype parameters, because then all of a sudden, you have a team full of odd matching pieces. On the other hand, in today’s NFL, teams trot out 4 and 5 WR formations so often, you just have to be 6 or 7 deep with with talented CB’s. Ward has great speed, running a 4.32 in addition to a 39″ vertical and a 139″ broad jump, and 16 reps. This kid is a thoroughbred athlete, and while his stats at Ohio State don’t reflect just how good he is, he’s the top rated corner in this draft at 6.31. If we ere take Ward, it would have to be at #11, if he’s even still there, and it’s very possible he’s already gone.
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Josh Jackson 6’1 192 Iowa
All hail the Ballhawk! Jackson had a terrific Junior year to end his college career and put him in excellent standing for the NFL Draft. Jackson started 13 games, and finished with an outstanding 8 INT’s, (2 for TD’s), 48 tackles (34 solo), 1 FF, and an amazing 18 passes defensed. You could easily make the argument that Jackson is the best cover corner, but I think Ward gets the nod for his potential in the pros, and his edge in speed and athleticism. Jackson ran a pedestrian 4.56 at the combine, but his 4.03 20 yard shuttle shows good short area burst. Jackson will probably be a 1st RD pick, somewhere in last 1/3 of the 1st RD, but it’s possible he slips to the early 2nd RD. Either way, he’s almost certainly not going to be available to us unless we take him at #11, and I don’t see that happening. NFL.com has Jackson rated at 6.0
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Jaire Alexander 5’11 192 Louisville
Jaire Alexander had somewhat of a cursed Junior season at Louisville. he sprained his knee in the season opener, and then came back 4 games later and aggravated the knee again. Then he broke his hand at the end of October, which kept him out even more of the season. It’s a shame, because Alexander had a fine Sophomore season starting all 13 games and totaling 39 tackles (31 solo), 5 INT’s, 1 FF, 1 FR and 9 passes defensed. Alexander has excellent cat like quickness as well as good deep speed, running a 4.38 40 with a super quick 3.98 20 YD shuttle. I’m sure scouts would have liked to seen Alexander build on his fine Junior season, but regardless, Alexander is still a possible 1st RD or 2nd RD pick. Alexander is rated at 5.99 on NFL.com
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Parry Nickerson 6’0 180 Tulane
I wanted to look at some mid RD prospects as well, and Parry Nickerson falls right into that spot. Long, but thin, Nickerson is another ballhawk at CB. Very fast running a 4.32 at the combine, Nickerson was very productive at Tulane. He finished his 4 year career with an impressive 16 INT’s, Despite his thin frame Nickerson still managed 15 reps at the combine. A very instinctive CB, also very capable of playing press, he has excellent recovery speed as well as long deep speed. Always around the ball, I think he’d be a fine mid RD pick for our team. Nickerson is rated at 5.69 and is expected to be a 3rd or 4th RD pick.
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Mike Hughes 5’10 189 UCF
Mike Hughes is an interesting prospect, and I’m sure our own draft analyst from FLA Sonny could give us more insight into this player. Not much college ball experience from which to glean information, Hughes has some serious upside. Despite his somewhat smaller size, he’s an extremely tough customer who has the ability to compete on the outside with bigger receivers. Hughes only has 2 years of playing experience, starting every contest his Junior year at UCF. While he doesn’t have deep speed, he’s a powerful press corner, who is excellent at tracking the football. His Junior year, Hughes totaled 49 tackles (37 solo), 4 INT’s (1 for a TD), 1 FF and 11 passes defensed. Hughes is rated at 5.93 and at least by Zierlein, expected to be a 1st RD pick. He’s much more about potential than actual production, so I see him as a 2nd RD pick, but we’ll see in a couple of weeks.
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I’m sure I missed a bunch of prospects that you guys like so let me hear about them, and I’m curious to hear from Son on Mike Hughes. I wanted to include a late RD pick, like Tarvarus McFadden and Brandon Facyson, but since I only do 5, I just couldn’t fit them in.
Finsmob Unleashed 
I’m just glad the bald eagle is making a comeback in so many areas after too many assholes almost wiped them out.
^^^
The same with wolves and many other species. I get the dominance thing, if you can you will. But there are consequences with that sort of thinking. The native American indians and many indigenous people across the globe seemed to have a great respect for life even when they made a kill. They gave thanks for their survival and their kills were all about that, not for the sport of it.
I couldn’t agree with ya any STRONGER: I LOVE wildlife.
I understand having to hunt to survive, but not for sport. And if one DOES hunt for sport, like the Native Indians before us, they’d better process EVERYTHING and not just hang a trophy head on their wall.
I don’t have a very high opinion of ‘trophy hunters’… and I’ve got one who lives a stone’s throw away from me… and he calls himself a ‘Christian’. SMH
I should not have typed my last line: “… and he calls himself a ‘Christian'”.
I just have a REAL problem with people who hunt for the sport of it. LIFE is NOT a SPORT. However, I do understand that we need to SUSTAIN ourselves.
M13, today my friend and I spent time trying to help a bumble bee that we might have injured not knowing. We gave it an opportunity on grass and debris to try and launch itself if it could. Nothing we could do other than that, but we took the time about life.
All the amazing creatures on this planet should be respected. They are here for a purpose. Otherwise they’d be extinct. Senseless killing bothers me. Survival is another thing entirely, it’s the food chain. That’s part of life. I get not everyone will do that and I’m not as nuts as some others are lol, but I try to do my part not to discount them as a nuisance. I find it more rewarding to be kind, than to be violent.
M13, the native indians hunted for survival and used everything from the animal and did rituals in respect for the life they took. They didn’t hunt for sport. Their food, homes, clothes and tools were made up of them. They were/are truly living off the land just like a bear or any other creature trying to survive.
Back to football. I don’t care if we trade up a bit for prospect. I don’t think it will be a QB though. I think it will be for Nelson, Smith or Fitzpatrick.
When you think about it, it doesn’t really make much sense to publicly say Tannehill is our QB and we get back our starting QB and stuff like that, and then trade up for a QB. It creates an immediate QB controversy. Not good for the team. RT’s first INT, put in so and so.
If the team is invested in Tannehill as they portray they are and you need that running game and good “elite” defense as they say, lol, why go all out for a QB? You can still add a better more serviceable QB than what we’ve drafted recently in other rounds. You can find rookies more talented than Matt Moore. They will lack the experience obviously but talent is still the key. We need to find that next Jimmy G or a Dak Prescott. That there is something there.
I don’t think so. Not a ton of cap space and they are pretty deep at WR. On Dez going to the Saints.
———–
Come on Ken play along here, Ireland is still with the Saints.
Well I guess I went to bed at the right time!
I’ll just ask you one question?
It’s cute to re-introduce predictors back into the wild in the west.
But if they were dropping problem grizzlies 20 miles from your house you’d probably have a different view on the matter?
A wild predictor like the Dolphins are going to win the Super Bowl
Happy Birthday Hulk! Hope you have a smashing day!
Thank you
Your Picks:
Round 1 Pick 11: Smith, Roquan, ILB/OLB, Georgia (A)
Round 2 Pick 10: Gesicki, Mike, TE, Penn State (A-)
Round 3 Pick 9: Smith, Braden, OG, Auburn (A-)
Round 4 Pick 23: White, Mike, QB, Western Kentucky (A+)
Round 4 Pick 30: McIntosh, RJ, DT, Miami (FL) (A+)
Round 6 Pick 35: Jackson, Justin, RB, Northwestern (A+)
Round 7 Pick 5: Carlson, Daniel, K, Auburn (A+)
Round 7 Pick 11: Flowers, Tre, SS, Oklahoma State (A)
Happy Birthday Ken
Thank you.
You doing OK Ken?
Happy Birthday!
Thank you. Hanging in there but radiation is brutal. 3 more weeks can’t go fast enough
👍
Going to watch the Bucs take on the Marlins later. Going with Damian and the better halfs (some of you have met all four of us). Seeing a football game is like a rock concert, but for some reason any baseball game is like going to an old friend’s house for me.
Happy Birthday Ken. And many happy returns of the day man.
Thank you
Happy Birthday Ken!
Thank you Herd
Have fun at the game Stanger.
I agree with big difference between a baseball game and football game atmosphere. Give my best to your crew.
Happy Birthday Ken!
Thank you Tim
Wyo, all M13 and I were talking about is how we humans have fucked with the natural balance of things. I wasn’t commenting on how officials go about re-introducing dangerous animals near homes. That’s another example of fucking with things. We’re so many years into it now I don’t claim to have the answers.
Happy Birthday Ken.
Happy Birthday Ken
Worst winter storm here in over 100 years. 2 feet of snow, ice, and 50mph winds since Friday night. Yay, Spring!
That sucks man, I feel for ya.
Not what you got, but we had 80’s and 70’s the last two days and today is 40, cloudy and windy. Really bizarre weather patterns.
Yeah, bizarre. maybe more Wednesday
Happy Birthday Ken. Here’s to to many,many more.
Happy Bday Ken.. hope the fight gets better for ya soon. 🎂
Bookman: i feel for man, we have been eerily lucky regarding snowfall this year. Barely had to plow the streets. Only places we still have any snow is in the shadows.. temps sucked and continue to but on the whole , no complaints up here… Jets flight to Minny yesterday got rerouted to Duluth , then returned to Winnipeg.. supposed to attempt flight to Minneapolis this morning for game tonight.
yeah we have not have a lot of snow at all until know.
Nice time to get hammered, NOT
Actually nice time to play trivia, which I am all weekend.
Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Hulk go to smash birthday cake 🎂
Happy B-Day !
Wilmer!
Nice!!!
Mike, the Mets are playing the way I want to see the Dolphins play. Everyone plays a part and different guys coming through in the clutch.
Hell yeah
Happy Birthday Ken
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSU4Yp0vP7TdCHPEGLDDKM202Ck4oGXbPTFfqr7McpPPfUoP8B65A
Hulk like that cake
It seems everyone is worn out on projections and just want to get to the draft. LOL
You certainly characterised the way I feel.
What more can be said?
Unless something weird happens, like a gas mask type scenario, I’m ready to go.
Exactly! Unless something unforeseen or some kind of trade happens, there are probably 5 prospects that we’ll be looking at for #11.
HAPPY B-DAY, KEN! That extra candle on your cake today is PROOF that you’re WINNING, man.
wyoming85 says:
April 15, 2018 at 6:40 am
Well I guess I went to bed at the right time!
I’ll just ask you one question?
It’s cute to re-introduce predictors back into the wild in the west.
But if they were dropping problem grizzlies 20 miles from your house you’d probably have a different view on the matter?
————-
Indeed, I’d have a VERY different view on the matter of hunting… but you’re talking about PROTECTION/SURVIVAL from “problem grizzlies”: that’s not the same as trophy-hunting, bud.
I can most CERTAINLY appreciate the dilemma you’re facing and would never want to be in that situation, EVER. And YES… I’d pull the trigger to protect me and mine, too, if a confrontation were to happen.
I was making a reference last night to a neighbor of mine who’s collecting disability, sponges off his wife’s massive paychecks, and goes on safari in Africa to kill innocent life. He’s spent COUNTLE$$ dollar$ just to travel back and forth from Africa every year, to have the carcasses shipped back to the USA, and then to have a taxidermist prepare the carcass for his ‘collection’.
I’m sorry, but I’ve got a real problem with that. THAT is a large part of the reason that certain and many species of animals are rapidly disappearing from this beautiful planet… whether it be from whaling/sharking/dolphin hunting for their fins, the illegal ivory trade by poaching elephants, or the killing of big cats (ie: tiger balls are used as an aphrodisiac in certain Asian countries)… it’s just RIDICULOUS! And the list goes on and on.
And if the honey bee becomes extinct, the entire EARTH is in DEEP POOP.
I’d didn’t mean to rattle ya, my Brother! I’m WITH ya when it comes to self-defense/survival in your unique situation over there with the grizzlies. #2A… and I also understand that we HAVE to eat/live off the land. I think Tim’s 1:48 PM post today summed it up rather well.
Cheers, man!
^
Gotta think they’ll be taking Tremaine Edmunds because of this issue.
M13, I appreciate you as a known conservative also understanding environmental issues as a conservationist. My friends and I who have been all over the map politically, now all agree as people in our 50’s, that we need to stop denying obvious truths. It’s not about ideology anymore. It’s about reality.
It really is a battle of agenda vs. solution. I’ll always be on the side of the latter.
Thanks, man. I think many label me as ‘such-and-such’ due to my conservative leanings… and therein lies the problem with LABELS, as you’ve VERY often mentioned.
The unfortunate reality is that the “duopoly” (the ESTABLISHMENT) has us FIGHTING one another about EVERYTHING… it’s truly gotten out of hand.
I think for MYSELF… therefore, I AM. 🙂
Everyone gets labeled as something when you speak or present yourself.
Prayers to the family of R. Lee Ermey “The Gunny”. It was a pleasure to have known and met his kind and generous soul!! May he rest with his Marine Corps Brethren!! RIP Gunny!!
That one didn’t work well?
“I’m gonna tell ya something and I want ya to listen” ~ RIP, Sammy (former colleague of mine)
– IF we see 2… perhaps 3 trade-ups before we select, we’re going to see either of Quenton Nelson or Roquan Smith fall to us @ R1P11. This assumes that Calvin Ridley goes top-10 with the recent HYPE he’s been receiving.
– IF we don’t see any trade-ups before we select (and I highly DOUBT that), we could very well see one of the “top-4” QBs fall to us @ R1P11.
– Beside the two above scenarios, I have absolutely NO IDEA what’s going to happen in just over a week! 🙂
wyoming85 says:
April 15, 2018 at 8:55 pm
Prayers to the family of R. Lee Ermey “The Gunny”. It was a pleasure to have known and met his kind and generous soul!! May he rest with his Marine Corps Brethren!! RIP Gunny!!
————-
You had actually met R. Lee Ermey? If so, that’s awesome!!!
RIP, R. Lee Ermey
No I screwed the copy paste feature all up!
GOT ya, Bro.
But for what it’s worth, I LOVED Ermey’s role in “Full Metal Jacket”.
M13, the way we watch “nature” or “wildlife” which to me is the same and humans included. You notice things that actually happen. Those are truths. That’s what needs to be followed.
???
I think(?) I know what ya mean(?), but could you expand on that? Or as Alex Trebeck would say, “Be more specific”.
What you see and experience is real, not trying to pretend that didn’t or doesn’t happen. A false prophecy is a dumb one.
Yes, I can certainly follow that logic to a greater degree… but I don’t understand how ANY kind of prophesy (which is of the FUTURE) could or would disrupt the reality of the HERE and NOW.
In a manner of speaking, that’s like leading from the back (see Obama… NOT trying to get political, either).
We must be RESPONSIBLE tenants of Mother Earth in the HERE and NOW… and when we see the warning signs of imbalance, we’d BETTER heed her warnings. And as such and in the same vein, I feel we’d better heed the warnings of the Bible (and other religious books).
I think imbalance — in and of itself– serves to remind us of how insignificant we really are, and the NEED to HAVE balance. We humans REALLY think we know it all, and have since the dawn of time… it’s LAUGHABLE!!!
Whatever one calls it… Nature, God of Christ, Allah, Buddha, Zeus/Jupiter, Jedi, Sith, etc, etc, or otherwise… there IS a circle of LIFE… and we ARE living/dependent on one another (from bees, birds, trees, deer, cows, chickens, plankton/algae, etc).
This thing we call “EARTH” is almost TOO perfect and a VERY special place, so as to cultivate SO much life… the only life we’ve ever detected in the known universe. Let’s not mess it up.
THAT stated, I do NOT believe in man-made climate change (it’s a cyclical matter, by Jove!). Al Gore is a FRAUD… WORD IS BOND!!! Nevertheless, let us PLEASE be responsible tenants of this planet. I’m NO fan of these BIG CORPS, who have now gotten in bed with… (I’ll spare y’all… but I KNOW!).
new blog up