Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The NT Tree

If ever there was a deficiency in an NFL draft, it would be this year and it would be at the increasingly difficult to find Nose Tackle. To make things a little harder, several teams are switching to a 3-4 defensive scheme this season, thus depleting the already low chances of securing a decent prospect in the draft.

The following are some of the few potential targets for the Dolphins as they try to shore up the defensive line and prepare for the eventual retirement of Jason Ferguson.

Ron Brace - The popular choice. One of the more recognizable names in the draft, the Boston College DT played alongside THE name in the draft as far as DT's go, BJ Raji. While I consider Raji to be a rare breed of pure talent, my viewings of Brace last season left me cold. Maybe he looked bad because of Raji's prowess. Maybe he looked GOOD because of Raji's prowess. It's hard to say, but either way, it raises some red flags as to how good he would be lined up on his own at the nose. Still, he has the size (6'3", 330lbs) that you look for, and played a little bit of nose in passing downs.


Sammie Lee Hill - a small school prospect that generated quite a bit of buzz during the Shrine Game and the Combine. I had never even heard of this guy until I was going through the shrine game measurements and saw his size (6'4", 329lbs). I have severe issues with him being projected by the media as a Nose Tackle, however, as I do not see it in him. He struggles with double teams, has problems separating from blocks, and was used primarily as a bull-rushing DE because of these issues. If he couldn't handle playing inside at a small college, then he shouldn't be projected to do so in the NFL.


If the Dolphins aren't extremely interested in Terrence Knighton, I'd be extremely surprised. That's a lot of extremes. Knighton is extremely big (6'3", 321lbs) and showed he could bulk up by adding 30 lbs to his frame from his Temple playing weight. If you take what he did at Temple, then add 30 lbs of mass to it, you have someone who can handle the push of the NFL Guards/Centers. As you can tell from the video, he has a very low center of gravity which will help him stand his ground on running plays.



There are a couple of other guys who I wouldn't exactly call 'tweeners' as I feel that label actually fits better on those above, with Knighton probably being the only 'ready to play' guy at the nose.

Fili Moala, Chris Baker, Dorrell Scott, Corey Irvin, Khalif Mitchell, and Marlon Favorite have all been mentioned as possible converts. Of those names I only like Baker, and think he would be good value as a Randy Starks-type player, able to play any position on the line, but I wouldn't rate him as a possible replacement for Ferguson.

In all eventuality, while I believe the Dolphins WILL draft at least one defensive lineman in April, I believe it will be a Starks-type player, one who can provide depth at multiple positions. Just like this year is the year of the wide receiver, cornerback and center, NEXT year will be the year of the Defensive Tackle, and it's very likely the Dolphins will use a top pick on one in 2010. Can you imagine Terrence Cody or Boo Robinson or Al Woods or Ndamukong Suh escaping the grasp of the Trifecta next year?

5 comments:

  1. I feel ya on Chris Baker.s He would be rated higher if he didn't transfer from Penn State.s Maybin would've had to share the spotlight.

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  2. Ah... the NT tree. Yes it was a bad crop this year. Try again next year. I have a new fertilizer I'm going to try. LOL
    s
    I like Dorell Scott. He's got the size 6-4 312 and runs well. He posted one of the better 40 times amongst the DTs running in the 4.9s. He'll probably need a couple of years to develop as a NT but he could also compete for playing time at DE.
    s
    That said, we might use a rotation at NT with Ferguson starting the game and then playing in key situations. I could see both Merling and Starks playing more nose since they both played there last year. That being the case, we may have a need for another D-lineman to play both end and some nose.
    s
    I'm still cautiously optimistic that Soliai and/or Cohen can pan out.s :-D

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  3. Mr Bungle, have you been drinking?s lol
    s
    While I agree with you on the line rotation thing (i think I alluded to that earlier), i disagree slightly on the size aspect.s I think a NT has to have some girth to him to prevent him from being swallowed up immediately.
    s
    I haven't done my homework on Ziggy, but as you probably know I watched all the Missouri game film I could get my hands on last year and can tell you that Ziggy was very prone to becoming invisible at times.s By the end of the year he seemed to be out of gas.
    s
    Obviously I can't say that the other guys weren't having the same problems because I didn't watch them all season long, so I won't rush to judge but he did not have a good year.

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  4. None of these guy's really impress me the way I want to be impressed. The rotation thing will solve the current roster deficit, but is that the situation you actually want to be in and will it give you the best play. I don't think so. This is the situation we've been forced into because the market over the last two years dictated it to us
    s
    With all that said, I agree with what you guy's are saying. Pick up another project this year (in the later rounds) and try and develop him, hope our current projects take a step foward, and hope Fergie can make it through atleast one more season
    s
    Now most NT take a couple of years, mainly because it's a conversion just like with OLB/DE. However there are less NT's than OLB/DE, and they are harder to identify. If I were a GM I would draft atleast one NT every year at some point throughout the draft,s but the whole thing is headache for us this year and hopefully Ireland has some asprin for us

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  5. I know the Trifecta has the reputation of not trading picks away to move up in the draft, but didn't we trade up to pick up Murphy last year.
    s
    With Parcells reputation as a poker player... should we be shocked if he trades a 1st and 3rd (or even a 1st and a 2nd)s to move up and get Raji???? Obviously, this probably isn't goin got happen, but I wouldn't be shocked if it does. Just another head fake from Parcells.
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