2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - DEFENSIVE END

Well, despite being out sick this week, and being under deluge of winter storms, I actually have here the final Top Ten list posted before the deadline I set for myself which was the end of the day on Friday.

That's because, you see, tomorrow is the first All-Star game, and of the 109 prospects I've listed in the past two weeks, a whopping 13 of them will be playing in the East-West Shrine game on the 23rd. Of the remaining 96, a whopping 30 are confirmed to play in the Senior Bowl on the 30th.  A surprise attendee of the Senior Bowl is Myron Rolle, the 2009 graduate of Florida State who chose to accept a Rhodes scholarship and put off the Draft for a year.

So enjoy the final list, keeping in mind that in a 3-4 defense there is always some crossover between DE, DT, and OLB and it's too early to guarantee where any of these players will line up in the NFL.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - OUTSIDE LINEBACKER

It wouldn't surprise me if the Dolphins did not make an attempt at picking up a big name OLB this offseason.  They got another camp body in Brian Johnston, and they have a stable of young players in Wake, Walden, Moses, and Anderson.  They may choose to keep both Porter and Taylor as well.  Another camp body or two and we'd have a full menu.  But it all depends on what Coach Sparano and Mike Nolan come up with as their initial proposal to a defensive scheme.  This would give Jeff Ireland a sense of direction in which players to keep and/or pursue.

In any event, the Coaches are likely to be tempted by what they see at the Senior Bowl next week as well.  I also feel that the addition of a dynamic inside linebacker and a few tweaks to blitz schemes would greatly decrease the need to get another top-price pass-rusher this year.

While I welcome the addition of any of the players on the list below, I really do feel that we already have a future Pro-Bowl talent at pass rusher in Cameron Wake.  In a way I suppose I'm saying I'd rather draft a run-stopper than a pass-rusher in this category, though it would be nice to have someone who can do both.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - OFFENSIVE LINE

I'll be the first to admit that offensive line is something that I pay attention to, but never really enjoy thinking about.  I'm not into high-priced free agents, or top draft picks.  I just want some 300-plus pound men to stand in a line and block somebody.  I don't care if they make $10 mil a year or $400k.  Just block your guy.  But for the sake of a Top Ten listing, here goes:

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - CORNERBACK

While I see no need to draft a cornerback in the first day, I wouldn't be against the Dolphins picking up another body during the draft in addition to one in free agency.  We really didn't have enough competition there last year, which led to Sean Smith being named the starter early on.  He got beat a lot last year, and failed to intercept a single pass.  Vontae Davis, on the other hand, after a shaky start, seemed to get better as the season went on.  Eric Green was a bust, Will Allen missed most of the season to major injury (he wasn't playing well before the injury, either), Jason Allen is considered just a special teams specialist, and Nate Jones simply gets burnt time after time.  We seriously need to fine tune the entire secondary - it's not as simple as just plugging in new players - but it all starts with competition in camp, and thus we need more bodies.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - QUARTERBACK

I think Henne will start.  I think Thigpen will be 2nd.  I don't know what will happen to Pat White.  Either he will be seen as a waste and let go, or they will figure out a better way to use him.  In case the Dolphins need to pick up another QB in 2010, here is my Top 10 list.  

I didn't put draft projections on this list because QB is a very  subjective position.  I would never have put Mark Sanchez as top 5 pick, or Pat White on the first day in 2009, for example.  I also don't understand how Todd Reesing (see below) could be listed as 32nd best QB in 2010's draft. So while I'm sure some team will draft Colt McCoy in the first 40 picks, I wouldn't grade him higher than mid round 3.  But like I said, it's all subjective.

FYI - if you'd like to be able to see all the top ten lists, just type 'top 10' into the search box, or use the navigation option at the right hand side to browse thru the posts in chronological order.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - RUNNING BACK

Miami's future at running back is very uncertain right now.  We could go into free agency/draft preparations needing to pick up 2 or 3 backs.  We may end up not needing to pick up any.

Here is my list of backs that could be on the Dolphins' radar.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - TIGHT ENDS

I'm not convinced that Miami needs to draft a TE at all, but if they do, they should consider the following 10.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - SAFETY

For the purposes of the Dolphins, I have focused almost exclusively on Free Safeties below as I feel between Yeremiah Bell, Tyrone Culver and Gibril Wilson, we're quite stacked at the Strong Safety position (and yes, the Dolphins really have no choice but to move Wilson to Strong Safety - perhaps working Culver exclusively at free in the offseason).

The Trifecta seems to like safeties in the 6', 200 lbs range but that doesn't mean they won't choose someone bigger if they move just as well in space and have speed and sound tackling because there's quite a few big boys in this year's draft.

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - DEFENSIVE TACKLE

The Dolphins will be naming a new Defensive Coordinator soon, and whomever it is, he's going to inherit a Defense that has lots of questions to be answered regarding personnel.  Some are getting long in the tooth, some are facing free agency, and some just don't exist and need to be found and plugged in to the framework set by the first two years of Trifecta management.

Below is a preliminary ranking/sample of Defensive Tackles in the upcoming draft.  I've actually had to redo this at the last minute after some players decided (at the last minute) to stay in school.  I didn't want a repeat of the Greg Jones incident.  As far as I'm aware, all of the guys on the list will be entering the draft.  The deadline for announcing is actually tomorrow, and I was going to post this then but it could be a busy day in Dolphins news tomorrow so I moved up the publishing date.

Once the dust settles, I will post the Top Ten Safeties and the Top Ten Tight Ends.  The rest of the positions will follow with a goal of having them all posted by the 23rd when I will do an East-West Shrine Game intro with a recap of all the 'Top Ten' players that are set to play in the game.  The following week is the Senior Bowl practices and I will recap the players in that game (30th) as well.  

This will all culminate what I'm calling 'Mock Week' by which we'll know the full draft order, and thus we'll all begin piecing together our preliminary mocks.  Once we have an idea how the draft may go, and teams have had a chance to start applying tags and resigning players, we can start to focus on Free Agency, which starts on February 27th.

So for now, the Defensive Tackles:

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - INSIDE LINEBACKER

Well the first Tin's Fins Poll of 2010 just wrapped up and as I expected, Rolando McClain of Alabama took 1st place when the question asked was who should the Dolphins choose with their 1st round draft pick this year.  He took about half the vote despite there being 6 solid choices.  Terrence Cody (NT) came in 2nd, with Dez Bryant (WR) in third but McClain had more votes than both of them combined.

So clearly the people have spoken, and clearly they want an inside line-backer in the first round, and clearly the one they want is McClain.  For the record, Brandon Spikes of Florida came in a respectable 4th.

Below is my latest Top 10 List of Inside Linebackers available in the 2010 draft.  It's not a hugely impressionable list, so it might be the wisest move to use that 12th pick rather than wait.  

2010 Draft – Tinshaker’s Top 10 by Position Projections - WIDE RECEIVER

Below is my current ranking of WRs in the 2010 NFL Draft.  I know a lot of you will disagree heavily with it, but keep in mind, I will not change my opinion just because you say I'm wrong (that said, you are welcome to tell me that I am wrong).  The most important thing to understand is that in all my lists I am basing opinions on who I think presents the best NFL projection, not who had the best college career or the most interviews on ESPN.  There is also the influence of the Dolphins' needs at the position taken into account.  And, as with any draft projections/opinions, they are likely to be altered considerably by the time the Draft actually happens in April.