Mark My Words...5 Bold Predictions About our Draftees

[vinivedivichi]

1). Kendall Langford becomes a stalwart of our defense - the guy is perfectly suited to play end in a 3/4 defense. He's got rare size/athleticism and he is in the perfect situation to succeed. Make no mistake; Langford was targeted by the 3/4 teams and would not have been available in the fourth round. In fact, some thought that he would be drafted sometime in the second round. Great pick.

2). Phillip Merling will be a disappointment - Although we got good value by picking up Merling @ 32, it's already a mystery as to how he fits our defensive scheme. The guy has all kinds of ability, but can you pencil him in at DE in the 3/4 right now? I don't think so. Could he play OLB in a 3/4 right now? Again, probably not. Without projecting weight gain/loss, he was probably a better fit for a 3/4 team as a DE on 1st and 2nd downs and maybe a tackle on 3rd down. Can he be a good player for us? Of course, but he's going to have to work at it. If I had to predict a "bust," relative to draft position, this would be my pick.

3). Jalen Parmale becomes a valuable insurance policy - I think Dolfans are pretty much united behind Ronnie and Ricky. However, though both runners have been around and have had success, it would be naive to depend on both to be productive all year. Ronnie is coming off ACL surgery and history says it really takes 2 years to get the burst back. Ricky is Ricky. He is a positive test away from being out of the NFL, and how much can we depend on a guy that hasn't really played NFL football in 3 years? Parmale has pedigree, good size and good speed/quickness. He's a Marion Barber type that really fits well into a ball control offense. I really, really like this pick for our offense. I think we got a real steal here.

4). Jake Long is as advertised - A #1 overall pick can't really surprise...he really either plays as expected, or is worse than expected. I love Long's makeup. I'll take a huge, nimble linemen that probably is a top 5 run blocking tackle from day one any day. Will he "struggle" with speed rushers? It's possible, but this guy is athletic enough to be an elite LT. Once he gets his technique fine-tuned, this is a position we don't have to worry about for 10 years. His run blocking ability will be a huge plus for this offense - he and Smiley on the left will open up huge holes for our talented runners. Having Carey on the other side means that defenses have to stay honest and can't focus on just the left side. This was the only logical choice at #1, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a great pick.

5). Dotson and Hilliard are Practice Squaders - This is not necessarily an indictment of the players, it's more a numbers game. Hilliard wouldn't be our best short yardage RB (Ronnie and Ricky both are probably better) and he probably wouldn't be the best blocking FB due to his lack of size. He's got a chance to be our 4th RB/3rd FB, but it depends on how other positions pan out. Dotson probably needs to get bigger and stronger before he can be a player for us. Ferguson, Starks and Solail are probably better NT than Dotson at the moment, and depth all of a sudden is not a real concern on the DL. I think he gets stashed on the PS with hopes that he can get bigger and develop into rotational NT.

Thoughts? Feel free to make your own bold predictions.

[BelieverInTeal]

I would have to disagree with number 2 there on your list. I think Philip Merling is a beast, physical enough to dominate in the run game and quick enough to beat tackles off the edge. A poor man's Vernon Gholston if you will. I've heard of his injury woes at Clemson so that's the only thing that might slow him down.

[Crazy685]

I think Philip Merling will be on par with a guy like Calvin Pace, to be honest. He's not an outright speed rusher, but he's a damn good run stopper who can blitz if need be. We dont need Merling to be a speed OLB, we need him to be the strong side that stops the run and eats up blockers, which he will do.

Moses, Wright and Taylor are our pass rushers

[TheBow305]

Seems like a pretty good assessment. I hope you're wrong about Merling though!

[DownUnderFin13]

It's hard to say if Merling will be a bust or not remember a lot of scout's said that if it wasn't for the injury he could have been a top 10 pick.

[Crazy685]

Originally Posted by DownUnder Fin

It's hard to say if Merling will be a bust or not remember a lot of scout's said that if it wasn't for the injury he could have been a top 10 pick.

Kiper had Merling above Derrick Harvey on his list, which I completely disagreed with. Harvey not only is just as good as Merling at stopping the run, hes a better pass rusher.

There's a reason Miami was rumored to have been willing to jump up back into the first round is Harvey found himself available around 20

[daninoz]

Merling's ultimate fate probably isn't going to be obvious until at least year 2.

I like Lex Hilliard, but I'm more and more curious about the pick the more I look at it. He doesn't have the speed to be a really effective running back. He's not really a prototype fullback. He loses out in the numbers game no matter how you look at it. What was the plan for this guy when they drafted him?

Lionel Dotson is going to be one of those guys that you only vaguely remember three years from now. Which is pretty par for the course for 7th rounders.

[Slim]

I really hope you are wrong, but i can't help but shake the same feeling about Merling.

[NCFINFAN13]

Merling will see field time. Although we're now a 3/4 team, we'll play some 4/3 mix as well. He'll be in there..........learning and developing.
Good assessment though.

[vinivedivichi]

Just to clarify, I don't necessarily think Merling will be a bust, but he was drafted awfully high to require so much work to nail down a starting position. I like him as a player, but it's unclear how he fits our base 3/4 defense (as a starter) without going through a bit of a reformation.

He will be a valuable player for us, but unless he either gains some weight or loses some weight, it's hard to envision him starting as a 3 down player. But then again, the more I look at our D-Line depth, the more I think all of our linemen will essentially be role players.

Last, but certainly not least, I had to pick somebody to be a bust or the list would be no fun

[rev kev]

Intelligent posting...

[m i n o]

even if langsford becomes our next jeff zgoninia i'lll be happy with the pick. he should do well in a rotation and on certain downs. can't ask for much more for where we drafted him. as far as the others i am still scratching my head on taking 2 rb's late in the draft. we could do without lex who may have gone undrafted alot like the gaurd we moved up 2 spots to get. we needed another gaurd though so it made more since than picking lex.

[Stoobz]

TEAL!?!?!?!!?!

It's friggin' AQUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damnit man!

Sorry 8(

[ztfan54]

merling and langford will be our next pair of studs. now i am not going to compare them to thomas and jt, but they will make some noise

[#1dolphinsfan]

Merling is going to be very good in the NFL Mark My Word on that