In the aftermath of the news that the Miami Dolphins are bound to trade star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, it might appear they should prioritize that position with their first draft pick Thursday night.
But according to one respected NFL draft analyst, that should not necessarily be the case.
“I would not feel, at all, when you go through that exercise, that you have to take a corner to replace Jalen Ramsey in the first round,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said on a Friday web conference with the media. “I think you can find other guys you can plug in there on Day 2.”
Part of the reason for his thinking is that Miami has far too many roster holes to fill to be tied to adding a rookie at one specific position, meaning the Dolphins shouldn’t reach for a cornerback if they feel convinced a great player is available at another position with the No. 13 pick.
“I don’t think they’re one position, one player away, in terms of, ‘We have to draft a corner and that’s the last piece of our puzzle here,’ ” Jeremiah said. “I think they can be a little bit more best-player-available with where they’re looking at that point in time.”
If the Dolphins do go cornerback in the first round, Michigan’s Will Johnson may be the top choice if he’s available.
“Will Johnson’s got a wide range,” Jeremiah said. “He could be gone. He could slide into the early 20s. If he’s there, how do they view him as a fit? I don’t think he’s a press-man, leave-him-alone corner, so it would be interesting to see how they value that.”
Texas’ Jahdae Barron would be another possibility as a first-round cornerback. Johnson and Barron are likely the next two cornerbacks to get drafted after Colorado’s Travis Hunter, a two-way prospect who also plays wide receiver.
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If one of the draft’s top three linemen are still around by the Dolphins’ pick, they may just snag either LSU’s Will Campbell, Missouri’s Armand Membou or Texas’ Kelvin Banks. If all of them and a cornerback Miami likes are off the board, Penn State tight end Tyler Warren would make for a true best-player-available pick. And then, the Dolphins may have to consider safeties in South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori and Georgia’s Malaki Starks if they’re looking elsewhere in the secondary.
“It’d be curious to see how they have the corners versus the safeties stacked,” Jeremiah said, “because there’s two really, really good safeties in this draft, so that can be an area that they look. Is it Emmanwori? Is it Malaki Starks? How do those guys stack up?”
What if the Dolphins don’t go cornerback in the first round? What does it look like at the position after that, with them having the No. 48 pick in the middle of the second round?
“If you’re looking at corners in the second round,” Jeremiah started, “Ben Morrison would never be there in a million years if he was healthy, but hurt his knee in October, so he’s not been healthy through the process. But the corner out of Notre Dame would be a heck of a value at that point in time.
“You start getting into (Shavon) Revel from East Carolina, another one coming off a torn ACL. Those are two guys who you might get some value on because of them dropping a little bit because they didn’t have a healthy process. Those are a couple of options there if you’re looking at pick 48.”
And after that?
“Just for fun, if you’re looking at pick 98, I think there’s quality players available,” Jeremiah said, since Miami has 50 picks between selections. “Nohl Williams from Cal, I love. Darien Porter could be around that range, who’s a height-weight-speed corner from Iowa State; Jacob Parrish from Kansas State. I think there’s a good group.”