Dolphins Draft Stock Watch: 5 Players Rising and Falling on Miami's Board
The Chinese philosophy of yin and yang suggests everything in life has balance, but every prospect in the NFL draft has different hopes as to whether or not that's actually true. For prospects on the high end of the rankings, they hope balance does not exist—that way, they can stay at the top. For prospects at the bottom, they hope balance rears its beautiful head to help catapult them to the top.
The Miami Dolphins must weigh both ends of that balance, combing through the prospects for players on the rise and players on the downturn as the team prepares for the 2015 NFL draft.
Of course, some of the balance aspect is completely out of the prospect's control and completely within the team's control. For example, the Dolphins may have had a defensive tackle ranked a bit higher before the offseason began than they do now that they've signed Ndamukong Suh to a rich contract.
Here's a look at some of the players on both ends of the stock-report spectrum.
Stock Up: Devin Funchess, WR, Michigan
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Who is Devin Funchess? The answer is different depending on who you ask. NFL.com lists him as a tight end, while CBSSports.com lists him as a wide receiver.
At 6'4", 232 pounds, it's hard to say exactly where he'd project at the NFL level. After running a 4.7-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, it certainly appeared he was not headed to the top of the draft boards as a wide receiver. But after improving his time to 4.48 seconds at his pro day, he breathed new life into his draft stock and increased the possibilities of his positional projection.
Scouts will have to pore over the tape once again to see if the skills he showed at Michigan's pro day are evident when he puts on the pads and has to do real football things like run routes, get downfield and burst off the line of scrimmage. He caught 62 passes for 733 yards (11.8 yards per reception) and four touchdowns last season, to go with 126 receptions for 1,715 yards (13.6 YPR) and 15 touchdowns in his career.
Big plays may not be the name of his game, but the big frame certainly is, and even after adding tight end Jordan Cameron, the Dolphins can still use more red-zone weaponry.
Stock Down: Sammie Coates, WR, Auburn
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Some prospects use the long draft season as an opportunity to steadily increase their draft stock. Auburn wide receiver Sammie Coates has failed to seize that opportunity and is slowly slipping down the board as a result.
Once considered a potential first-round pick by ESPN's Mel Kiper, Coates is now regarded as a second-round prospect by most analysts including Kiper, who left him out of the first round in his most recent mock draft.
Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com agrees, saying that league contacts "haven't been very excited about Coates. They feel he has a nice skill set but needs a lot of development and is a work in progress." NFL.com's Lance Zierlein writes Coates "won't be on quarterback's Christmas card list" because he is an unreliable target (drops and giving up on routes) and was often not on the same page with his quarterback at Auburn, Nick Marshall.
The Dolphins have a need at wide receiver, but in what's a pretty deep class, they could find better value than Coates.
Stock Up: Todd Gurley
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Thanks to a torn ACL, Georgia running back Todd Gurley has not been able to participate in any of the draft workouts this offseason. So, how on earth did he end up raising his stock?
According to Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com, "NFL teams are hearing that Gurley should be ready for the start of training camp." That's a speedy recover, considering he tore the ACL in November, but that's on par with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski's rehab from 2013 to 2014. Gronk is a physical freak like few others in the NFL, so it will be a pleasant surprise if Gurley can get back up to speed that quickly.
Gurley was one of the most productive running backs in the nation during his three-year career at Georgia, piling up 3,210 rushing yards (12th in the country) and 35 rushing touchdowns (tied for 10th), despite missing nine games in the final two years.
He may not match that kind of production in the NFL, and especially not in his first year off a torn ACL, but if he's on track to be ready that early, the Dolphins should consider adding him. Their backfield could use a between-the-tackles hammer like Gurley to complement Lamar Miller.
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Stock Down: Paul Dawson, LB, TCU
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It's one thing to be a slow linebacker, and it's another thing to be an undersized linebacker. But to be both is a potential death knell for a draft prospect.
TCU linebacker Paul Dawson measured in at 6'0" and 235 pounds at the scouting combine, a size that makes him look more like a strong safety than a true linebacker. But after running a 4.93-second 40-yard dash in Indianapolis, he showed he doesn't have strong safety-like speed.
Mix those concerns with the continuing issue around character concerns, and you have a prospect whose collegiate production is not holding up to his draft stock. He may be railing against those character concerns, but even he admits that he was "tardy a lot"—though, in his defense, at least he admits it.
He posted 136 total tackles, 20 tackles for loss, six sacks and four interceptions in his final season at TCU, but there are simply too many issues to ignore. The Dolphins need help at linebacker, but they can do better than Dawson, even with a second-round pick.
Stock Up: Kwon Alexander, OLB, LSU
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As mentioned in the previous slide, a 6'1", 227-pound linebacker looks more a safety, but the difference between Paul Dawson and LSU's Kwon Alexander is a high character.
"When you dig around on him, you find out that he has high character and that he's good in the locker room," said an NFC director of college scouting, according to NFL.com's Lance Zierlein.
Even if he doesn't become an every-down defensive player right away, he has the speed (4.55-second 40-yard dash) to be a core special teams player, and his quickness and change-of-direction ability are a good sign for his future as a coverage linebacker on passing downs.
The Dolphins need top-end talent more than depth at linebacker, but Alexander is a player worth watching on Day 2 or 3 of the draft.
Unless otherwise noted, all scouting combine information and NFL draft notes provided by NFL.com and CBSSports.com.
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