NFL Draft Rumors: Prediction That Miami Goes for BPA Aldon Smith

Minus a temporary fascination with the Miami Dolphins possibly selecting a quarterback, I have been pretty consistent with my belief that absent a trade down, the team from South Florida will take the best player available instead of filling a glaring need at a position..

Roughly two months ago, after the Scouting Combine, I felt that the best player left on the board would be Missouri defensive end/outside linebacker Aldon Smith. Click here to view that mock. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/623967-2011-mock-draft-complete-first-round-projection-post-combine-edition

Guess what?

I still think Smith will be the best player on the board and that's my prediction for Miami's pick with just an hour to go before the draft begins.

Early in the draft process, almost every drafnik had Alabama running back Mark Ingram as Miami's draft pick, now virtually no one does.

Then, there was information that Ryan Mallett had taken several visits to Miami, or that according to Sports Illustrated's Peter King no one had worked out TCU quarterback Andy Dalton more thoroughly than the Dolphins.

In the last day, I have heard the NFL Network's Jason La Canfora suggest out of virtually nowhere that Miami will take Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero jump on the bandwagon carrying Florida center Mike Pouncey but then hedge his bet with Purdue defensive end/outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, or (gasp!) Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Point being, guesses are aplenty but people are flip-flopping all over the place.

I might be dead wrong, minus a two-day (better than multiple visits?) fascination with Ryan Mallett, but I am going to go down with my Aldon Smith ship.

Update: Aldon Smith went no. 7 to the San Francisco 49ers and Miami selected Mike Pouncey at 15 as many people predicted as of late.