Category: NFL

MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins had four picks in this year’s NFL draft, including just one in the first three rounds. But in the third round (102nd overall), they grabbed a player who is an ideal fit for their defensive scheme.

Georgia linebacker Channing Tindall flew somewhat under the radar playing on a defense that included linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker. In fact, he was the ninth of the Bulldogs’ record 15 players selected this past weekend.

Despite the star power around him, the Dolphins never lost sight of Tindall throughout the pre-draft process.

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“He was a player that we had been targeting throughout the process,” general manager Chris Grier said. “We met with him in Indianapolis [at the NFL combine] and really enjoyed our time with him. We brought him down here on a [top] 30 visit, spent a lot of time with him here as well. For us, it’s the versatility, the speed is what we like. He can play, he has the ability to play all three downs and play special teams, as well.

“In talking to [Georgia coach] Kirby Smart the other day again about him, he was just talking about what tremendous speed and toughness and the character of the kid and how Kirby really loved [Tindall] and thinks he’s going to be a really good player in the NFL.”

After playing sparingly in his first three seasons with the Bulldogs, Tindall turned in his best collegiate season as a senior in 2021, posting 67 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss.

He called his uptick in production the result of extra time spent with Georgia linebackers coach Glenn Schumann, and a renewed mentality entering the season.

“I just took extra time and watched film with him. I feel like I knew what I had to do,” Tindall said. “I was on a mission before the season started … like I have to get this done. I would say the biggest thing is probably just my mindset. My mindset was do or die.”

How Tindall was used last season helps in deciphering what his role with the Dolphins will be, particularly as a rookie. Grier said Georgia took advantage of Tindall’s 4.47 speed in the 40-yard dash, using him as a pass-rusher, quarterback spy and in coverage.

Miami blitzed on 38% of its opponents’ dropbacks last season, the second-highest rate in the NFL. That type of aggression is why Tindall feels his skill set perfectly suits his new team.

“The way they use their linebackers is different,” he said. “They use their linebackers everywhere. They put them on the edge sometimes, they put them on the line, they put them at Mike, Will. They are very versatile and I feel like I fit into it.”

As enticing as his skill set is, Tindall’s shortest path to early playing time will come on special teams, where Grier said he expects him to contribute. He will compete with Elandon Roberts, Duke Riley and Brennan Scarlett for defensive reps at inside linebacker, but his ability to cover sideline to sideline sets him apart. He is likely to be worked into the Dolphins’ rotation as soon as he grasps the scheme.

Miami also added an outside linebacker in the seventh round, Cameron Goode, who has an uphill battle to crack the initial 53-man roster but could sneak into the team’s pass-rush rotation with a strong summer camp.

With only four picks to work with and an unwillingness to part with any of its five picks in the first three rounds of next year’s draft, the Dolphins had to take what they could get, whichever way the board fell.

They left their facility Saturday thrilled with the way it did.

“You want to feel good about the players that you add,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “The bottom line is that we need some Miami Dolphins that our locker room can embrace and that can make the players that we have better and make the team better.

“That’s what we did and we feel great about that.”

RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks‘ first quarterback competition since 2012 began in earnest Monday, when they were allowed to begin holding on-field drills as part of their voluntary offseason workout program. Things will start to get more real when OTAs begin on May 23.

In a battle that doesn’t have nearly the intrigue as when then-rookie Russell Wilson beat out Matt Flynn and Tarvaris Jackson a decade ago, it’s Drew Lock vs. Geno Smith vying to take over Wilson’s starting spot. And while the Seahawks could still acquire someone else to make that a three-man race — Baker Mayfield the most obvious candidate — developmental prospects Jacob Eason and undrafted free agent Levi Lewis are the only other quarterbacks on their depth chart for now.

So much for the widely held belief that they needed to take a QB1 in this year’s draft.

Malik Willis was a popular mock pick for Seattle at No. 9 overall. The Seahawks passed on Willis four times before he was taken 86th overall — feeling he was nowhere near NFL-ready, according to one source — and didn’t think enough of the other quarterbacks to take one with any of their nine selections.

“It’s hard for rookies,” general manager John Schneider said after the draft, explaining the decision to not take a quarterback and hinting at how lousy this year’s QB class was. “It’s very hard on rookies to come in here and [compete right away]. You have to have unique, unique qualities … Continuously throughout the draft, it just didn’t fall the right way for one reason or another.”

In many ways, the Seahawks declining to take a quarterback this year was a repeat of 2011.

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Back then, they let long-time starter Matt Hasselbeck walk in free agency before signing Jackson to a modest short-term deal that made it clear they viewed him as a bridge option. They had long-term uncertainty at quarterback and not many attractive options in what was considered — and proved to be — a weak draft at the position.

The Seahawks had interest in Andy Dalton but passed on him late in the first round, with not everyone in their football operations in agreement that he was the answer. It turned out to be the right decision not because of who they took — tackle James Carpenter — but because not forcing the Dalton pick paved the way for Seattle to draft Wilson a year later.

While the Seahawks didn’t consider taking Willis or any other quarterback at No. 9 like they considered Dalton at No. 25 in 2011, there was a coincidental parallel in taking a tackle instead.

And the Seahawks were fortunate that Charles Cross fell to them.

With the top two pass-rushers (Travon Walker and Aidan Hutchinson), the top two corners (Derek Stingley Jr. and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner) and two of the top three tackles (Ikem Ekwonu and Evan Neal) taken among the first eight picks, Cross was the only player left the Seahawks wanted to draft at No. 9, according to a source. They needed pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux (whom they didn’t like) and receiver Drake London (whom they didn’t need) to come off the board in order for Cross — their second-rated tackle behind Ekwonu — to still be there.

While the Seahawks were on the clock, the Jets wanted to flip picks and move up one spot, worried that another team wanted to move up in Seattle’s spot for the receiver New York wanted, Garrett Wilson. The Seahawks then would have taken Cross at 10, but with no deal, they stayed put and took him at 9.

“We’re just really excited that we have a pillar at left tackle,” Schneider said.

But they still have a long-term quarterback question.

The Seahawks believe some of Luck’s struggles over his first three seasons with the Denver Broncos were the result of tough-luck circumstances, including a coordinator change and a COVID-truncated offseason after he finished his rookie year strong. They think he’s got enough untapped potential to warrant a one-year look, provided he can beat out Smith.

They like Smith’s command of their system and believe they uncovered the offensive formula that best suits him when he led the Seahawks to a blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in his third and final fill-in start for Wilson last season.

But both Smith (13-21) and Lock (8-13) have career records well below .500, so there’s more hope than certainty that either of them can stick.

“Geno Smith is the guy that did the most playing for us and has the most background, so Drew is in the catch-up mode right now,” coach Pete Carroll told NFL Network during the draft. “We’ll get on the field for the first time Monday and get a chance to see what he looks like, and we can really get a feel. I love the potential. We loved the guy coming out. I’m liking him in our culture and the way we’re going to approach things. We’re going to support this kid and give him every opportunity to find the best he has to offer. I think he’s really going to take to it and we’ll see how far it goes. He’s got some real weapons around him.

” … So whoever wins this thing in the competition is going to have a good surrounding supporting cast, and Drew will try to take advantage of that.”

As for the Mayfield possibility, the former Cleveland Browns starter and 2018 No. 1 overall pick guessed on the “Ya Never Know” podcast last month that Seattle would “probably” be his most likely landing spot. But there has been no firm indication that the Seahawks have anything more than tepid interest in Mayfield. It would likely take the Browns eating much — if not most — of his guaranteed $19 million salary for 2022.

Lock is making less than $1.5 million on the final year of his rookie contract. Smith’s one-year deal has a base value of $3.5 million and incentives worth another $3.5 million, but there’s only $500,000 guaranteed. That gives the Seahawks flexibility to add someone else at the right price and/or move on from Smith if he doesn’t emerge as their starter.

With the Browns in a holding pattern, the Seahawks might have time to evaluate their current options then revisit the Mayfield possibility after the offseason program if needed.

“We’re really happy with the guys we’ve got, to see them battle, and we’ll see what happens,” Carroll told NFL Network. “You never know what’s going on down the road. We’re always looking.”

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots‘ rookie class has been widely panned by draft analysts, with some scouts and executives across the NFL also sharing their viewpoint with ESPN that first-round pick Cole Strange and second-rounder Tyquan Thornton went earlier than their teams had anticipated.

“I just don’t think they got value with their first two picks this year,” ESPN senior draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. wrote.

Fellow ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay echoed those thoughts, calling the Strange pick “eyebrow-raising” while noting he was his 77th-rated prospect overall.

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• McShay’s 32 favorite picks »
• Rankings | Analysis of every pick
• Winners, losers: Day 1 » | Day 2 »
• Answering big Round 1 questions »
• More coverage » | Full draft order »

Jordan Reid, another ESPN draft analyst, rated Strange a third-round pick.

While everyone expressed respect for longtime coach Bill Belichick, and acknowledged that he could ultimately have the last laugh, the Patriots’ early draft work — and how it didn’t align with the boards of draft analysts or other teams — became a topic of discussion in some NFL circles.

What does it really mean?

Not much now. After all, there is no shortage of examples of the Patriots being widely praised after a draft, only to later learn the class didn’t produce the expected results (here’s one random example from 2019 — an A for what now looks more like a D draft).

So much happens between when a player is selected and the three-year window that most around the NFL believe is the benchmark for when a draft can be most fairly analyzed.

How the players are coached and brought along in the system is critical. The mentality of how they take that coaching, and adjust to football as their full-time job, is equally important. Injuries are sometimes a factor.

So at this point, instead of a knee-jerk instant analysis of the Patriots’ draft class, perhaps a smarter approach is to de-emphasize the question of how they fared, and instead ask this: What did the Patriots’ draft approach say about how Bill Belichick views his team?

Here is one reporter’s take:

1. Speed deficient on offense: When you select the receiver (Thornton) and running back (Pierre Strong Jr.) who posted the fastest 40-yard dash times at the NFL combine in their respective position groups, it couldn’t be more obvious. More home run threats on offense were needed.

2. Changing of guard: One of the knocks on the selection of Strange was that the Patriots created the need by trading veteran guard Shaq Mason in March. That’s one way to look at it, but a more accurate assessment seems to be that Belichick didn’t view Mason’s performance as worthy of his salary and saw the draft as the best way to not only upgrade, but do so at a fraction of the cost. It didn’t have to be in the first round, but that’s the way it turned out.

3. Eyes on AFC East: The physical makeup and sticky-coverage/sudden playing style of third- and fourth-round cornerbacks Marcus Jones (5-foot-8, 174 pounds) and Jack Jones (5-foot-10, 171) seem like a direct response to what the Patriots face in the division — as dynamic Tyreek Hill joins Jaylen Waddle in Miami, and few Patriots could keep up with Bills pass-catchers Stefon Diggs, Isaiah McKenzie & Co., late last season — especially on deep crossing routes.

4. Still invested in young LBs: What to make of the Patriots passing on linebackers entirely? Belichick is not yet ready to give up on 2020 third-round pick Anfernee Jennings, and as director of player personnel Matt Groh said, 2021 fifth-round pick Cameron McGrone is like an “additional draft pick” after sitting out his rookie season while recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee suffered at Michigan. There’s also 2021 third-round pick Ronnie Perkins and 2020 second-rounder Josh Uche in the conversation.

5. White a wild card: Veteran running back James White said last week that he is still not cleared after having hip surgery last season. When the team drafts two running backs (Strong Jr. and Kevin Harris) despite already having Damien Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson and White on the roster, it reinforces that the team is protecting itself when it comes to White’s status.

6. Hedge on Harris’ future: Harris enters the final year of his contract in 2022, and while an extension can never be ruled out, loading up the depth chart behind him with two draft picks could foreshadow how Belichick will view any future contract talks. It marked the first time the Patriots selected two running backs in a draft since 2011 (Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley).

7. Stidham on notice: Selecting Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe in the fourth round (No. 137) shines a spotlight on Jarrett Stidham‘s development. The 2019 fourth-round pick has not seemed to ascend and now has a real battle to make the team as a backup to Mac Jones.

8. Belief in Groh: Belichick seems to have put a lot of faith in Groh, the first-year director of player personnel and former national scout, considering he veered away from power programs on a few picks. Strange played at Tennessee-Chattanooga, fourth-rounder Strong at South Dakota State and sixth-round pick Sam Roberts at Northwest Missouri State.

9. Inner circle: As shown on Patriots.com, the Patriots have probably the smallest draft room in the NFL, with Belichick, Groh, owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft, director of scouting Eliot Wolf, pro scouting director Steve Cargile, senior football advisor Matt Patricia, college scouting director Camren Williams, director of football/head coach administration Berj Najarian and director of research Richard Miller among the selected few from the organization spotted on Day 1 of the draft. This is the leadership group Belichick has entrusted in a year of transition, with former director of player personnel Dave Ziegler having departed to become Raiders general manager.

10. Return game: After a down year on special teams, one way to bring back the mojo is to select arguably the draft’s most dynamic punt returner in the third round (Marcus Jones). Groh also said the Patriots will consider what second-round burner Thornton might contribute as well (possibly on kickoff returns). Projecting picks onto the roster is a significant part of the draft, and this was a reminder how the Patriots continue to place a significant emphasis on fourth down.