For the longest time, it was assumed that a “successful” rebuilding season for the Dolphins would place the team atop the 2020 NFL Draft order. After all, the number one pick in the draft means you get to hand select the face of your franchise! But the dynamics of the race for the top pick have changed dramatically over the course of the last several months.
No one could have possibly seen the Bengals flopping this hard coming ahead of time. No one could have seen the injury to Tua Tagovailoa turning the top of the quarterback class upside down (potentially). And yet both developments leave the state of this upcoming draft is a drastically different position than when the season first started.
These are the perils of banking an entire season on a single college prospect. Thankfully, the Dolphins locker room never bought into any of the tanking noise and now, a team that was supposed to be the worst in football history sits at 2-9 and several winnable games left on the schedule.
Which begs the question, what does the ideal positioning look like for the Dolphins now? The answer is clear: the 2nd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Why? Because whoever holds the top spot is going to face a very, very difficult decision. They must determine whether or not to draft LSU quarterback Joe Burrow or Ohio State defensive end Chase Young with that pick. An unenviable choice, indeed. Should the Bengals lock in the top spot, they’ll have to choose between someone who is clearly the best player in the draft (Young) and the hottest QB prospect of the season with a glaring need at quarterback. Miami, in the same situation, would have to make the same decision: which is an unenviable place to be.
So let Cincinnati have their top pick. If they choose Burrow, the Dolphins can pivot, draft Chase Young and then look to wheel and deal their way up the board for QB Tua Tagovailoa — or stay put and see how the board falls. Heck, Miami could then face the same decision the Bengals did and decide between a quarterback and Young for themselves. But Miami has the ammunition to make the leap from their other two 1st-round picks to leap into a position to draft them both in a “have their cake and eat it, too” scenario.
