Month: April 2018

DOLPHINS SELECT TE DURHAM SMYTHE IN THE FOURTH ROUND

• Smythe is the ninth player the Dolphins have selected from Notre Dame and first since 1996, when the team picked S Shawn Wooden in the sixth round.
• The only other tight end Miami has ever selected from Notre Dame is TE Joel Williams, who was an eighth-round pick in 1987.
• This marks the fifth time in team history and first since 1988 that Miami has picked two tight ends in the same draft.
• It’s the only draft where Miami has taken two tight ends in the first four rounds.

DOLPHINS SELECT RB KALEN BALLAGE IN THE FOURTH ROUND

• Ballage is the 10th player from Arizona State the Dolphins have selected and first since 2015, when the team picked G Jamil Douglas in the fourth round.
• Ballage is the second running back from Arizona State to be drafted by Miami, joining RB Ben Malone, who was a second-round pick in 1974.
• Ballage became the 81st running back selected by the Dolphins and first since RB Kenyan Drake was picked in the third-round of the 2016 NFL draft.

DOLPHINS SELECT CB CORNELL ARMSTRONG IN THE SIXTH ROUND

• Armstrong is the fourth player the Dolphins have selected from Southern Miss. All four players are defensive backs.
• The last Southern Miss player selected by Miami was CB Patrick Surtain in the second round of the 1998 NFL draft.
• Armstrong is the second-highest picked Southern Miss player in Dolphins history behind Surtain.

DOLPHINS SELECT LB QUENTIN POLING IN THE SEVENTH ROUND

• Poling becomes the third Ohio Bobcat to be selected by the Dolphins and just the second non-specialist.
• The other two Bobcats that have been picked by Miami are T Al Benton in the fourth round in 1972 and P Mike Green in the 16th round in 1975.
• This is the first time the Dolphins have selected two linebackers in the same draft since 2010 when the Dolphins picked four – LB Koa Misi in the second round, LB A.J. Edds in the fourth round and LB Chris McCoy and LB Austin Spitler in the seventh round.

DOLPHINS SELECT K JASON SANDERS IN THE SEVENTH ROUND

• Sanders is the ninth kicker selected by the Dolphins in team history and first since picking K Caleb Sturgis in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft.
• Sanders becomes just the third New Mexico Lobo picked by the Dolphins and first since QB Brad Wright (fourth round) in 1981. Miami also picked LB Bruce Herron (seventh round) in 1977.

QUICK HITS

• This marks the first time in Miami’s 53-year history the team has not selected an offensive lineman in the draft.
• This is the first time since 2007 that the Dolphins did not make a trade during the draft itself.
• The 2018 draft marks just the eighth time in the Dolphins’ 53-year history that the team has selected players with each of their top three draft choices in their original slots, based on the team’s previous year’s record. The other seasons are 1969, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1997 and 2017.
• The Dolphins ended a streak of selecting 13 straight players from Power 5 conferences. The first five of the team’s picks from the 2018 draft, all seven from the 2017 draft and Miami’s final pick from 2016 (TE Thomas Duarte) played at Power 5 schools. Miami picked CB Cornell Armstrong from Southern Miss in the sixth round today to snap the streak.

DOLPHINS SELECT TE MIKE GESICKI IN SECOND ROUND

• Gesicki is the third-highest drafted tight end in Dolphins history and the highest tight end selected by the franchise since TE Andre Tillman was selected 38th overall in the 1974 NFL draft. The highest tight end picked by Miami was TE Jim Mandich at 29th overall in the 1970 NFL draft.
• Gesicki becomes the fifth tight end drafted by the Dolphins in the second round:

ALL-TIME DOLPHINS SECOND-ROUND PICKS (TIGHT ENDS)

YEAR	PICK	PLAYER	SCHOOL
1968	54	Jim Cox	Miami (Fla.)
1970	29	Jim Mandich	Michigan
1974	38	Andre Tillman	Texas Tech
1976	49	Loaird McCreary	Tennessee State
2018	42	Mike Gesicki	Penn State

DOLPHINS SELECT LB JEROME BAKER IN THIRD ROUND

• Baker became the first Dolphins linebacker selected in the third round since LB Channing Crowder was picked with the 70th overall pick in 2005.
• The last time the Dolphins selected a linebacker in the first three rounds of the NFL draft was in 2017, when Miami picked LB Raekwon McMillan (54th overall) in the second round. McMillan and Baker were college teammates who ranked first (McMillan, 102 tackles) and second (Baker, 83 tackles) in tackles for Ohio State in 2016.
• Baker is the 10th linebacker selected by the Dolphins in the third round:

ALL-TIME DOLPHINS THIRD-ROUND PICKS (LINEBACKERS)

YEAR	PICK	PLAYER	SCHOOL
1971	74	Dale Farley	West Virginia
1975	75	Gerald Hill	Houston
1979	63	Mel Land	Michigan State
1985	83	Alex Moyer	Northwestern
1997	92	Derrick Rodgers	Arizona State
1997	93	Ronnie Ward	Kansas
1998	79	Brad Jackson	Cincinnati
2001	88	Morlon Greenwood	Syracuse
2005	70	Channing Crowder	Florida
2018	73	Jerome Baker	Ohio State

WE ARE …

• Gesicki is the 12th player selected by the Dolphins from Penn State and the second tight end:

ALL-TIME DOLPHINS DRAFT PICKS FROM PENN STATE

YEAR	RD	PICK	POS	PLAYER
2018	2	42	TE	Mike Gesicki
2016	6	204	CB	Jordan Lucas
2010	1	28	DE	Jared Odrick
1993	1	25	WR	O.J. McDuffie
1992	8	209	LB	Andre Powell
1987	5	132	T/G	Chris Conlin
1982	3	80	CB	Paul Lankford
1978	3	81	WR	Jimmy Cefalo
1975	10	256	TE	Joe Jackson
1974	6	136	DT	Randy Crowder
1971	11	282	T	Vic Surma
1969	7	174	G	John Kulka

OH-IO

• Baker is the 14th player the Dolphins have selected from Ohio State, which is now tied for the third-most picks of any school in Dolphins history. Miami (Fla.) leads the way with 17. Tennessee has had 15 players drafted by the Dolphins while Florida also has 14 picks.
• Each of Miami’s past three selections from Ohio State have been linebackers:

ALL-TIME DOLPHINS DRAFT PICKS FROM OHIO STATE

YEAR	RD	PICK	POS	PLAYER
2018	3	73	LB	Jerome Baker
2017	2	54	LB	Raekwon McMillan
2010	7	252	LB	Austin Spitler
2009	4	108	WR	Brian Hartline
2007	1	9	WR	Ted Ginn Jr.
1999	6	192	P	Brent Bartholomew
1989	5	121	C	Jeff Uhlenhake
1988	6	156	RB	George Cooper
1988	1	16	DE	Eric Kumerow
1987	12	322	QB	Jim Karsatos
1986	7	193	LB	Larry Kolic
1984	6	165	LB	Rowland Tatum
1983	11	306	G	Joe Lukens
1975	4	100	LB	Bruce Elia

QUICK HITS

• The 2018 draft marks just the eighth time in the Dolphins’ 53-year history that the team has selected players with each of their top three draft choices in their original slots, based on the team’s previous year’s record. The other seasons are 1969, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1997 and 2017.
• The Dolphins have now selected 11 straight players from Power 5 conferences. All three of the team’s picks from the 2018 draft, all seven from the 2017 draft and Miami’s final pick from 2016 (TE Thomas Duarte) played at Power 5 schools.
• The last time the Dolphins selected two Big Ten players on the same day was Day 3 of the 2015 NFL draft when the team picked S Cedric Thompson (Minnesota) and CB Tony Lippett (Michigan State) in the fifth round.

DOLPHINS SELECT S MINKAH FITZPATRICK IN FIRST ROUND

• Fitzpatrick became the third safety and seventh defensive back to be taken by the Dolphins in the first round.
• All three safeties played in the SEC – Louis Oliver (1989) at Florida, Jason Allen (2006) at Tennessee and Fitzpatrick (2018) at Alabama.

ALL-TIME DOLPHINS FIRST-ROUND PICKS (DEFENSIVE BACKS)

YEAR	PICK	PLAYER	SCHOOL
1992	7	Troy Vincent	Wisconsin
2018	11	Minkah Fitzpatrick	Alabama
2006	16	Jason Allen	Tennessee
1980	21	Don McNeal	Alabama
2009	25	Vontae Davis	Illinois
1989	25	Louis Oliver	Florida
2001	26	Jamar Fletcher	Wisconsin

BEDNARIK AND THORPE AWARD WINNERS

• Fitzpatrick won the Chuck Bednarik Award (nation’s top defensive player) and Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s top defensive back) as a junior in 2017.
• Fitzpatrick is just the third player in NCAA history to win both the Bednarik and Thorpe Awards, joining CB Charles Woodson (Michigan) and CB Patrick Peterson (LSU).
• Fitzpatrick is the first Dolphins draft pick to win the Bednarik Award.

ROLL TIDE

• Fitzpatrick is the 10th player in Dolphins history to be drafted from the University of Alabama and the first since RB Kenyan Drake was a third-round pick (73rd overall) by Miami in the 2016 NFL draft.

ALL-TIME DOLPHINS DRAFT PICKS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA

YEAR	RD	PICK	POS	PLAYER
2018	1	11	S	Minkah Fitzpatrick
2016	3	73	RB	Kenyan Drake
2004	7	222	LB	Derrick Pope
2001	5	156	T	Shawn Draper
1986	6	163	DT	Brent Sowell
1984	4	109	RB	Joe Carter
1980	1	21	DB	Don McNeal
1980	2	48	C	Dwight Stephenson
1979	3	61	RB	Tony Nathan
1977	2	40	DT	Bob Baumhower

THE SEC

• This marks the third consecutive season and the fourth in the past five that the Dolphins have used their first-round draft pick on a player from the Southeastern Conference. The team also selected Missouri defensive end Charles Harris with the 22nd overall pick in 2017, Mississippi tackle Laremy Tunsil with the 13th overall pick in 2016 and Tennessee tackle Ja’Wuan James with the 19th overall pick in 2014.
• The SEC has had the most players selected in 11 consecutive NFL drafts (2007-17). Over the past eight drafts (2010-17), the SEC has had 399 players drafted, the most of any conference in the country.
• Fitzpatrick is the 17th Dolphins first-round draft pick that has played at one of the 14 schools that currently comprise the SEC.
• Miami has taken an SEC player in the first round of six of the past eight NFL drafts – C Mike Pouncey (2011), QB Ryan Tannehill (2012), T Ja’Wuan James (2014), T Laremy Tunsil (2016), DE Charles Harris (2017) and S Minkah Fitzpatrick (2018).

QUICK HITS

• Fitzpatrick won two national championships (2015, 2017) in his three seasons at Alabama and is the fourth Dolphins draft pick in the past three seasons to win a national title. LB Raekwon McMillan (2014 at Ohio State) and CB Cordrea Tankersley (2016 at Clemson) also won national championships and were selected by Miami in the 2017 NFL draft while RB Kenyan Drake was a teammate of Fitzpatrick’s on the 2015 Alabama national title team and was selected by the Dolphins in the 2016 NFL draft.
• Fitzpatrick joins DE Bill Stanfill as the only players selected by the Dolphins with the 11th overall pick. Stanfill was the 11th pick of the 1969 NFL draft and went on to four Pro Bowls. He was named to the Dolphins Honor Roll in 2010.
• Fitzpatrick joins RB Kenyan Drake as the only two players on the Dolphins roster from the University of Alabama. However, Fitzpatrick played in the same secondary as S Maurice Smith, who began his collegiate career at Alabama (2013-15) before transferring to Georgia following the 2015 season.