Dolphins draft, part 1

Last weekend was draft weekend in the NFL. Every year, the teams converge (this time, in New York's Radio City Music Hall) to go through the two-day ritual of choosing the best of the American football talent that is produced by the college system. In seven rounds (two on the first day, five on the second) the NFL teams select what they believe to be the best young talent available, with the team with the worst record choosing first in each round, then proceeding in ascending order (worst to best), and the whole 32-team cycle working its way through some 250 young men over the space of 6 hours on the first day (8pm to 2am BST) and another 7 on the second.

In Britain, Sky Sports carried the first round, the first time I can remember them doing so, using the NFL Network feed. This went off after 11pm, after which it was me and my computer, switching between the NFL.com website and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel online blogs to get feedback and commentary on the proceedings.

The draft is the way in which bad teams can reconstitute themselves, and the Fins are very bad, 1-15 bad. As there is no transfer system in the NFL, acquiring proven or veteran talent can only be done through trades (swapping players or, more often, players for draft picks) or in Free Agency, when players hit the open market at the end of their contracts. Both methods are expensive and only serve to (a) acquire top talent in key positions (very expensive) or (b) acquire lesser talent to create depth in your squad or 'roster'. The Miami Dolphins went down route (b) in this year's free agency, picking up good (but not stellar) players to improve the talent base, especially in Special Teams (kick-off, punt and field-goal units, and specially returning units, when speedy players attempt to catch and run back the opposition's punt or kick-off). You might score three or four touchdowns in a season this way (although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season scored their first ever punt-return TD in a franchise that came into being in 1976 – though were for a very long time absolutely awful). The Dolphins have a good returner in wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr (more of him later) but had four TDs chalked off for penalties because the Special Teams unit had been denuded of talent by the previous coach, Cam Cameron. He was fired after the Dolphins went 1-15 last season. The new Dolphins management, under VP Bill Parcells (the 'Big Tuna'), GM Jeff Ireland and coach Tony Sparano (a ringer for the crime novelist James Ellroy) used free agency to sign special teams standouts and improve depth. To get starter-quality additions, though, you look to the draft.

The Fins, having gone 1-15 last season, had the first overall pick. They also had the first pick in rounds 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, though before draft day traded their round 4 pick for Dallas Cowboys linebacker Akin Ayodele and tight end Anthony Fasano. I should add that Parcells, Ireland and Sparano were all at the Cowboys before coming to the Dolphins, and because they like what they know and know what they like, have raided the Cowboys ever since for coaches and players. I have no problem with this, unlike some Dolfans – the Cowboys are a good, solid team, a playoff team, much better than the Dolphins have been for four or five years, or more. If we can pick some of their talent, all to the good. The Dolphin then traded their running back Lorenzo Booker to the Philadelphia Eagles to get a fourth-rounder back.

The tension as to who the Dolphins would choose with their number 1 overall pick – a debate which had been raging on the blogs for months – was resolved in the week before the draft when the Fin announced they had signed offensive lineman Jake Long on a 5-year, multimillion dollar contract. I was happy with this.