Worth the Risk?

It is never to early to think about the future, and Miami needs to have another solid draft that produces at least 2 more caliber starters. Theoretically it should not be that difficult for Miami to find starters from the draft, considering they have at least 5 starting spots to fill, however it is not easy to find talented college players that can make a fluid transition to the NFL. What Miami does during free agency will most likely influence what position and players they decide to draft. One thing is for certain though, the phins need to draft someone who is going to make an immediate impact this season with the 14^th pick in the draft. Many of the best sportsbooks are saying the best running back in the upcoming draft is Todd Gurley from Georgia. The only knock on Gurley is that he suffered a season ending ACL knee injury and may not even be ready to play by the first game of the season. Gurley has been highly productive through out his career in the SEC, however many teams may shy away from drafting him because of the recent memory of SEC star running back Marcus Lattimore who injured his knee in his last college season, and slid all the way to the fourth round, where the 49ers took a shot and failed. For starters Gurley is hands down better than Lattimore ever was, and Lattimore suffered 2 horrific knee injuries. Gurley has been dominant his entire career, and even in his limited action last season, he still was able to average 7.4 yards per carry for 911 yards and 9 touchdowns, and caught 12 passes for 57 yards. However, it should also be noted that his replacement Nick Chubb was also dominant averaging 7.1 yards per carry for 1547 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 18 catches for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns. Could this mean that Georgia’s offensive line is just extremely good and can open up huge holes for anybody running the ball, or does this mean that Freshman Nick Chubb is the second coming of Gurley? It is probably a little bit of both. The argument for drafting Gurley at the 14^th spot is that he would be the perfect compliment to Lamar Miller. Gurley has the physicality that Miami has been searching for since the days of Ricky Williams. If healthy he would automatically give Miami one of the best one-two running back punches in football, a true thunder and lightning combination. Even though the NFL is a full blown passing league, the championship caliber teams still make it deep into January because of a ground and pound running attack. Gurley could do wonders for Tannehill and the rest of the Dolphins offense. Obviously the only issue is Gurley’s health, and a ACL knee injury for a running back is not something to just dismiss. If Miami is truly interested in drafting Gurley, then they need to be closely watching Gurley’s recovery, because they can not afford to use another first round pick on an injured player, (cougbesh cough) Dion Jordan. The other reason why the phins may shy away from drafting Gurley is simply because they have too many other holes to fill, and to use a high draft pick to gamble on a talented yet injured player may not be the best idea for a team that just went 8-8. This becomes the catch-22 when you’re a middle of the road team, where you can not take as many gambles on high draft picks, whereas teams like the Seahawks, and Patriots could easily take the risk and be paid handsomely for it. The other reason for Miami to pass on Gurley, is because this is a deep running back class and the phins can wait to pull the trigger on a quality back in the 3^rd or 4^th round. I would say that Miami does not have the luxury to take a risk on Gurley this early in the draft, but if they do then the sky could be the limit for this player. What does the rest of phins fans think about drafting Gurley?