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NEW YORK -- The first signs from Miami are encouraging.
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| Ronnie Brown breaks out a rich man's smile after slipping on a teal cap. (AP) |
Brown fills an immediate need; Edwards did not. Yes, the Dolphins could use help at wide receiver, but it's not a priority. Running back is. Plus, this is a draft deep at wide receiver, so the Dolphins could afford to wait -- particularly after making that deal with Kansas City for the 46th pick.
But there are a couple of other things to keep in mind here: 1.) Receivers typically take a couple of years to deliver where running backs don't, and 2.) you don't stake your future to the right arm of A.J. Feeley.
I feel better about staking it to the best back in the draft. Ronnie Brown was that back, and, sure, he played behind Carnell Williams in college, but he showed enough this season and in postseason workouts that he vaulted up the charts.
He's big. He's powerful. He has speed to get to the corner. And he improved as a pass receiver. Plus, look what happened when he was given a chance his sophomore year: He produced 1,008 yards rushing, averaged nearly 6 yards a carry and scored 13 times.
Now this: Miami ranked 31st in rushing last season, with Sammy Morris -- a converted fullback -- its leading rusher. Bad? Yes, but get a load of this: The team's 1,339 yards rushing wouldn't have led the individual rushers in either conference. There were six running backs with more yards.
"If you can't run the ball," said Brown, "(opponents) can sit back in zones and do whatever they want to do."
Miami learned that lesson the hard way. Dolphins quarterbacks, often forced to play from behind, produced a league-high 26 interceptions and were sacked 52 times. That, in turn, put the heat on a defense that caved under the weight of offensive mistakes, surrendering 354 points -- including 41 or more in two games.
"Running the ball is important," said Brown. "I think we've seen that with our team (two years ago). We were unable to establish a great running game so our passing game struggled."
Credit Nick Saban with making the right choice, though he had an advantage. As the head coach of LSU, Saban had a chance to see Brown -- maybe too much of him -- in SEC games. He must have been impressed.
"I think (the experience) was a positive being in the same conference with coach Saban and him seeing some of the things I was capable of doing as a running back," Brown said. "So it created a better situation for myself."
The feeling entering this draft was that Miami controlled the board early and might draft Edwards. That indecision was supposed to cause teams that coveted the wide receiver -- most notably, Cleveland -- to talk trade with the Dolphins, but the rush never happened, and good for Miami.
It gained the player it wanted. More than that, it gained the player it needed.
