The Dolphins’ Love discussions, more players they’re pursuing and one interesting scenario

A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Thursday night:

▪ The fact the Dolphins not only brought Utah State quarterback Jordan Love to team headquarters on March 13 but also spent more time with him (via video conference) in recent weeks raises the question:

If the Dolphins are confident they’re going to emerge from the NFL Draft with Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert, why are they spending so much time with Love?

Is this simply due diligence? Or perhaps a sign that Tua or Herbert in Miami isn’t a certainty?

Only the Dolphins’ inner circle knows, but I do not believe the Dolphins would spend this much time with Love if there wasn’t interest. They’re not into wasting their time for purposes of sending a smokescreen.

We told you back in January that Miami had interest in Love, but likely not at No. 5. Some inside the Dolphins view him as a mid-first-round pick; others consider him a second-round pick.

NFL Net’s Daniel Jeremiah has Love falling to 30th.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper has him going 19th to Oakland, though Kiper said on a conference call on Wednesday that Love-to-the-Raiders is “just a hunch. Some think [Raiders coach Jon Gruden] will take [a quarterback]; some think he won’t. I don’t know how he feels about Jordan Love. He can spin it. His arm talent is excellent.”

So if Miami doesn’t go quarterback at No. 5, perhaps the Dolphins could get Love at 18. And while the idea of Herbert or Tagovailoa falling to 18 seems improbable, think about this:

Put aside the Dolphins for a minute. Of the teams picking ahead of 18, the only ones one seem certain to take a quarterback are the Bengals (Joe Burrow first overall) and the Chargers (Tagovailoa or Herbert at sixth overall).

Carolina, picking seventh, signed Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year deal and is no longer in the QB market. Arizona (No. 8) doesn’t need a quarterback and NBC’s Peter King reported Jacksonville won’t take one at 9.

Teams picking 10 through 17 are Cleveland, the Jets, Oakland, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Denver, Atlanta and Dallas. Unless Oakland picks a quarterback at 12, there’s no other team in that group that would seem likely to take a quarterback.

So if Miami doesn’t take a QB at No. 5, you could make the case that only two QBs go in the top 17 (Burrow and either Tagovailoa or Herbert). The obvious caveat is that a team could trade up for Tagovailoa or Herbert if available in the 7 to 15 range.

Bleacher Report NFL draft analyst Matt Miller predicted Wednesday that Georgia’s Andrew Thomas could be the first tackle off the board, and I reported last week that a longtime NFL executive said he cannot see Thomas falling to Miami at 18.

So colleague Armando Salguero’s idea of taking Thomas at No. 5 and waiting to take a quarterback at No. 18 has merit in my mind, considering the Dolphins must absolutely find a starting left tackle and considering my aforementioned assessment of why only two QBs might go in the top 17 (barring a trade, which is quite possible, of course.) I would still lean toward Tua at 5, but that no-QB-at-5 idea can be justified.

What’s clear is that the Dolphins are intrigued by the skill set of Love, who threw 32 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 2018 before struggling last season (20 TDs, 17 INTs) with a new coach, a new offensive coordinator and nine new offensive starters.

Whether that interest develops into anything remains one of the intriguing Dolphins subplots of this draft.

Love, in an ESPN interview, said “the question I get asked the most [from teams] is the difference between this year and the year before and why the numbers were different with 17 interceptions and can I break down an NFL style offense. The offense at Utah State was an up-tempo spread.”

He said in recent months, “I’ve been working on a lot of under center stuff and being able to understand defenses a little more.”

Pro Football Focus took a look at the best strength and biggest negative of each of the draft’s top quarterbacks.

PFF identified pocket presence as Love’s biggest strength: “Love has had an above-average pocket presence and evaded sacks as well as anyone. Last year, just 15.5 percent of his pressured dropbacks ended up as a sack, which was three percentage points below the FBS average.”

His biggest con? “His best throws came only in favorable situations. Accuracy suffered massively when he didn’t have an easy throw to an open receiver. When throwing into a tight window, Love posted a below-average big-time throw rate and an FBS-high 15 interceptions en route to a PFF grade that barely cracked the 25th percentile among FBS quarterbacks….

“Love led the country in QB-fault incompletions when throwing to a tight window (nearly two-and-half times more than Burrow). He’s also been a below-average quarterback when under pressure compared to his counterparts in PFF grade.”

Kiper predicted Love and Herbert “both will play in this league as a starter. Herbert is going to go slightly above Love; I know Todd McShay disagrees with that.”

▪ Defensive back talk: The Dolphins this week reached out to FSU cornerback/safety Lavonta Taylor, who has a neat distinction: According to Pro Football Focus, in 2017 he led the nation from a defensive standpoint with a low 14.3 passer rating when targeted.

Taylor could go late in the draft. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy believes Taylor has some Lamarcus Joyner to him as a nickel or free safety in the NFL. The former five-star recruit out of Virginia Beach had four career interceptions....

Most of the Dolphins safety talk has focused on Alabama’s Xavier McKinney (Miami had planned to send several officials to meet with him before the Crimson Tide’s since-canceled Pro Day), Cal’s Ashtyn Davis (who was coached the past three years - and greatly admired - by Miami’s new defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander), LSU’s Grant Delpit (would be great value in the second round) and Minnesota’s versatile Antoine Winfield (Brian Flores said his father was his favorite cornerback ever).

But a source cautions that Miami also is intrigued by, and has done research on Southern Illinois’ Jeremy Chinn, who had 13 interceptions in four seasons. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein calls Chinn a “safety prospect with compelling size, speed and athletic ability. He has man cover skills. Very willing and able as a tackler.”

▪ You know what players the pandemic really hurts?

The ones A) from small colleges; B) the players who weren’t invited to the Combine; and C) the players whose only opportunity to impress a team was at the local day that NFL teams hold for players who went to high school or college in their areas. Those local days were prohibited by the NFL this year because of coronavirus.

In the Dolphins’ case, there are a bunch of players who fit into that category who lose an opportunity to make an impression during on-field workouts that were supposed to happen late last week if the NFL hadn’t banned them.

Two examples, from FAU: Linebacker Rashad Smith, who’s an interesting player. He filled the box score, so to speak, last year with 3.5 sacks, one forced fumble, five fumble recoveries, 58 tackles and three interceptions after picking off four passes in 2018. Miami wanted to take a look at him in person last week, but the NFL won’t allow it. The Bengals and Chargers are among the teams that have called him.

Then there’s FAU cornerback James Pierre, who had three interceptions last season. His chance to impress Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and defensive backs coach Gerald Alexander evaporated when the NFL banned local days. Seattle, Baltimore and Dallas have reached out to him.

In fairness, the Dolphins and every team can evaluate all of these players from their college game tape. But the local day was a chance to make another impression three weeks before the draft. And that’s why the necessary NFL shutdown is really hurtful to a lot of prospects.

▪ Dolphins general manager Chris Grier is someone who likes to build consensus among his top scouts, coach Brian Flores, position coaches and top executives. He will often defer to Flores and never gives him a player he doesn’t want. One NFL person who deals with the Dolphins a lot said Flores has far more personnel power than some coaches. And that says a lot about Grier’s ego-less approach.

Last season, there was one player recommended by an assistant coach and the Dolphins drafted that player, who was a mild disappointment. A Dolphins scout told associates that he wanted a player at the same position who turned out more successful elsewhere. (We have been asked not to name the two players.) The Dolphins assistant coach who recommended the less successful player remains on staff.

Every team faces similar challenges. But one of Grier’s big challenges is whether to go with the input of his position coach or his scout if their views differ, which will invariably happen at times.

▪ The Dolphins continue spending a fair amount of time on tight ends, suggesting they aren’t certain that either Durham Smythe or Michael Roberts is enough behind Mike Gesicki.

Besides a video-conference with Dayton’s Adam Trautman (a potential second or third-round pick), they had tight ends coach George Godsey and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey do a video-conference session with LSU tight end Stephon Sullivan, according to an LSU source.

A top 10 receiver prospect out of high school, Sullivan moved to tight end at LSU and caught 12 throws for 130 yards last season (10.8 per catch) in 14 games. In 2018, he had 23 receptions, 363 yards, 15.8 average, two touchdowns) in 13 appearances at receiver and tight end.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein called him a “big receiver with the body type and contested catch toughness to make transition to a big slot or flex tight end role. He’s a developmental project worth a stash spot while teams keep tinkering and teaching to see if they have something.”

▪ Quick stuff: UF’s CJ Henderson, considered by many the second-best cornerback prospect in the draft, was supposed to have a meeting with the Dolphins, but coronavirus scuttled that…

The Dolphins still have hopes undrafted Georgia defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter can develop into something after missing nearly all of his rookie season with an injury, and they’ve spoken with another stout Bulldogs defensive end/tackle, Michael Barnett, who has 47 tackles in 27 games….

Miami reached out to linebacker Jordan Mack, who led Virginia with 7.5 sacks and posted 69 tackles (7.5 for loss) and two forced fumbles last season. Zierlein said he’s a “bright linebacker with good instincts and production as a four-year starter…. Might hear his name late in day 3.”

Here’s my and Adam Beasley’s story on Thursday with Chris Grier’s message to Dolphins fans who want Tua, and other things Grier said.

Here’s my Thursday Dolphins-flavored piece on edge rushers in the NFL Draft.

Here’s my Thursday UM 6-pack.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored look at interior linemen in the draft.

Here’s my Tuesday night Dolphins nuggets with information on players they’ve contacted and a lot more.

Here’s my Wednesday night Dolphins nuggets with information what the Dolphins have been doing with Justin Herbert and a lot more.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top cornerbacks in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top defensive tackles in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top offensive tackles in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on the top safeties available in the draft.

Here’s my Dolphins-flavored piece on some of the second-tier quarterbacks in the draft.