Senior Bowl 2022: Top 12 Miami Dolphins Prospects To Watch
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Daniel Faalele is 6-foot-9, 380 pounds, which seems really big, until you realize not long ago he weighed more than 400 pounds.
Faalele played offensive tackle at Minnesota and he's one of the most intriguing prospects scheduled to attend the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., this week.
The Dolphins need an offensive tackle and there are at least six worthy of close examination by general manager Chris Grier and his scouts.
Faalele (pronounced fah-ah-LAY-lay) was born in Australia and was discovered by a University of Hawaii assistant who saw him weightlifting and immediately offered a scholarship.
Faalele had played only rugby and basketball. He moved to America after research led him to enroll at IMG Academy in Bradenton.
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He learned the rules of football by playing Madden.
"I had no idea how to play," Faalele told ESPN in 2018.
Recently, Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network projected the Dolphins to select Faalele with the 30th pick in the next NFL Draft.
"The Dolphins have thrown a lot of resources at the offensive line, but they've yet to solve the problem," Jeremiah wrote. "Faalele is a true giant of a human being, listed by Minnesota at 6-9 and 380 pounds. I'm shocked by how athletic he plays at that size."
ESPN ranks Faalele as the 78th-best player available and so it's certainly possible he could be on the board for Miami in the second round, as they select 50th overall.
Faalele has massive potential and is far from a finished product. After all, he was playing football for the first time at IMG in 2017.
Soon after, he had offers from many schools, including LSU, Michigan and Miami.
In 2021, Faalele was All-Big Ten First Team.
"He's capable of blotting out the sun," wrote Kyle Crabbs of The Draft Network.
Faalele has said he's studied Tyron Smith and Trent Williams.
"He's a unicorn," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck says of Faalele. "My daughters love unicorns. He's a unicorn. They don't come around very often, some would think they don't even exist. My daughters think they exist, so they exist, but they are very rare. He's got a rare size, rare strength, rare ability. Hard to find."
Here are 12 more players that should be on the Dolphins' radar at the Senior Bowl, along with some bonus players to watch, too:
Penn State WR Jahan Dotson
Potential first-rounder, big-play threat.
Update: Dotson has elected to withdraw from the Senior Bowl.
Northern Iowa OT Trevor Penning
Potential first-rounder, Nasty, physical lineman.
Boston College G Zion Johnson
Top 2 rounds, aggressive, physical.
C. Michigan OT Bernhard Raimann
Top 2 rounds, native of Austria, former tight end.
Penn State OLB/DE Arnold Ebiketie
Top 2 rounds, native of Cameroon, strong, quick, explosive.
Florida State DE Jermaine Johnson
Top 2 rounds, Played at Last Chance U, Georgia and FSU.
Cincinnati DE Myjai Sanders
Top 3 rounds, Jacksonville native, quick first step.
South Alabama WR Jalen Tolbert
Top 3 rounds, Athletic, exciting, 6-foot-3 vertical threat.
Cincinnati WR Alec Pierce
Top 3 rounds, big-play threat, labeled a 6-foot-3 "freak" athlete.
FIU RB D'Vonte Price
Top 4 rounds, vision, bulldozer power, native of Punta Gorda.
Georgia RB James Cook
Top 4 rounds, Versatile threat from Miami Central is Dalvin Cook's brother.
Update: Cook has elected to withdraw from the Senior Bowl.
Florida RB Dameon Pierce
Top 5 rounds, Strong, balanced, creative runner.
Others the Dolphins should be monitoring include: Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett, Liberty QB Malik Willis, CSU TE Trey McBride, SDSU DE Cameron Thomas, North Carolina QB Sam Howell, Nevada QB Carson Strong, Houston DE Logan Hall, South Carolina OLB Kingley Enagbare, Kentucky OT/OG Darian Kinnard, Washington State OT Abraham Lucas, Virginia Tech OLB/DE Amare Barno, Louisiana OT Max Mitchell and Boise State WR Khalil Shakir.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Senior Bowl 2022 Miami Dolphins Top 12 Players to Watch
