Of all the areas in which the Miami Dolphins must improve, nothing will matter more than finding better players at linebacker. Miami’s linebacker corps rated amongst the worst in the NFL in 2017, and there aren’t many signs that suggest the results will change any time soon.
Thus, as Chris Grier evaluates his options at No. 11 overall, this is going to come down to Tremaine Edmunds and Roquan Smith—and it’s Smith who wins out.
Smith is a sideline-to-sideline player whom Adam Gase will likely appreciate, but Edmunds has the highest upside of any linebacker in this class. He’s a 6’5″ and 246-pound force of nature with great speed for his size and an uncommon ability to find the ball.
That much is proven by the fact that, over the past two seasons, Edmunds has produced 202 tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss, and 10.0 sacks.
One could argue in favor of a defensive back here, but I’m not entirely sold on Josh Jackson being worth the No. 11 pick just yet. Edmunds, on the other hand, is an imposing player whose physicality will be a welcome addition in the AFC East.
Linebackers rarely come off the board this early, but the Dolphins can’t possibly move forward without addressing the glaring flaw that is their atrocious linebacker corps.