Ginn a project at WR -- and who's throwing him the ball?
Surprises? Start with Ginn
NEW YORK -- So Miami takes all but 1½ of its allotted 15 minutes to make the ninth pick of the draft, then takes Ted Ginn Jr.
OK, swell, but I have just one question.
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| There's no doubting Ted Ginn's talent as a return man, but he's a raw receiver. (Getty Images) |
Ginn is not a wide receiver. Not yet. He's more of a return specialist and, yeah, I know what Devin Hester did for Chicago last year. But he was a second-round pick, people. He was not the ninth player off the board, he was the 57th.
I also know all about Ginn's speed and how he can be a blur at wide receiver. But he's not the finished product. Which means, in essence, you're gambling that he will become something he's not.
And if he misses, you just bought yourself the world's most expensive kick/punt returner.
That's what I'd call a gamble, and you don't gamble with a top 10 pick. Look, I thought Ginn could go as high as the 14th pick, but an NFC scout told me to be cautious. Among other things, he said, was that Ginn was a work in progress at wide receiver. He's not a slot receiver who catches the ball over the middle but strictly a straight-line, down-the-field speed receiver.
Oh.
But here's the other thing: Let's say that someone like, oh, Carolina would've taken Ginn. Or Pittsburgh. Or Green Bay, I don't care. At least you have a quarterback for him to work with. What do you have in Miami right now? John Beck? Cleo Lemon? Gibran Hamdan?
Please.
And don't give me Daunte Culpepper. The Dolphins have such little faith in him they continue to talk about acquiring Trent Green. In fact, the Dolphins and Chiefs spoke again Saturday, with Miami moving off its previous low-ball offer of a seventh-rounder.
This time they proposed a deal that included the Dolphins' sixth-round draft choice -- that is, their second sixth, or the 199th overall. That ended the conversation.
