The Miami Dolphins were able to sit tight at No. 14 in the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft and nab former Louisville wide receiver DeVante Parker - the guy they had their sights set firmly on once all the pre-draft evaluations were done and team needs had been cemented.
In hindsight, the Dolphins' ability to land Parker at 14 doesn't seem like much of a surprise, but inside the Miami war room Thursday night, the feeling on the matter was much different.
According to a report from Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, the Dolphins and new executive vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum gave serious consideration to a trade up in the first-round in order to ensure that Parker wound up catching passes from franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill next season and beyond.
La Canfora doesn't name any teams, but considering Amari Cooper went to the Raiders at No. 4 and Kevin White went to the Bears at No. 7, it's likely Tannenbaum was at least vaguely concerned that one of those two franchises would shock the NFL viewing world and go with Parker, the lengthy Cardinals star, over the presumed top two receivers in the draft.
There's also the Minnesota Vikings to consider - they're moving forward with another former Louisville standout, Teddy Bridgewater, as their franchise signal-caller. While the Vikings already have numerous offensive weapons at Bridgewater's disposal, it didn't take much dot-connecting to see a potential fit between the Vikings and Parker, Bridgewater's former teammate.
In the end though, Parker fell far enough for the Dolphins to snatch him up, becoming the first pick in what La Canfora considers one of the stronger, if not the strongest, draft of this NFL offseason.
"Jordan Phillips further bolsters defensive line depth, and with the running game needing a boost I love where they picked RB Jay Ajayi. If his knees work for even a decent one-contract career, at No. 149 overall, there is no shame in that. Give me Kenny Stills and Parker combining to make peanuts over that $12M/year to Wallace. This has become a very interesting team."
Assuming Tannehill takes another step forward in his development next season - and with the plethora of new weapons including Stills, Parker, Jordan Cameron and Ajayi around him, there's no reason to think he won't - the Dolphins could be set to finally return themselves to the conversation for the league's truly elite teams.
