Dolphins Draft Pat White!

With the first of the Dolphins two second round selections, with the pick acquired in last year's Jason Taylor trade, the Miami Dolphins chose Pat White from West Virginia.

Personally, I could not have been more excited on draft day.

I considered in my pre-draft positional overviews including a section on the "Wildcat" position. I decided against it, figuring that if in the unlikely scenario that something came up, I could just write about it as it happened. Here it is:

The Dolphins ran the Wildcat with great success last year, but by the end of the season, teams had found a way to bottle it up pretty effectively. The reason for this was that they could commit extra defenders to the run, since Ronnie Brown did not present a great passing threat. So a way to upgrade the offense would be finding somebody who presents a running option, but also could keep defenses honest with his arm. The Dolphins got the only guy in the draft who could do that today in Pat White.

Pat White, for those of you who are less than familiar, started 40 games for West Virginia over his four seasons there, and brought football success to the Mountaineers in a way that they had never seen before. A steady passer with blazing speed, he ran the spread offense to perfection as he was the first quarterback in FBS (Division 1) history to win four bowl games as a starter. Still, Pat White was considered a tweener in the eyes of NFL scouts, without a true quarterback skill set, so his draft status was relatively uncertain. ESPN, for example, to this day lists him as a QB/WR, truly in the Kordell Stewart mold.

As the story goes, at the end of his senior season, White was told that he should approach NFL workouts as a wide receiver. He was told that his skills did not project to becoming an NFL quarterback. So, he did the only logical thing, and impressed Senior Bowl scouts all week long with his arm before winning the game's MVP award at quarterback.

Now, make no mistakes. I have no false hope that White will be the Miami Dolphins quarterback of the future. Right now that distinction belongs to Chad Henne, maybe John Beck. However, he is a great fit for a football team looking to build and take themselves over the top.

I believe the Dolphins will use him the only way they can. He will join their receiving corps and compete for playing time. He has a lot to learn to develop into an NFL receiver (although I've always found that quarterbacks are the ones who end up having the best hands...and they do have certain mental advantages in learning how to become an effective receiver). However, he will also present an amazing X-factor that can't be understated.

With him on the team, the Dolphins figure to up the use of the Wildcat formation to about 10-12 plays per game. I suspect that during most of those, White will play the Wildcat position (the deep back who receives the snap). With him in that role, not only will defenses be forced to play the pass much more honestly, but it enables new mixes of players in different roles, including the possibility of Ronnie Brown in the motion-back role. Likewise, in situations where Ronnie Brown takes snaps, you can move White all over the field to give defenses headaches. There becomes a limitless amount of moving parts that Dan Henning can play with to give defenses headaches, something which he has already proved more than effective at.

Moreover, out of the base, I believe that White as a wideout might present an even greater upside than a first round wide receiver might have. Besides his great speed, he can bring new things to your offense, a la Antwan Randle El. He will always have to be accounted for when he is on the field, and suddenly the Dolphins have great balance in their receiving corps between the explosive Ginn and White and the efficient Camarillo and Bess. As I pointed out before, you might be surprised at how smooth the quarterback to receiver transition can be.

The Dolphins got a gamer today. At the very least, he will help take the Wildcat to a new level and give defensive coordinators all over the league headaches. He also adds a much needed jolt of explosivity to the receiving unit, not to mention that the act of passing on a receiver in the first round should be interpreted as a vote of confidence for Ted Ginn by the trifecta. Additionally, my hope is that a year down the road, White can enable the Dolphins to free up a roster spot by only keeping two true quarterbacks on the roster, a luxury which shouldn't be understated.

White brings all kinds of positives to the table, and is one of the most exciting draft picks by the Dolphins in recent memory. He is a football guy and a gamer who did nothing but win at West Virginia. I am excited to welcome him to the Miami Dolphins.