I’ve made no secret of the fact that I believe offensive linemen shouldn’t be taken at the top of the draft. Even the best ones like Orlando Pace and Jonathan Ogden, in my mind, aren’t worthy of such lofty status. My feeling is that solid offensive linemen can be found much later, and even if a Pace or Ogden is much better than say Matt Light (a second-round choice), how much better does that make your team? My theory could be 100 percent wrong (most of them are) but that’s how I feel.

However, that has nothing to do with my disagreement on Miami’s decision to take Jake Long. If he’s the guy they targeted, and, as Peter King pointed out recently, they intend to use a heavy does of the running game behind him this season, then I feel the pick is fine for them. But I was under the impression that part of the reason for their early negotiating was to save money, and if that’s the case they failed.

Adam Schefter reports Long’s deal to be for five years, $57.5 million with $30 million guaranteed. That’s slightly less than DeMarcus Russell got as last year’s No. 1 pick, but Russell’s deal was for six years. Obviously Long wanted five years as a compromise for taking less money, but his money is right in line with Russell’s in terms of annual average. So the Dolphins saved minimal money (about $2 million in guarantees) and they got one less year out of the player.

So what happened to Miami’s bargain?

I really dislike Cam Cameron. Back at the Combine he was giving some song and dance about how he wanted to work with the media and be friends. What a bunch of bull. I’m part of the media and I can tell you that’s no different than saying let’s have peace on earth. It’s nice in theory but it will never happen. It just rubbed me the wrong way. I mean the media in Miami is going to be like the media everyplace else. If you win, they’ll write about what a great coach you are and if you lose, they’ll call for your head. Let’s see how long that honeymoon lasts.

Then today, Cameron is doing an interview on TV and he has his kid sitting on his lap. I’m sorry but give me a break. Do you really need to have your son on your lap when you are on TV talking about the draft? That was such an obvious attempt to take some of the heat off of him for Miami’s awful draft. By the way, I guess that love affair with the media is over with, huh? I don’t think everyone has to act like Bill Belichick but can you imagine Belichick, Jimmy Johnson or Bill Parcells doing a post-draft interview while holding their kid? I mean, Miami wasn’t even done drafting yet. Didn’t Cam still have work to do and more bad picks to make?

If you want to know what a cocky, self-indulgent coach Cameron is, let me take you back a few years ago to when he was the head coach of Indiana. The Hoosiers were playing Purdue and had the ball at on the 10-yard line with the game on the line. They faced a fourth and half an inch and needed a touchdown to win. This is back when Randle El was the quarterback. So instead of doing a simple QB sneak, Cameron calls an option. Well, Purdue had everyone at the line shooting the gaps and Randle El lost seven yards. You know what that was? A head coach trying to be too smart. Instead of just getting a yard and giving your team four downs to win the game, genius outsmarted himself trying to be too cute.

I think we saw that in the draft as well. The Dolphins picked ninth, which means they stunk last year. So Cameron drafts a guy in Ted Ginn who isn’t even going to start. Now, no one loves Ginn more than Tom Casale but not even I would take him that high when my team had so many more glaring needs to address and good players on the board. However, Cameron’s ego once again came into play because he fell in love with Ginn’s speed and now he has a new toy he can use to show people how smart he is. Go back and look at Mike Martz’s drafts and you’ll see a lot of the same kind of picks (Anyone remember Trung Canidate?)

Cameron is a great offensive mind and I’m sure the Dolphins will put up points during his short regime there. However, they won’t win with this guy running things. Cameron is just another in a long line of egomaniacs who make better coordinators than they do coaches. I hope for Cameron’s sake that Miami doesn’t start the year off 1-5 because I don’t think the media down in South Florida will be too friendly if they do.

Thanks for following the blog and all the comments. We will also be doing blogs during the upcoming mini-camps and training camp. Make sure to keep checking back at those times for updates on everything Patriots. Thanks again for the support.

With their final selection, the Patriots picked Iowa C Mike Elgin. I would love to tell you all about him but after 17 hours or covering the draft, I don’t have the energy to break down a seventh round center who probably won’t make the team. I have to go to Belichick’s press conference and then I’m heading home. I’ll come back later tonight before the Sopranos and give my breakdown of the Patriots entire draft. I’m sure that will be enthralling. Thanks for sticking it out with us, we really appreciate it.

Just an FYI on a player a lot of Patriots fans are interested in, Brandon Siler. I just heard that Siler has a bad knee that he may need surgery on, causing his monumental slip down draft boards. People questioned Siler’s speed to begin with, so if he needs surgery on top of that, it makes sense that he would slide this far.

If I were Mike Richardson, I wouldn’t be buying property in New England. I’m sure he’s a nice kid and I’m happy he got drafted but give me a break. Richardson got beat like a drum last year and in my opinion, has very little chance of making the team. I just don’t get this pick. I know the Pats made some weird selections on Day 2 but the Richardson pick makes absolutely no sense to me.