MIAMI — Every now and again, when something struck him, Don Shula would sidle up to me and offer something on his mind. Once the Miami Dolphins coach spit nails about a column I wrote on his defense. Once he tapped my backside, like coaches used to do with players, for a column about his wife.
“Good job,” he said.
And once after a draft — way back when drafts weren’t the full production they are today — Shula said players get in the NFL by size, strength and speed and every other measurement you can make. But good character let them have long careers.
“Character is a talent, too,” he said.
That stuck with me. Sure, it was there in headline events — like Dion Jordan’s repeated problems with the NFL’s drug-testing or Bullygate’s team-wrecking problems. But character could be seen in less dramatic stories. A low draft pick like Jeff Cross or an undrafted Cameron Wake playing for years? A lesser talent like Michael Thomas being a major asset? Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips whispered to have the body but not the heart?
Character comes to mind again because of this Dolphins draft class. No one knows how good they’ll be. Let’s say this right here up top. The tangibles, as was the case since Shula’s time, got them drafted. Size. Speed. Strength. You can look all that up.
And now a word about character. That’s a common word across the league right now. The Cincinnati Bengals, for instance, point out they have six college captains in their draft class. Does that matter? Well, it says something. Then again, Bill Parcells liked to draft captains. His 2008 Dolphins class had five captains. They didn’t change this franchise.
This Dolphins draft class picks seem united by one thing: A great family story that expresses something about their character. It’s not something you measure like hand size of a vertical leap. Maybe it doesn’t even matter by the end of their time here. But it adds a dimension to who the Dolphins drafted.
Top pick Tua Tagovailoa’s family story is well known. His parents moved from Hawaii to Alabama with him. His larger family means enough that his grandfather’s life and Polynesian roots are part of his narrative.
Throw in talk of his leadership, his maturity and having an “It” factor, and Tagovailoa might be the rare player show intangibles overshadow his tangibles. You don’t hear people talk of his laser arm or running skills. His game, really, became the third topic of conversation behind his health and, yes, his character.
The other top pick, tackle Austin Jackson, gave his bone marrow to save his sister. It might have set him back last year at USC. But just from that view it looks like the Dolphins got a first-round draft pick in life, not just the NFL.
Noah Igbinoghene, the Dolphins’ final first-round pick, is the son of Nigerian Olympic track and field athletes. His mother won a bronze on a relay team in the 1992 Olympics. His father competed in the long jump in the 1996 Olympics. A disciplined upbringing is a theme to his story.
You can go down the list of the Dolphins rookies. I’ve never met any of them. You probably haven’t, either. But their stories offer a glimpse into who they are. Third-round pick Brandon Jones, who lost his father to cancer at 12, went out of his way to befriend a Texas youth who had his leg amputated from cancer. Fifth-round pick Curtis Weaver keeps close a letter he wrote at 8, when his grandmother died, that ends with, “I will make you proud someday.”
You want to know what it means? Who knows? Charles Harris, drafted first in 2017, ranked off the charts in character issues like work ethic and team-first attitude. That didn’t help an inability to get to the quarterback in three seasons.
None of this means this Dolphins class will be anything special. Intangibles, you see, are hard to quantify. You can’t rank character like a 40 time or bench press. All you know as you comb this class is the Dolphins bet on everything you can measure as well as this immeasurable called character.
Are these rookies ready for the NFL?
Beats me.
But if it is a talent, as Shula said, this draft class seems ready for what the NFL will demand of them.
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