The Channing Tindall selection at No. 102 by the Miami Dolphins on Friday in 2022’s NFL draft has a number of fun connections to the franchise and college. The Georgia Bulldog was a third-round selection and the first-ever linebacker from the school drafted by the Dolphins.
He becomes the earliest player Miami has selected from Georgia since 1969 when they picked defensive end Bill Stanfill at No. 11 overall. Stanfill retired following the 1976 season as the Dolphins’ all-time leader in sacks with 69.5, a mark that’s third in team history today.
Tindall is the 10th Bulldog drafted by the Dolphins and the first since guard Solomon Kindley was picked 111th overall in 2020. Some other notable Bulldog-to-Dolphins include Jake Scott, Randy McMichael and Reshad Jones.
Since taking over as general manager in 2016, Chris Grier has shown remarkable consistency in certain trends, specifically the drafting of a player from the reigning CFP national champion in seven consecutive drafts. That’s every one of his selection processes as the head man in the draft room.
In a related pattern that correlates perfectly here, Tindall’s selection makes 2022 the seventh-consecutive draft that Grier has selected a player from an SEC school. The last year that Miami didn’t draft an SEC player was 2015, the year before Grier, which is no coincidence.
Not only is Tindall from a champion SEC school, but they’re also a team that saw seven defensive players taken in the first three rounds of the 2022 NFL draft; the most defensive players taken from a single school in the first three rounds since 1967. This mark surpassed the previous high of six from Alabama in 2017 and LSU in 2013. Grier himself spoke with Miami media late Friday night following the selection and detailed the journey to pick Tindall.
“He was a player that we had been targeting throughout the process,” Grier said. “We met with him in Indianapolis and really enjoyed our time with him. We brought him down here on a 30 visit, spent a lot of time with him here as well. For us, it’s the versatility, the speed is what we like.”
Speed has certainly been a theme the last few months in Miami’s renovation of what was a rebuild of an organization just three seasons ago. With additions like Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert and Chase Edmonds on offense, Tindall brings his 4.47 40-yard dash to an already swarming Miami defense.
Tindall will be an inside linebacker and has three-down ability while mixing in with Jerome Baker and the re-signed pair of Elandon Roberts and Duke Riley. The rookie’s tracking speed and ability to roam sideline-to-sideline is what Miami covets.
Grier discussed some of the attributes which made Tindall their pick saying, “it’s a very talented defense [Georgia] and how they use him – they use him as a spy, they use him to blitz, he covers backs. Just a lot of the ways that are kind of similar to how he will probably be used here in different schemes…Specifically, the speed stands out on film on him.”
The questions returned to Tindall’s speed, and Grier even showed personality in his response.
“I think the way the NFL is, there’s a lot of speed now in the game and how it’s evolving, he explained. “It’s a little bit of the college game where you’re spreading people out. We have guys that can run; (Jerome) Baker can run, Duke Riley, can run, ‘E-Rob’ (Elandon Roberts) will tell you he can run.”
The calm, confident Grier also joked about what Miami truly did Thursday night and much of the evening prior to the Tindall selection. When asked directly what they did, Grier gave an appropriate answer.
“Eating a lot of food,” Grier said. “Mike [McDaniel] and I just sitting there talking and watching our weight go up.”
Grier, McDaniel, and the Dolphins don’t have too much time to sit back, as they’re scheduled to pick 125th, just twenty picks away from the opening of the fourth round.