Will Davis

Today, in my ongoing series looking at the Miami Dolphins' 2013 draft prospect by prospect, I take a look at the second of our two third round selections. Will Davis was the pick after Miami decided to initially trade out of the third round, and then back up to select the corner out of Utah State University. This pick, to me, is possibly the biggest head-scratcher of the entire weekend. Let's take a look at the breakdown.

What he does well: The first thing that stands out when watching Will Davis is his natural ability. He has not been playing football all that long, but he's very fluid in his movements. He flips his hips well and is able to change direction very smoothly. He has nice ball skills, as evidenced by his 17 pass breakups and five interceptions during his senior year at Utah State. He also has very light feet, and is able to move them very quickly which, along with his physicality, makes him a very competent press-man coverage corner.

Where he needs to improve: Davis is a very aggressive corner. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that he is susceptible to getting beaten deep on double moves. When he is beat, Davis tends to lack the high-end speed necessary to recover. He also has had issues with being able to get off the blocks of wide receivers in the run game. When he does get off of them, he also has a tendency to miss tackles. He needs to get stronger in his run support. Davis is a pretty decent man coverage corner, but with that comes a deficiency in zone coverage, which is what the Dolphins play. He doesn't have much experience in zone coverage though, so perhaps he's more of a victim of circumstance in this regard and it's not actually a weakness of his.

Where he fits: If Davis works on his zone coverage skills and his ability to get off the block and make a tackle, I anticipate him being able to compete for the nickel corner job, and possibly taking a roster spot from either Nolan Carroll, Dimitri Patterson, or Richard Marshall. I figure that Marshall's job is probably safe, as he has the most versatility of the three with his experience in Arizona playing the safety position. Every Miami fan has been very frustrated having to watch Nolan Carroll struggle at his job, but if I had to guess, I would venture to say that Patterson would be the one to leave, as he has a very salary cap unfriendly contract as compared to the amount of production he has given us. Patterson is scheduled to make $4.6 million this season and Miami would take no cap hit from releasing him, so unless Patterson is amenable to a large pay-cut, he's almost certainly played his last game in a Dolphins jersey.

Highlight Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCDCJ6jiSko