While the COVID-19 virus has wreaked havoc across the American sports world, some NFL teams are still conducting visits. The Dolphins are one of them, and they did some rescheduling to make sure they could meet with Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins.
Dobbins is at the Dolphins’ facility on Friday for a pre-draft visit, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The former Buckeyes standout was not supposed to visit the Dolphins until mid-April, but Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes (via Twitter) the team is high enough on Dobbins they moved up his meeting by around a month in the event the NFL cancels pre-draft visits because of coronavirus.
Although Rapoport notes Miami is proceeding with “extreme caution,” it would not be a surprise to see the league nix pre-draft summits considering the actions taken by the sports leagues currently in-season. Dobbins also did not fly to this workout, with Rapoport adding the running back has been training in south Florida (Twitter link).
Miami will enter free agency with a bevy of needs; one of them is clearly at running back. The Dolphins traded Kenyan Drake last season and subsequently released Mark Walton after yet another arrest. No obvious starter resides on Miami’s roster, so the Dolphins should be expected to acquire at least one starting-caliber back this offseason.
Dobbins would profile as such. He posted three straight 1,000-yard seasons at Ohio State. In 2019, he eclipsed 2,000 yards and totaled 23 touchdowns. Dobbins ranks as the No. 40 overall prospect, per NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, who tabs him as this draft class’ No. 4-ranked running back.
I could see him being a pro bowler.. so long as he doesn’t go to Miami