Dolphins Should Have Had Anquan Boldin, Ended Up With Eddie Moore

The Arizona Cardinals used the 54th overall pick of the 2003 draft on Anquan Boldin, and while it's a credit to their scouting staff and front office for selecting him, they owe a massive thank you to Dave Wannstedt and the Miami Dolphins for making it all possible.

On Sunday, Sun Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde examined what has turned out to be an epic draft blunder for the Dolphins, resulting in an absolute draft steal for the Cardinals.

As Hyde writes, when the Dolphins' first selection came up at pick No. 49, pretty much everyone in the team's draft room, including general manager Rick Spielman, was under the assumption that Boldin would be the pick. Until Wannstedt made the final call and selected Tennessee linebacker Eddie Moore.

Eddie who?

After doing some quick work on google, the search reveals that Moore played two seasons with Miami recording 18 tackles, no sacks and two fumble recoveries. On the other hand, Boldin has become part of one of the NFL's best receiving duo's, posting his fourth 1,000-yard season in six years.

Why did Wannstedt make the call to take Moore over Boldin? "He was the highest-rated player on the board at a position where we had a need."

This is one of the drawbacks to picking for "need" as opposed to taking the best player available.

It's easy to pile on Wannstedt, especially when using perfect 20/20 hindsight. After all, every team in the league passed over Boldin and selected 53 players before his name was called. We could also play this same game for every team in the NFL in every draft.

For example: what if the Cleveland Browns had selected Tom Brady instead of somebody named Spergeon Wynn in 2000? Would Brady still be a future Hall of Fame player? Would the Browns have even given him a chance? Would the Browns be three-time Super Bowl champions while the Patriots struggled to find a replacement for Drew Bledsoe? So many questions, so little time.

It's a fun game, and perfectly illustrates how much of a guessing game the NFL draft can be, even for teams that are traditionally good at it.

This, however, is a slightly different situation than your typical hindsight for two big reasons: 1) we're talking about Dave Wannstedt, and 2) everyone else in the front office wanted to pick Boldin.