Miami Dolphins 2010

mw
DAVIE (CBS4) ― The 2007 NFL Draft is set to kickoff on Saturday afternoon and the Miami Dolphins are hoping to be huge players.

Cam Cameron will head the Dolphins war room on Saturday for his first draft as Miami's head coach. After acquiring several draft picks through trades and free agent losses in the offseason, Cameron finds himself with 11 total picks this weekend, something he plans to get the most out of.

"I think that's the exciting part about it," said Cameron. "The Dolphins haven't had a lot of picks before. I think that's good. These are all chips that we can play however we need to play them, to move up to move down. I think going in you want to give yourself options. And I think by being able to acquire a few extra picks, we've given ourselves some options. Now we get to see how the game goes."

The first round of the draft has been kind to the Dolphins in the last two years. Miami drafted Ronnie Brown in 2005 and he has emerged into the teams top running back.

Last year, the Dolphins chose cornerback Jason Allen, who showed glimpses of his potential last season, but is still a work in progress.

This year, Miami has several gaping holes that need to be attended to. With possession of the 9th overall pick, the team hopes they will be able to fill one of their voids with a quality player.

The most obvious position the team needs to address is at quarterback. Daunte Culpepper remains a question mark following knee surgery last year, which limited him to only four games last year. Culpepper has at least two months of rehab left on his most recent knee surgery and his status for training camp and the regular season still remains in doubt.

"I expect to be ready when I'm healthy and I feel 100 percent," Culpepper said. "That's when I'll be ready."

The Dolphins continue to discuss trading for Kansas City Chief's quarterback Trent Green. If the Dolphins are successful in acquiring Green, they would most likely waive Culpepper. The sticking point in this deal: the Chiefs want a 2nd round draft pick in return for Green, while the Dolphins reportedly are only offering a later round pick. Both teams continue to talk and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Miami could land Green before the Draft begins on Saturday.

That is good news for the Dolphins, because they are not likely going to be able to land much QB help in the draft. The top two quarterbacks on the board, LSU's JaMarcus Russell and Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, are likely to be gone way before the Dolphins are ready to draft at #9. A draft day trade to move up and snag Quinn has been discussed with the Redskins, who own the sixth pick.

Possibilities in the second or third round include Trent Edwards of Stanford, John Beck of Brigham Young, Matt Moore of Oregon State, Drew Stanton of Michigan State and James Pinkney of East Carolina.

That would leave the Dolphins to attend to their next major hole, the offensive line. Miami is hoping to grab two starters on their offensive line during this weekend's draft, and they may be able to land a huge cog in Penn State's OT Levi Brown with the 9th pick.

Brown, a four year starter in college for the Nittany Lions, has been playing top collegiate competition his entire career and can bring that stability that Miami's offensive line desperately needs.

A wildcard selection the Dolphins may choose to pursue is Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr.

Ginn Jr is regarded by some to be the best pure athlete and this years draft and could step in as a huge playmaker on special teams, which the Dolphins need after losing Wes Welker in the offseason.

Ginn Jr's explosive speed could also get him time with the offense and could develop into a lethal 1-2 tandem with Chris Chambers.

A sleeper pick the Dolphins are also reportedly looking at is Louisville defensive tackle Amobe Okoye.

The Nigerian native, who began playing high school football at age 12 and was a true freshman for Louisville at age 16, registered 55 tackles, eight sacks, and recovered three fumbles for the Cardinals his senior season and earned AP Second-Team All-American honors and and first-team All-Big East honors.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)