BY SEAN DONOVAN
After supplementing the offensive line and landing another wideout in the first two days of the draft, the Miami Dolphins set about backfilling the offensive depth chart on the third.
The Dolphins took Georgia tight end Arthur Lynch in the fourth round and Coastal Carolina wide receiver Matt Hazel in the fifth, providing depth at both positions and very likely some special teams help.
Lynch brings a moderately skilled but versatile game to Miami, where he'll likely be featured as a heavy-set inline tight end down the road.
“I think I do a number of things fairly well," Lynch said on his first media conference call, via the team website. "I think that’s one thing that a tight end is asked to do, is not just catch, not just block but really understand the game of football and be able to do things well all across the table."
Lynch will need time to develop before he ever becomes a serious contributor for the Dolphins, and he's done the work of identifying the skills he needs to improve on once he gets to training camp.
"I think I’m still pretty raw. I started playing football in high school and I chose Georgia because of how they develop players and how they can put players into the NFL," Lynch said. "For me, it’s really kind of mastering my technique – footwork, hand placement, little things in routes. You always just kind of want to perfect your craft no matter what you do, whether it’s your regular job in business or playing in the NFL."
While Miami's new tight end is very cognizant of the areas in which he needs to develop, Hazel leaves a small school for the Dolphins with a more brash, me-against-the-world approach.
“I just went there with a chip on my shoulder,” Hazel said of the East-West Shrine Game, where his performance landed him on the NFL radar. “I felt like I had something to prove. I just took that mind-set that this is a business trip. I needed to do what I needed to do to get paid.”
Despite playing for Coastal Carolina out of the Big South Conference, Hazel believed his showing proved he belonged with a higher tier of wideout.
“I thought I was going to go a little higher, but just being selected by the Dolphins is just an unbelievable blessing,” he continued. “All the hard work is paying off, now the real work begins.”
Hazel set college career marks with 70 catches for 990 yards and nine touchdowns in 2013.
