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It was the fifth round, the 156th overall pick in the NFL draft and the final pick of the draft for the Miami Dolphins.
Much like the first pick, the last pick was spent on a wide receiver. Not just any wide receiver, but the Big 10’s Receiver of the Year, Michigan State’s Tony Lippett.
If you were confused as to why Miami spent their last pick on a receiver in the ensuing seconds and minutes after the pick, you weren’t alone. Even after releasing Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson, then trading Mike Wallace, the Dolphins were stacked at the position.
This is thanks to top pick DeVante Parker, second-year player Jarvis Landry, the acquisition of Kenny Stills from New Orleans for Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick, the signing of Greg Jennings and the little-used Rishard Matthews.
So why go receiver? As we would later find out, they didn’t, they instead addressed a much more pressing need: defensive back.
That is the position that Lippett is expected to play in 2015 and beyond for Miami, and it’s a position he actually knows well.
Let’s go back to the beginning with the former Spartan: Lippett was born July 2, 1992 in Detriot, MI, and was a 3-star recruit in high school. While his high school career saw him play as a dual-threat quarterback, he would commit to Michigan State in East Lansing and play wide receiver.
Only it wasn’t as cut and dry as him coming on campus and becoming a wide receiver. He would redshirt his freshman year in 2010, and in 2011 he made five starts at cornerback, recording 18 tackles, 0.5 for a loss and deflecting five passes.
It was a nice start for Lippett, who was on his way to becoming a player that Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio called “one of the greatest players in Michigan State history.”
Lippett’s redshirt sophomore season saw him play all 13 games at wide receiver, and in 2013 he’d do the same.
He’d be back at cornerback in 2014, a position that he had not played in more than two seasons. Despite the lay off, he recorded four tackles and four pass deflections in his three games starting at cornerback against Rutgers, Penn State and Baylor.
He even blocked a punt against Baylor in the Cotton Bowl, a game where he played on special teams as well.
While doing all this, he still led the Big 10 in receiving en route to winning the conference’s receiver of the year award.
Lippett being able to play on both sides of the ball, as well as his 6’2″, 192-pound size earned him comparisons to Richard Sherman on draft day, but at Michigan State’s pro day, his collegiate head coach offered another comparison to him: former Carolina Panther Chris Gamble, who Dantonio coached while he was an assistant at Ohio State.
He’s not going to get beat deep because he’s got two or three inches on most people, very long arms, and he’s got great deep ball judgment. I would equate that with Darqueze [Dennard] and the only other guy, because he was a wideout, was maybe Chris Gamble. He [Lippett] has that kind of size and that kind of ball awareness.
That awareness comes through no matter what side of the ball you see Lippett play on. You won’t find a lot of film online of him playing cornerback, but his ball skills come out as you watch him play receiver.
At first, Lippett wasn’t too crazy about playing cornerback, but as he explained to MLive.com’s Kyle Austin, he’s warmed up to the idea: “I wasn’t really for playing corner right off the bat, but as process went on, I was more open. I started to watch Richard Sherman film, and then I watched it more, numerous times.”
He also added, “I look forward to the opportunity of showing the team what I can do as a corner,” and Dolphins fans are looking forward to seeing what he can do.
Statistics provided by sports-reference.com/cfb unless otherwise noted.
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