The long wait for the Miami Dolphins to make their first pick of the 2022 NFL draft resulted in the team taking Georgia linebacker Channing Tindall with pick No. 102 at the end of the third round.
Tindall (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) was a national champion with the Bulldogs last season, where he was tied for third on the team with 67 tackles as an inside linebacker who can go sideline to sideline. He collected 108 tackles, 16 for loss, and 12 sacks in his college career.
Dolphins general manager Chris Grier touted Tindall’s speed among the traits he and the organization liked as the prospect ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in March.
“He’s a player that we have been targeting throughout the process,” Grier said late Friday night. “For us, it’s the versatility. The speed is what we like, his ability to play all three downs and play special teams, as well.”
Tindall was one of the prospects that was invited to Dolphins’ headquarters for a pre-draft visit.
“I felt like home,” said Tindall, who watched the draft alongside close family and friends. “I just loved the campus, the facility they had there. I got in with the linebackers coach [Anthony Campanile], the whole staff.”
Versatility, which Grier noted about Tindall, was something he liked about studying the Dolphins defense, lining linebackers up in different spots, especially with leading tackler Jerome Baker able to play inside and out.
Linebacker was a position the Dolphins were expected to address in this draft. The team brought back Elandon Roberts, Duke Riley, Sam Eguavoen and Brennan Scarlett from last year’s roster, but could still use an upgrade to pair with Jerome Baker on the inside, as well as Jaelan Phillips and Andrew Van Ginkel on the outside.
Grier noted the Dolphins are still plenty pleased with the linebackers they re-signed this offseason.
“Those guys are good players,” he said. “They know our system. We know what they are on and off the field, how they contribute to this team.”
The Dolphins, opting not to trade up between Thursday and Friday, selected Tindall with a compensatory pick they got from the San Francisco 49ers at the end of the third round after they didn’t have picks in the first two rounds. The pick was announced by Hall of Fame Dolphins fullback Larry Csonka from the draft in Las Vegas.
The Dolphins’ selections in the initial two rounds were traded in a five-pick package to the Kansas City Chiefs for star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who has made the Pro Bowl in all six of his NFL seasons. That first-round pick, No. 29, originally belonged to the 49ers while Miami’s own second-rounder, No. 50 overall, was also shipped off, along with a fourth-rounder this year and fourth- and sixth-round picks next year in the blockbuster deal.
Grier said the Dolphins were working the phones on Friday night to see if they could move up to draft various prospects, but ultimately, teams wanted a piece of Miami’s 2023 draft capital, which the Dolphins were not willing to surrender.
“We had discussions about multiple players that we were trying to move up to land, but teams wanted to make their picks,” Grier said. “We were not going to give up any picks from the 2023 draft, the upcoming draft class. For us, those were non-negotiables.”
The Dolphins have five picks in the first three rounds in 2023, with two in the first and two in the third.
No. 102 is the deepest into a draft Miami has made its first pick and first time the team didn’t make a selection in the draft’s first two rounds since 2002. That year, the team chose center Seth McKinney at No. 90 overall after Miami’s first-round pick went to the New Orleans Saints in a trade for running back Ricky Williams and second-rounder was shipped to Philadelphia in a trade-up in the previous draft.
With those two top choices that went to the Chiefs, Kansas City eventually traded both to the New England Patriots. New England made the first round’s most surprising pick of Tennessee-Chattanooga guard Cole Strange at 29, and then took Baylor wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, a Miami Booker T. Washington High alum, at 50.
Tindall was the seventh Georgia defender and ninth Bulldog overall drafted when the Dolphins selected him. Five defensive players went in the first round: defensive linemen Travon Walker (Jaguars), Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt (Packers), linebacker Quay Walker and safety Lewis Cine (Vikings). Wide receiver George Pickens (Steelers) and running back James Cook (Bills), a Miami Central High alum, were picked in the second round. One of the surprise drops in the draft, was Tindall’s Georgia teammate Nakobe Dean, who was widely projected as a first-round pick but full to the third round at No. 83 to the Eagles.
After crossing off the team’s linebacker need with the Tindall pick, the Dolphins could still be expected to look at center, other offensive line positions, edge rusher, running back or wide receiver when they’re back on the clock in the fourth round on Day 3, the final day of the 2022 draft.
Miami owns pick 125 overall in that fourth round, along with two seventh-round selections but could always trade to add more.
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