By Omar Kelly Sun Sentinel

9:31 p.m. EDT, March 27, 2013

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During his chat, Ireland dropped an interesting nugget I'd never heard in my six seasons of covering him. He pointed out it is a wise strategy to draft the expensive positions and "develop your own" instead of being forced to sign them in free agency.

The five highest paid positions in the NFL are quarterback, defensive end, offensive tackle, receiver and cornerback. The Dolphins could use an infusion of young and inexpensive talent at defensive end, offensive tackle and cornerback this season.

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"There is strength in core positions. Pass rushers, tackles, receivers, corners," Ireland stated when addressing the 2013 draft. "I like drafting when the core position meets a need, and it meets the grade. And I try not to reach for a need position if I don't have to.

"We don't draft vertically, we draft horizontally and that's a whole different story to explain that," Ireland said, referring to his approach of taking the best available player based on his tier system.

To explain the tier system briefly - based on my understanding - each player on Miami's draft board is placed in a tier. Elites are tier one. Possible or eventual starters are tier two, then backups and special team contributors, and so on, and so on. Miami uses their draft picks to select the highest tier player at positions of need.

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Ireland said "the plan" was to spend a year learning the kind of players coach Joe Philbin likes and needed, and then building a plan around it. He gave Philbin and capologist Dawn Aponte credit for that plan's execution, which began this offseason.

"I really liked his principles and core beliefs," Ireland said of Philbin. "It is just time together, and its about learning how to communicate....it is my job to adjust to Joe [Philbin]."...

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But if you listen to Ireland on Wednesday you're certain the Dolphins will draft a receiver, tailback, quarterback, offensive tackle, pass rusher, cornerback. At least that's what Ireland said.

Ireland said "the plan" was to spend a year learning the kind of players coach Joe Philbin likes and needed, and then building a plan around it. He gave Philbin and capologist Dawn Aponte credit for that plan's execution, which began this offseason.

"I really liked his principles and core beliefs," Ireland said of Philbin. "It is just time together, and its about learning how to communicate....it is my job to adjust to Joe [Philbin]."...

I really like hearing this. As we saw last year, it looks that Ireland/Philben are a good working combination. I am hopeful that we have a really good draft this year. We need it.

yup, better chance of Ireland not screwing up the picks if Philbin is involved.