
The Miami Dolphins have torn it all down, stripped down the house to the bolts and screws. GM Jon-Eric Sullivan is remaking the roster to what he feels is a winning formula. WR Jaylen was traded this week to the Denver Broncos for 2 draft picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, RD 1 #30, RD 3 #94, and then the Dolphins swapped RD 4 #111 with the Broncos RD 3 #130, so we move back 19 picks in RD 4. I think that’s excellent value for a WR in today’s NFL, especially with what Waddle has done, mostly as the #2 option while WR Tyreek Hill was here. Forget about what the draft capital former GM Chris Grier used to acquire Waddle, RD 1 Pick #12, RD 4 Pick #123, and 2022 RD 1 #13. Waddle never really had a chance to to perform up to that kind of value, especially once Grier traded for Tyreek Hill. Before Hill arrived, Waddle was the #1 target, getting 140 targets for 104 receptions and 1015 yards in his rookie season. His best season was 2022, catching 75 passes for 1356 yards and 8 TD’s, with a fantastic 18.1 yards per catch average. Jaylen Waddle was a nice player for us, but never really a #1 alpha receiver, but more like Eagles WR DeVonta Smith, who has very similar numbers to Waddle. DeVonta Smith was drafted #10, no trade up for the Eagles.
So, the good news is, the Miami Dolphins go into the 2026 NFL Draft armed with 11 total picks, 7 of them in the top 94 picks,
RD1 #11, #30
RD2 #43
RD3 #75, #87, #90, #94
RD4 #130
RD5 #151
RD7 #227, #238
To be fair, the roster is pretty thin with top talent. On offense, it’s LT Patrick Paul, C Aaron Brewer and RB De’Von Achane. On defense, DT Zach Sieler and ILB Jordyn Brooks are the standouts. There’s potential for any number of players to step up, like EDGE Chop Robinson, or any of the 13 CB’s we have on the roster, or any of our young DL like Kenny Grant, Jordan Phillips and Zeke Biggers. Maybe S Dante Trader steps up this season, he may get a chance with Minkah Fitzpatrick gone. Sully has created competition at nearly every position save the QB position, where Malik Willis just got paid, so don’t even think that 2nd year QB Quinn Ewers has a chance to earn the job. If we somehow draft a QB in this draft, say Drew Allar, he will be a project and won’t be legitimately competing for a job until at best next season. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have picked up Willis, but you have to be realistic that we’re paying Willis $22.33M per year, there won’t be competition at QB, but there will everywhere else, including Long Snapper.
Personally, I’m thrilled with the trade, I’m thrilled to have all those picks, and I have some high hopes that this time we have the right man, along with his scouting staff to make some hay and really improve the roster in this draft. We all know too well we had a similar situation in 2020 with then GM Chris Grier, and boy did we ruin that opportunity. Some will say Tua was successful, but while OG Robert Hunt had a nice rookie contract for the Dolphins, Chris Grier failed to keep him in Miami, and really, he was the best of the draft picks year after year. RT Austin Jackson is still with the team, but he has had an uneven career, missing way too many games over 3 seasons with injuries. Jackson missed 15 games in 2022, 9 games in 2024, and 11 games in 2025, for a grand total of 35 games. Jackson has a tenuous hold on the RT position at the moment before the 2026 NFL draft. My guess is this his final year with the team. In other words, after the 2026 season, not ONE PLAYER from the infamous 2020 NFL Draft with eleven picks will be on our roster in 2027. We have exactly the same amount of picks in 2026, distributed quite differently I might add, we had three 1st RD picks, Tua, Jackson and Igbinoghene, and then RD 2 as I mentioned the star of the draft, Robert Hunt. Think of how things could have been different if we allocated the money to sign Robert Hunt instead of handing it over to QB Tua Tagovailoa. Haunting mistake, and probably one of the biggest contributors as to why Chris Grier is no longer here.
If you look at the mock drafts now, lazily most of them have us taking a WR with Pick #11. I won’t scream, but I would be shocked if we do. I do believe Sully will build the trenches, or the pass defense first, so that means EDGE or CB. We desperately need both, and if the departure of Waddle doesn’t show you what Sully’s priority is, then I can help you, it’s NOT Wide Receiver. We’ll take one or two, but not with those premium picks #11 or #30. We’ve been busy picking up inexpensive NFL vets like Jalen Tolbert and WR Tutu Atwell. We have young WR’s like slot WR Malik Washington and a guy who is developing WR Theo Wease. Rookie WR’s often struggle year 1, so Sully wisely picked up a couple of vets. Keep in mind we let OG James “Three snaps” Daniels go and we have OG Jonah “Two Picks” Savaiinaea who really needs to refurbish his image and his play to earn the trust of HC Jeff Hafley, so we may be looking at a couple of big interior linemen in this draft as well.
I am really looking forward to the 2026 NFL Draft, to most of us here, it’s something we look forward to each and every year just have our hopes and dreams dashed by poor choices. I think that will definitely change for the better, and I’m really optimistic that Sully and the GB way will do things the right way for a change. I know some of you will have your “Tradey-Pants” on, M, that means you. I KNOW you wanna trade up to get someone, you know it too. We have so many darn holes to fill, it wouldn’t surprise me if we do move anywhere, it will be back, not forward. Grier fell in love with certain players every year, and instead of letting the board come to him, he traded up out of fear of missing out on a certain player. What’s worse is all of those trade-ups ended being mistakes. We need HITS on so many of those 11 picks. Obviously, hitting on all of them or even most of them is unlikely, but we need I’d say 5-6 starters out of this draft, and hopefully 3-4 contributors. That might not be fair or accurate, but the state of the roster is such where we must upgrade in so many spots, namely EDGE, CB, OG, WR, TE, S, and potentially RB too if we don’t plan on giving RB De’Von Achane a big new contract. We can tag him next year to what would amount to about $15M for 2027, and it’s possible that’s what we will do, but De’Von Achane will not be happy if he doesn’t get a contract and there could be a holdout. Hopefully, De’Von doesn’t grab a bullhorn during training camp and say “Show me the money”.
GO DOLPHINS!!!


farty first
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No, farty first is farty posts later!
Thank you, Mike E.!
I love the fact that we have 7 picks in the first 94, and it would be grand if they were all starters.
Wasn’t it James “three-snaps” Daniels? Not Harrison.
Yes, brain fart!
Krishna, give Mike a break, he’s still distraught over Chuck’s passing.
Lol…got it!
Do you think it’s a good idea to use picks this year to gather picks for 2027?
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Not out of the question at all. Them even trading players during the draft is not out of the question either.
About a month ago I was posting about prior GB drafts. I had noticed one year, they signed a player in free agency then turned around and traded him 6 weeks later during the draft for a future 6th round pick. I thought that was so smart of them if it was intentional, knowing that other teams wanted that same player.
I don’t think anything is off the table for them up to and during the draft.
I think they signed the player in F/A but was then able to fill that position need early in the draft, so the F/A became expendable. They then traded the F/A they signed knowing there was a need for him.
This could happen with a couple of the F/A we signed. Now, just talking probably a future 7th on the guys we signed. We may have 1 or 2 we signed who could fetch a 6th.
we are interviewing KC Concepcion
who is a realistic option at 30 IMO
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I’m staying pretty open to just about everything. No matter how ya slice it, drafts are only as good as the players you pick…so let’s hope they hit often. A couple blue chippers sure would be nice too.
most of you know by now, I want to add a LB
a guy that seems slept on is Harold Perkins
Krishna – I had the more prominent Steelers “James” on my mind. Harrison was a great player for them for a long time.
Mike E,
Nice write! Draft night is like Christmas to me, and I’m sure many others as well.
Confession: I covet the services of one David Bailey like Captain Ahab coveted Moby Dick. Alright, not quite that badly, and I want Bailey alive, not dead!
And the ONLY way I make that trade up is if Bailey falls far enough that it would only cost us ONE of our four 3rd round draft picks.
The chances of Bailey falling that far, in my ‘guesstimation’, are extraordinarily remote. And even if he does fall that far, I’m not sure Sully would pull the trigger, being we have so many holes to fill.
In other words, it’s a pipe dream of mine that has like a 5% chance of actually occurring. I don’t think you have anything to fear, man! LOL
And yes… RIP, Chuck Norris. Absolute legend, icon, and 100% Americana. He will be missed.
@AdamSchefter
Free-agent DT Christian Wilkins fully intends to play this season, but still is rehabbing his foot injury, per his agent David Mulugheta. So far 26 teams have reached out and are waiting for Wilkins to be ready, and Wilkins is expected to have a new home as soon as he wants.
I would rather them take Brazzell at #30 or #43 than Lemon at #11 or KC Concepcion at #30.
KC Concepcion has a very bad drop rate at over 10% of the balls thrown to him are dropped.
KC Concepcion is also mostly a slot WR. He plays slot so he doesn’t have to beat press coverage. He has a shorter arms/catch radius and struggles to beat press coverage and gets rerouted against longer CB’s.
That’s what I read anyway.
KC Concepcion is also a projected slot-receiver… we have too many of them, IMO. We need to get bigger on the outside.
Piggy, I don’t think anyone is sleeping on Harold Perkins. He’s been on people’s radar since his stellar freshman year.
He’s just small at 6’1, 223. Also, his missed tackle rate went from good at under 10% to bad at almost 20% last season post his ACL injury/repair in 2024.
I remember after his freshman season one draft guru was saying Perkins was going to be the next Hassan Reddick. I kind of agreed with him. You could see it in his play but now, post ACL, he doesn’t seem to be the same player.
I would not be against drafting him. He still has his speed and faster than many safeties. I wonder if he could play more of a SS role and a guy you could really use on blitz packages.
Just thinking out loud as I read he struggles to beat or get off blocks.
yeah he’s undersized and may have not recovered from that acl injury
but if we haven’t addressed LB through 3 rounds, he might be a guy I’m looking at in the 4th or 5th
Yeah, I think that is where he is slotted to go.
although I probably like Brazzell the best, I’m probably more flexible about calling some one a slot receiver than some of you guys
that’s just my point of view on it
I think scouts and scouting reports we read online are designating guys as slot receivers bc they are under 6’0
but the reality is they were playing all over and outside in college
I don’t think any of us were calling Hill or Waddle slot receivers
I do not see that as a designation that keeps guys like Lemon and Concepcion off our radar
they are both very talented WRs and both happen to be very good YAC receivers
I have watched a lot on both and they both line up in the slot well over 90% of the time. I like both WR’s and their YAC ability though. KC’s drop rate does concern me.
Waddle played much more on the boundary in college then these 2 along with some slot also. Tyreek was a RB turning into a WR in college. No one knew what kind of WR he was going to be in the NFL.
FWIW
I have no idea what sort of offense Slowik will run. The best we can do is look at the Texans and 49ers or even McDaniels offense
but there are some coaches in the NFL where you see smaller receivers used as top receivers – Andy Reid’s version of the west coast comes to mind – same
with what Mike McDaniel was doing
I don’t think the Dolphins are smokescreening by taking close looks at Lemon and Concepcion
He is from that Shanahan tree so maybe close to the same. Hope he has better route concepts than MM. lol
Sully was quoted as saying something along the lines of “I can tell you that our WR room is NOT going to be a bunch of 5’9″ guys.”
^^
^
Man, this is a good draft for OG’s, especially when you add in the OT’s who will be potentially moved inside.
Rock, that draft you did taking Proctor and then RT Iheanachor, was that with the thought of moving Proctor into LG?
If so, I love the idea and like that mock.
I’m pretty sure we’re taking two OL in this draft, either 2 OG’s or 2 guys that can play either OT or OG. I don’t think we’re going to go into the season hoping Savaiinaea is going to improve and play either LG or RG, he’s going to have to win and earn either spot.
^
Strange that you hadn’t mentioned that in your write, just sayin’… 😉
And no, that wasn’t meant to be a Cole Strange joke.
Nice write, Mike! I share your sentiments. Right off the bat Sully is doing it right.
Jermod McCoy’s (Tennessee’s) pro day is March 31st. BIG date, IMO, for many Tennessee prospects.
Some may sit on their Combine numbers, but some may want to show they are even better. But ALL EYES will be on Jermod McCoy.
People are sick in what they will pay for. There was a girl in jail who perverts would pay for her video’s online on an adult content website to watch her urinate on furniture.
Of course, she didn’t want to do it on her own furniture, so she rented Air B&B’s around town here and do it there.
Some of the items peed on were a Crown Royal chair, rug, typewriter, four dining room chairs, coffee maker, bed, TV, record player, toaster, electric fireplace, vase, green rug, accent wall, chair, and a tiger rug causing over $5000 in damages.
She has 2 cases of felony Damage Property – Criminal Mischief for damaging the furniture at 2 different properties.
I guess she made good money doing it as she posted her own cash bonds.
She’s not hot nor is she ugly. In BBM’s 20’s, he would rate her at 4-5 beers or a slight buzz and the bar is closing. lol
Chad Reuter has us trading UP from R1P30 to R1P25, in order to nab KC Concepcion in his latest mock draft.
I swear to God, I will put a fist through my TV should that happen.
Terrible draft for us, IMO…
https://www.nfl.com/news/four-round-2026-nfl-mock-draft-four-trades-shake-up-round-1-jets-take-quarterback-ty-simpson
Same here!! I would hate that
Miami sends the first- and third-round picks it received in the Jaylen Waddle trade (as well as a fifth-rounder)
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For a predominantly slot WR with drop issues. Chad Reuter is high