The 2026 NFL Draft is approaching so quickly, and I’m getting more excited and optimistic by the minute. When you listen to either GM Jon-Eric Sullivan or HC Jeff Hafley speak, you get a certain comprehension that these guys legitimately know what they’re doing, they have a concept of what they want this football team to look like, and that they are capable of executing the plan to do it. Don’t forget that while there is a synergy between to the two, Sully made it clear that the decision will be made unilaterally, by him, as it should be. That doesn’t mean he won’t listen to counsel from HC Jeff Hafley, or his scouting department, but it means there’s not going to be a vote or consensus agreement on each pick, and that GM Jon-Eric Sullivan will be making the selection after consideration of all the information given to him and his own convictions on what to do. We’ll never ever know what the hierarchy or collaboration was with GM Chris Grier, and I’m not even sure I want to know. What I do know now, however, is whn we make a pick, GM Jon-Eric Sullivan made that pick and he will be ultimately responsible for the success or failure of that selection.

I have been trying to listen and read as much as I can before this draft to get an idea of what we might be doing in this draft. I think we all agree we need to build the foundation of this team, and in my estimation, that’s not a WR at #11. Some interesting points I heard just this morning were Chiefs GM Brett Veach believes there will be a lot of trades in this draft, especially in RD1. The other was Ravens GM Eric DeCosta stated that most NFL teams probably have only about 15 players with true 1st RD grades which also indicates that teams would rather trade back and have a few more “lottery picks”, or chances to find players rather than make a selection of a player who doesn’t really carry a 1st RD grade. Of course that would be difficult if all GM’s felt the same way, so I guess we’ll have to see what happens there.

Miami Dolphins RB De’Von Achane showed up to workouts which was a good sign for both parties and Sully stated that negotiations are going well towards getting a deal done. The parameters are out there because the Bills signed RB James Cook to a 4YR/$46M contract with just shy of $29M guaranteed. I know some of you hate Mike Florio, but count me as one who does not. This morning on the Joe Rose Show where he’s a guest every week in the 9:00AM hour, he discussed with Joe Rose the De’Von Achane situation. He’s absolutely NOT wrong when he says Achane is one of the handful of NFL players that you just can’t trade. His take is that any team that had any interest in De’Von Achane already made their offers and Sully didn’t like the value of any of them to this point. He brought up a potential scenario where say the Titans are expecting Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love to be there at #4, but a team trades up to #3 where the Arizona Cardinals pick and take Jeremiyah Love, would the Titans then potentially pick up the phone and call Jon-Eric Sullivan to see what it would cost to get de’Von Achane? Certainly possible, which is why the concept that any player isn’t tradable is foolish.

I still remain firm in my belief that O-line is the priority and we should be diligent in making sure we get one as soon as possible. Universally, Francis Mauigoa, Vega Ioane, Spencer Fano and even Monroe Freeling are probably in the conversation. Supposedly, we’re looking for O-line flexibilty, guys who can play multiple positions and be excellent at doing so. These three players can play either inside or outside and Spencer Fano has actually played every single spot on the O-line well. If that concept is true, it’s more likely that one of our first 2 picks in RD1, should we stay where we are will be an OL. There are some guys who project as OG only like Vega Ioane but he is supposedly the safest pick on the O-line, he should be a dominant OG right from the get-go. Other OG only guys are Chase Bisontis, Keylan Rutledge and Gennings Dunker. One or two of these guys might still go RD 1, but are more likely to go RD 2, unless of course a run on O-Line happens and then more will go and the chance for a trade back at #30 for us increases, especially if we took an OL at #11, but you can see the danger of not doing that though. I don’t think we’re going to trade up in any of the early rounds, I think it’s clear we want “more”, not “less”.

Once we have our OL, you can flip a coin on CB, EDGE and WR. We do need to help QB Malik Willis get this offense going, and I believe getting the O-line to a solid level would be an excellent start. We could certainly use a good pass catcher, and that could be a WR or TE. We don’t have a lot of quality at either spot right now with WR’s Atwell, Tolbert, Washington, Wease, Washington and Marshall. At TE, the dropoff is even worse after Dulcich with Conyers, Turner, Cole and Kuntz. We also need Safety help, so that will be a priority like EDGE, WR and CB, after we bring in at least one OL. With those 4 3rd RD picks, I expect WR, S and TE will be addressed even if we took one player already. You can see all the holes we have, so getting more picks would be a good thing. Building through the draft is the best way, you take players you like and mold and them and turn them into the foundation of the team at a fair price. You pay foolishly in free agency, either way, to get someone else’s players or keep your own. The idea is to sign your own if you like before they hit free agency where the price dramatically increases. We need to find multiple starters in this draft, and then again next year in order to turn around this roster from being subpar to better than average. This is where we’ll be either getting it done or failing at getting it done. This is the first test for Sully and Haf and it’s a big one. I feel very good about their chances of success! CHEERS!

GO DOLPHINS!!!