The NFL Draft will take place at Lambeau Field this week, beginning with the first round on Thursday, April 24, and concluding on Saturday, April 26. Even with the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers in the middle of respective playoff runs, the reality is Miami is, and always will be, a football town. Thus, when big Dolphins things happen, South Florida drops everything and tunes in.
The good news? The Dolphins head into this year's draft armed with more picks than usual: ten in total, their largest haul in years. The bad news? Even double that number might not be enough to patch all the holes on a roster that enters the draft with more needs than answers.
For a franchise known for racking up offseason wins, the Dolphins enter this year's NFL Draft looking like they're already trailing 27-3. These next few days feel like a pivotal moment: a make-or-break stretch that could define the team's direction for the rest of the decade. Let's break down what's at stake.
International Fan of the Year Armando Basurto raises his fist after naming a pick by the Miami Dolphins during round four of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images
The Picks: Quantity Over Quality
Miami has ten picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. That sounds great, but the devil is in the details — specifically, where those picks reside. According to Sharp Football Draft Value, the Dolphins have the 13th-highest draft capital, with a "draft value" 8 percent above the league average of all 32 teams.Moreover, the Dolphins have a standard-issue single selection in each of the first three rounds. So if Chris Grier is going to use the draft to plug his biggest holes, he'll mostly have to do so on Days 2 and 3.
Here's where the Dolphins are set to select in each round of this year's draft:
- Round 1: 13th overall
- Round 2: 48th overall
- Round 3: 98th overall
- Round 4: 116th overall
- Round 4: 135th overall
- Round 5: 150th overall
- Round 5: 155th overall
- Round 7: 224th overall
- Round 7: 231st overall
- Round 7: 253rd overall
Jalen Ramsey, we hardly knew ye.
Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images
Top Needs: Almost Everything
As alluded to above, the Dolphins have many, many, targets to hit in this draft. Realistically speaking, it would be easier to talk about what the Dolphins don't need than what they do need. (Not great!) You could even say the Dolphins — a team with a quarterback who just signed a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension, and a backup quarterback who was the No. 2 selection in the 2021 Draft— could use a quarterback.Yeah, it isn't good! But it's also April. The season is five months away, and between the draft and clearance-bin free agency signings, the Dolphins may well enter the season with a roster much better than what they currently have.
Fat Guys: Offensive Line
Stop me if you have heard this before: The Miami Dolphins need an offensive lineman. Four of them, even! James Daniels fills one interior OL spot, but the Dolphins still lack a starting-caliber player on the other side of the center. This is the Dolphins' most significant need because Mike McDaniel is an offensive-minded coach: For his innovative ideas to come to fruition, he needs to protect Tua.
Translation: More fat guys needed. Apply within.
Fat Guys: Defensive Line
Christian Wilkins' departure left a massive void up front that Calais Campbell's arrival masked for a season. Campbell is gone now, choosing to end his career with the team with which it began, the Cardinals. Miami has plenty of options on the edge, but the team badly needs run-stuffers up the middle.
Expect Miami to grab at least two fat guys on the defensive side of the ball.
Breaking News Need: Cornerback
Jalen Ramsey is on his way out, after he and the team mutually agreed to seek a trade. Couple that with Miami's release of Kendall Fuller, leaving them with [checks notes] zero starting-caliber NFL cornerbacks. Their current best option is a guy named Storm Duck.
They might be best to select five cornerbacks in this draft and have a competition in camp to see who can step in and save this position.
Nice-to-Have Need: Safety
Jevon Holland left the Dolphins for the New York Giants this offseason. Ifeatu Melifonwu and Ashtyn Davis arrived in Miami with free agency but are unreliable options as full-time starters. This feels like a position where Miami can scoop up a mid-round starter now and a veteran later and be just fine — provided they fill the rest of the holes.
Outward bound? Tyreek Hill, controversial man of mystery
Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images
Draft Day Drama
As the legendary boxer Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." The Dolphins might have a plan that falls apart owing to outside forces, and this preview is set to self-destruct if the Dolphins trade Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill for additional assets in this draft or the next.Since 2020, the Dolphins' GM has executed nearly a dozen draft-day trades, many to move up for specific targets. Some paid off — Jaylen Waddle, for instance — while others, like Noah Igbinoghene and Liam Eichenberg, make us cringe.
Those moves pale compared to how trading the Dolphins' best players on each side of the ball would affect the team before and after the draft. Owing to their contracts, it's unlikely anything but a mid-round pick and more holes to fill would result from either of them being traded.
In summary, the biggest news for the Dolphins from this year's NFL Draft might wind up being who they choose to trade, not who they choose in the draft.
