Dolphins Optimal Position Picks in First Three Rounds

The Miami Dolphins are in a tricky situation heading into the 2025 NFL draft. The team has glaring holes at safety, cornerback, interior defensive line, and guard, but only three top 100 picks to fill those spots.

Dolphins general manager Chris Grier believes the draft is strong at those positions, and we mostly agree with him, but finding starters at those positions is easier said than done.

Miami needs to make hard decisions about what positions it actually values, but just because the team wants to prioritize cornerback, doesn’t mean the available talent will allow it to do that.

With that in mind, let’s look at Miami’s top three picks (13, 48, 98) and see which positions are the most logical selections at each spot based on the projected available talent.

Round 1, Pick 13

Optimal Selection: Cornerback

Miami’s first-round pick is an odd part of the draft. It’s just outside the top 10, meaning they’ll likely miss out on the class’ best players, but it’s high enough that a quality player at one of its positions of need will still be on the board.

Cornerback is the most frequently mocked position for the Dolphins in Round 1. We recently mocked Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron to the team, following the Jalen Ramsey news.

However, there’s an argument that the team should approach pick 13 with a “best player available” mindset. NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah made that exact pitch during a Zoom session with reporters Friday.

“I don’t think they’re a one position, one player away in terms of having to draft a corner, and that’s the last piece of our puzzle here,” Jeremiah told reporters. “I think they can be a little bit more best player available with where they’re looking at that point in time.”

Jeremiah isn’t wrong about Miami being more than one player away. And, of course, there’s a chance a better player at another position falls, but we still believe cornerback is the most logical selection at 13.

The cornerback class has good depth, and the Dolphins could get a starter at pick 48, but the team needs a high-impact player. The drop-off between someone like Barron or Michigan’s Will Johnson to some of the tier-two cornerbacks is somewhat steep.

Shavon Revel (East Carolina) and Benjamin Morrison (Notre Dame) have plenty of talent but are coming off major injuries. Iowa State’s Darien Porter has the speed and size of an NFL starter but needs some development.

Mississippi’s Trey Amos is probably the safest bet to be a high-volume Year 1 contributor, but passing on Barron and Johnson with the idea that Amos falls is pretty risky.

This is not to say that Morrison, Revel or Porter would be bad picks at 48; they just carry a lot more risk at a position where Miami doesn’t have much room for error.

The Dolphins don’t just need one cornerback. They need two, so starting their draft with a high-value prospect at that spot makes adding another one with a complementary skill set easier. 

Jeremiah isn’t wrong to say the Dolphins should take the best player available, but it really does seem like cornerback will line up best with the board and with Miami’s needs.

Round 2, Pick 48

Optimal Selection: Defensive Tackle

Defensive tackle is the team’s other need that will require multiple additions. The Dolphins need a starter next to Zach Sieler and depth, as the only two contributors in the room are Sieler and Benito Jones.

However, the defensive tackle depth lines up much better with pick 48 than it does at pick 13. Michigan's Kenneth Grant is the only defensive tackle with the talent to warrant a top-15 selection who is expected to be available.

We like the idea of Miami selecting Grant, but only having one viable option makes it difficult to call it an optimal selection at pick 13. Plus, this is an incredibly deep defensive line class with options littered throughout Days 2 and 3.

At pick 48, the Dolphins should have plenty of options whose talent aligns better with that selection. Tyleik Williams (Ohio State), Alfred Collins (Texas), Darius Alexander (Toledo) and T.J. Sanders (South Carolina) are just a few solid options who could be available at pick 48.

All of those players would be reaches in the first round, but make a ton of sense in the middle of the second round.

Like with our strategy for taking a cornerback, picking a defensive tackle early means the Dolphins can double-dip at the position later with the idea of pairing prospects with complementary skill sets.

Round 3, Pick 98

Optimal Pick: Guard

This is by far the hardest pick to parse out. The gap between the talent projected to be available at pick 48 and pick 98 is massive. The Dolphins’ remaining needs — safety and guard — could be both out of quality prospects at this point.

It’s important to note that pick 98 is a compensatory selection, making it one of the last picks of the third round. Still, we think there’s a better chance a solid offensive guard prospect is available at this pick rather than safety.

The safety class has good players, but it’s not particularly deep. Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina) and Malaki Starks (Georgia) are projected first-rounders, but it’s pretty ambiguous after that.

Xavier Watts (Notre Dame), Andrew Mukuba (Texas), Kevin Winston Jr. (Penn State) and Billy Bowman (Oklahoma) should be drafted before pick 98 based on talent. That leaves the Dolphins with few good options at pick 98.

The class has a little bit more depth at guard. Players like Miles Frazier (LSU), Caleb Rogers (Texas Tech), Jalen Rivers (Miami) and Wyatt Milum (West Virginia) could be on the board and be serviceable Year 1 starters.

Projecting a draft 98 picks out is incredibly difficult. Offensive line is a premium position, so there’s a chance teams overdraft some of the players above, allowing players at a lower-value position, like safety, to fall.

Still, we’ll lean on the offensive line's depth to predict that it will line up better with the board for the Dolphins.

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