Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald is reporting that Chris Grier and the Dolphins had 8 offers total in Rounds 1 and 2 to Trade Back, but decided not to and just sit tight in both rounds and select the player they liked.
According to the Miami Herald article, “Grier said he had conversations about moving up and had “a bunch of offers for our pick. A couple were enticing but not enough to move” and “not take Patrick.”
We don’t know what the offers were; they could have been low-ball offers that Miami would never consider, but on the other hand, maybe one or two of them were decent enough to have been worthwhile and should have been done. We will never know how close Grier and Miami were to trading down in either round. This is more of just an interesting tidbit than anything.
Miami entered this weekend’s draft with many needs and holes to fill on this roster. Some of the needs were immediate, like a starting defensive lineman, a starting edge rusher, a right guard, wide receiver depth, and a third safety. Other needs were more long-term in nature, such as a left tackle to take over for Terron Armstead a year from now.
In round 1, Grier and Miami decided to take the best player left on the board at Pick 21 in the eyes of most draft analysts, Chop Robinson. This did fill an immediate need for an edge rusher as we wait to find out when Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips will return to the field in 2024.
In Round 2, though, Grier made a pick that will not pay dividends in 2024 and is more of a long-term play when they selected offensive tackle Patrick Paul out of Houston. A fine young man with great traits for an offensive lineman, but a developmental player, according to many analysts.
It just added fuel to the fire that the 2024 season is a “pause season” or a “transition season” and that Miami truly isn’t all in to win it in 2024. Miami is taking a long-game approach this offseason, with a vision for 2025 rather than 2024.
We will see if it ultimately pans out for them, but Miami didn’t feel the need to trade down in rounds 1 or 2 per this report, and it seems like they are content with a third consecutive season of having a modest draft class and not a draft class of quantity.
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