Dolphins' low-risk, high-upside bet at tight end already offers more appeal than at least one risk they're taking on the 53-man roster

Dulcich was the 80th overall draft selection in the 2022 NFL Draft out of UCLA. He passed through the NFL Combine at 6-foot-4, 243 pounds and a nearly 81" wingspan, offering standard NFL size at tight end with a promising athletic profile. Dulcich isn't an in-line mauler but he's athletic and fluid enough to play how Mike McDaniel likes to use his tight ends — weapons in space as both blockers and receivers.

That was the biggest barrier to success for Brown, who Miami released early amid their 53-man roster cuts. He spent the duration of his preseason work trying to pick up Miami's motions and shifts while struggling with the fluidity of it all. His ability to execute blocks in space and detached from the core was limited.

Dulcich, based off of his preseason tape with the Giants in 2025, should be a much more attractive fit. He's entering the season behind the 8-ball because Miami's menu of assignments for the position are complex. There's a lot of bandwidth required to grasp the shift and motion assignments. And it's also fair to point out that Dulcich is now on his third team in the last 12 months. Denver carried him as a healthy scratch under Sean Payton last year for the first half of the season before the New York Giants picked him up off the waiver wire. The former third-round pick lost almost all of his 2023 season due to hamstring issues, as well.

But Dulcich is a hands catcher with good athleticism and comfortability operating in space. He is, in my opinion, a better long-term bet to place than Tanner Conner at this stage of the game. Dulcich, who posted 33 receptions for 411 yards and two scores as a rookie in 2022, has been apart of a coaching change in Denver after his rookie season, a mid-season cut in 2024 and then lost a tight end battle this summer to a number of names the regime in New York drafted over him and preceded him on the roster.

Tanner Conner has been a steady presence as a pet project of Mike McDaniel since 2022. Conner is 27 years old, two years older than Dulcich. And despite all of this time on task in the system, he has three career receptions for 16 yards and dropped a ball in his most recent appearance against Jacksonville in the preseason — to go along with several poor blocking attempts that created chaos at the point of attack. Replacing Conner with Dulcich is a move I'd support today if the Dolphins chose to do it. It appears as though they'd prefer to let Dulcich earn in on the field with a late start in camp.

Let's see if he's up to the task. I have my hopes.

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