Examining the Dolphins Picks Versus the 'Big Board'

The 2026 NFL draft has been over for a few days, and there's been an awful lot of conversation since about the ever-popular "consensus big board."

Make no mistake, teams don't make their picks based on those boards, which are produced by analyzing the rankings of various national draft analysts, because they have their own big board.

But, right or wrong, those "big boards" wind up being used by the media to evaluate how teams fared in their draft because instant grades often depend upon getting what is perceived to be good value for picks, meaning getting a player later in the draft than he was projected to be selected.

The Miami Dolphins, for example, got five draft selections that will be considered as "steals" based on a consensus big board put together by The Athletic that aggregated the rankings of well-known analysts Daniel Jeremiah, Mel Kiper Jr., Dane Brugler, Todd McShay, Jordan Reid and Lance Zierlein of NFL.com, along with those from Pro Football Focus, ESPN, Yahoo and The Athletic itself.

Some universal truths about the aftermath of every draft is that GMs will pronounce themselves happy with all their picks, media analysts will criticize some of the selections, and nobody knows for sure because there will be hits and misses — just like there are in every single, solitary draft.

As they should, GMs and other executives worry about their own big boards instead of what media analysts think, and this became a big topic this week with Jacksonville Jaguars executive (and former great tackle) Tony Boselli taking a shot during a radio interview: "Why do we spend 11 months preparing for the draft? Why do we watch 1000+ college football games? Why do we do any of it? Because obviously the consensus guys in their basements have all the answers ”

Of course not ... because nobody has all the answers.

What the consensus big boards do is provide fans and media alike a starting point to figure out the prospects of a draft selection succeeding in the NFL because, let's face it, it's not like an NFL team is going to make its draft board public.

Besides, consensus big boards stimulate some good conversation.

So what did the consensus big board from The Athletic say about the Dolphins draft?

THE DOLPHINS PICKS ON THE CONSENSUS BIG BOARD

The biggest of the Dolphins' four consensus big board steals was linebacker Kyle Louis, who had been ranked as the 64th overall player and was selected at 138 instead.

Conversely, the biggest reaches were third-round picks Caleb Douglas and Will Kacmarek, again based on the consensus big board.

Here's the full breakdown (bold and italics indicates player who would qualify as "steals" based on the consensus big board):

Round 1, T Kadyn Proctor — Picked 12th overall, consensus ranking 21st, range of rankings 13-34

Round 1, CB Chris Johnson — Picked 27th overall, consensus ranking 33rd overall, range of rankings 19-46

Round 2, LB Jacob Rodriguez — Picked 43rd overall, consensus ranking 39th, range of rankings 35-65

Round 3, WR Caleb Douglas — Picked 75th overall, consensus ranking 183rd, range of rankings 126-285

Round 3, TE Will Kacmarek — Picked 87th overall, consensus ranking 192nd, range of rankings 111-383

Round 3, WR Chris Bell — Picked 94th overall, consensus ranking 59th, range of rankings 44-77

Round 4, EDGE Trey Moore — Picked 130th overall, consensus ranking 161st, range of rankings 115-204

Round 4, LB Kyle Louis — Picked 138th overall, consensus ranking of 64th, range of rankings 50-89

Round 5, S Michael Taaffe — Picked 151st overall, consensus ranking of 180th, range of rankings 153-278

Round 5, WR Kevin Coleman Jr. — Picked 177th overall, consensus ranking, 153rd, range of rankings 138-192

Round 5, TE Seydou Traore — Picked 180th overall, consensus ranking 265th, range of rankings 254-333

Round 6, G DJ Campbell — Picked 200th overall, consensus ranking 205th, range of rankings 173-266

Round 7, EDGE Max Llewellyn — Picked 238th overall, consensus ranking 194th, range of rankings 108-284