The Miami Dolphins' issues entering the 2025 offseason were glaringly obvious and have been over the last couple of years. The Dolphins simply had to get better in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
To the credit of general manager Chris Grier, they addressed that concern head on in last month's draft. The Dolphins selected Michigan DT Kenneth Grant with the 13th overall pick and added two more defensive tackles in Jordan Phillips from Maryland in the fifth round and Zeek Biggers from Georgia Tech in the seventh.
And, of course, they traded up in the second to secure Arizona guard Jonah Savaiinaea early in the second round. Savaiinaea is all but cemented as a starting guard for the team, along with free agent signee James Daniels.
As such, Grier has taken substantial steps to make Miami a bigger and more physical team on both lines of scrimmage. However, that wasn't enough to earn much confidence from ESPN's panel of voters in their most recent power rankings after the NFL Draft. Miami fell from 17th to 20th. ESPN's Miami beat writer Marcel Louis-Jacques addressed the team's improved defensive line in the team's write up.
"By default, the Dolphins' most improved position has to be the one they addressed three times in the draft: defensive tackle. First-round pick Kenneth Grant should start in Week 1 alongside Zach Sieler, while fifth-round pick Jordan Phillips should provide rotational depth early in his career. Seventh-round pick Zeek Biggers is raw, but at 6-foot-6, 320 pounds, he is big enough to turn into a force at nose tackle. Miami's defensive line required immediate improvement entering the draft, and GM Chris Grier accomplished that." - Marcel Louis-Jacques
It's not too hard to understand why the Dolphins' stock is dropping in people's eyes. They were 8-9 last year and seemingly had no answers all year for the defensive adjustments teams made to take away their deep passing game. They countered it with a stronger short passing game that implemented a lot of screens and got new players - i.e., Jonnu Smith - involved. But this team couldn't run over anybody when they needed to, and that won't work in the NFL.
The Dolphins are also searching for two starting cornerbacks unless the team and Jalen Ramsey find a way to save their apparently unsalvageable marriage. The draft didn't appear to net them a starter, although fifth-round pick Jason Marshall, Jr. could find his way onto the 53-man roster once training camp and the preseason has come and gone.
Miami will also be counting on a number of rookies to either start or play key rotational roles this season, particularly on defense. That's not a great recipe for immediate success for obvious reasons.
Have to give Grier credit for addressing the biggest problem on the roster - getting more physical. But there still appears to be a lot of work to do - at least in the opinions of those experts in Bristol, Connecticut - before Miami will become a division contender again.
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