Revisiting the 2020 First Round on Five-Year Anniversary

As we look back on how the Miami Dolphins arrived at this point from the start of their rebuilding project that began in 2019, the single-most important day unequivocally came exactly five years ago Wednesday.

April 23, 2020.

That was the first night of an unusual NFL draft that was conducted remotely because of safety measures put in place in response to COVID-19, and it was a draft that offered a great opportunity to build a new foundation with the Dolphins having three first-round picks for the first time in franchise history.

Five years later, it's impossible to not look at that night as a pretty big disappointment — even if two of the three first-round picks from that night became starters for Miami.

For those not familiar — and every true Dolphins fan probably knows this by heart — the Dolphins entered the draft with the fifth, 18th and 26th overall selection. The fifth was the Dolphins' own after their 5-11 finish in 2019 in Brian Flores' first year as head coach; the 18th came from the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in a September 2019 trade; and the 26th came from the Houston Texans as part of the very fruitful Laremy Tunsil trade.

The Dolphins then moved the 26th pick to the Green Bay Packers' 30th overall selection for a fourth-round pick, allowed the Packers to take quarterback Jordan Love.

In the meantime, Miami selected Tua Tagovailoa at number 5, tackle Austin Jackson at number 18 and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene at number 30.

The Dolphins took Tagovailoa after the first four picks went like this: QB Joe Burrow to Cincinnati at 1, DE Chase Young to Washington at 2, CB Jeff Okudah to Detroit at 3, T Andrew Thomas to the New York Giants at 4.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

As we've written before, it's impossible to call the selection of Tagovailoa a "miss" because there's been way too much production from the Alabama quarterback, including leading the NFL in passer rating in 2022 and leading the NFL in passing yards in 2023 when he was named the AFC starting quarterback for the Pro Bowl.

But it's also impossible to call the selection a "hit" because Tagovailoa has missed four starts or more because of injuries in three of his five NFL seasons, unfortunately validating the durability concerns he brought into the NFL.

And it's fair to wonder whether the Dolphins picked the right quarterback in that spot because Justin Herbert has missed four starts because of injuries in his entire career and he's been selected Chargers MVP four of his five NFL seasons.

Herbert almost invariably comes ahead of Tagovailoa in QB rankings and, for those who prefer numbers, the Chargers QB comes out way ahead in Pro Football Reference's Weighted Career Approximate Value with a score of 64 to Tua's 45. In fact, Herbert's score is second among all players from the 2020 draft, behind only the 69 for another quarterback — not first overall pick, but rather Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, who was selected in the second round.

This was the line that stood out from Tagovailoa's NFL.com draft profile: "Teams assessing his draft value will need to sift through mounting durability concerns and decide whether he is a 'face of the franchise' talent without the abundance of talent surrounding him."

Still, it's hard to overly criticize the pick of a quarterback who has been the team's best at the position since Dan Marino retired in the spring of 2000.

But the other two picks really fell short.

And this is not meant to disparage Jackson, who has become a serviceable starting right tackle.

But that happened after two seasons of up-and-down play and a 2022 season that was almost a wash because of a pair of ankle injuries. And then was another injury-shortened season in 2024, meaning the Dolphins have gotten one quality full season out of Jackson in five years.

So now there should be durability concerns with him as well.

Making this worse, it's impossible to not see that 2020 first round and notice that the Minnesota Vikings got wide receiver Justin Jefferson four picks later, at number 22. And it's not like the Dolphins couldn't have used a wide receiver, considering they selected Jaylen Waddle sixth overall the following year.

This was from his NFL.com draft profile: "He's scheme-diverse with potential guard flexibility if he improves his strength. He could become an early starter but may offer a wider split between floor and ceiling than some teams might like."

And then there's Noah Igbinoghene, who is still in the NFL and headed for a sixth season, but now on his third team.

Igbinoghene was considered a reach as a first-round pick by most draft analysts, and what made the pick more disappointing in retrospect is that the Dolphins had their choice at the time of any running back prospect in the draft, including Jonathan Taylor. They also could have gone the wide receiver route again, this time with Tee Higgins or even Michael Pittman Jr.

This was from his NFL.com draft profile: "Stocky but explosive receiver-turned-cornerback whose play generates both intrigue and concern. ... Improvement is likely with more experience and technique, but playing with downfield poise is not guaranteed."

WHAT THE DOLPHINS SAID THAT NIGHT

Here's a sample of what GM Chris Grier and Flores said after the first round of that 2020 draft on April 23, 2020:

Flores on why the Dolphins chose Tagovailoa at number 5: “I would say just going through our process. Obviously, we have a criteria at every position. So the same with Tua, the same with Austin Jackson, same with Noah. We’re happy with all three selections, comfortable with all three guys. But specific to the quarterback, there were a lot of good players at the position. We talked about every one of them. We did our homework on every one of them. We’ve been in Zoom meetings for multiple days, multiple weeks. At the end of the day, we felt like that was the best choice for the Miami Dolphins.”

Flores on selecting Igbinoghene: “That’s something that Chris and I, we’ve always been on the same page as far as never having enough corners in this league. With the receivers – the receivers coming off the board today, there were a lot of good ones. So you’ve got to defend those guys. We feel good about all of the corners we have on our roster and we felt like we had an opportunity to add one, another good one, and that played a role in the decision.”

Grier on reports the Dolphins tried to swing a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals for the first overall pick and the chance to select QB Joe Burrow: “Like I said, we made our calls to everyone. Yes, we spoke (to Cincinnati) to see if they were interested. So yes, we talked to everyone – every team in the league. It was no different. Every team makes those calls so yes, we reached out. Again, the decision to take Tua ... Justin is a really good player. We enjoyed getting to know him as well. At the end of the day, we made our decision. We liked both players a lot but we thought Tua was the guy for us.”

More Miami Dolphins Coverage: