What Will the Dolphins 'Reset' Actually Look Like?

Chris Grier acknowledged what already should have been obvious by the Miami Dolphins' actions throughout the offseason and the summer, essentially that the organization is going through a "reset" in 2025.

This is not to be mistaken for a rebuilding, which is what happened in 2019 when the Dolphins spent the offseason saying goodbye to established veterans to both accumulate draft capital and create a very large amount of cap space.

The process in 2025 did involve moving some veterans (whether or not by choice), but the roster wasn't left barren the way it was six years ago.

The Dolphins have left themselves with enough — more than enough, actually — front-line players to be able to compete in 2025, up to and including competing for and earning a playoff spot.

Grier, the team's general manager, pointed out the biggest difference between "reset" and "rebuild" last week.

“In terms of reset, it was just talking about the money philosophy and spending and stuff, but like I told you we were always going to try to win this season," Grier said. "It’s all about winning in 2025. It was never going to be a step back."

ROOKIE OUTLOOK

After finishing the 2024 season with an 8-9 record, the Dolphins definitely don't want to take a step back and for that to happen, they're going to need major contributions from their young players, particularly their 2025 draft class.

It's why it was so encouraging to see pretty much all of them show in the summer they belonged at the NFL level at a minimum and very well could become impact players in a best-case scenario.

The Dolphins made eight selections in the 2025 NFL draft, and all eight made the 53-man roster. Per research from FOX NFL writer Greg Aumann, that's the second-most picks for a team that kept all of them behind only the Tennessee Titans' nine.

And as the regular season approaches, it's likely that two of them will be in the starting lineup with first-round pick Kenneth Grant at defensive tackle and second-round selection Jonah Savaiinaea at left guard.

Beyond those two, fifth-round pick Jason Marshall Jr. will be the slot corner and therefore will start if Miami opens in a nickel defense; sixth-round pick Ollie Gordon II should get a lot of work early with De'Von Achane sidelined late in camp by a calf injury and Jaylen Wright out until "Septemberish" with a knee injury.

Fifth-round pick Jordan Phillips also should be part of the rotation at defensive tackle, while the other three picks aren't slated for roles at the start of the season.

The last time the Dolphins were looking at their draft class having to make this kind of impact as rookies was in 2020 when the team wound up with 11 selections and eight of them made at least one start that season.

That group was QB Tua Tagovailoa, T Austin Jackson, CB Noah Igbinoghene, G/T Robert Hunt, DT Raekwon Davis, S Brandon Jones, G Solomon Kindley and WR Malcolm Perry.

Four 2021 draft picks made at least one start as rookies and they were the team's four picks in the first two rounds — Jaylen Waddle, Jaelan Phillips, Jevon Holland and Liam Eichenberg.

The Dolphins then began "going for it" with an "F them picks" approach in 2022, so that year only one rookie draft pick wound up starting a game, that being QB Skylar Thompson. In 2023, the number was zero.

The switch to a more draft-and-develop approach began last year when the Dolphins finally had a first-round pick again and four draft picks started at least one – Chop Robinson, Patrick Paul, Jaylen Wright and Malik Washington — along with undrafted cornerback Storm Duck.

But none of those players made more than three starts.

That will change this year.

The emphasis on getting younger is in full force.

That is the essence of a reset.

"At some point when we’re so aggressive spending, going to get all these big-name free agents and doing it, it’s just not sustainable that way, so there’s always a lifespan to that," Grier explained. "You’ve seen teams around the league that do it. At some point if you don’t reset fast enough, you end up in a situation where it’s not good cap-wise in terms of even releasing players and moving on. We got to the point where we felt this was the right time to do it, but still to the point we’re going to have a good roster and good players where we can win games.”

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