Dolphins rookie GM displays confident mindset ahead of 2026 NFL draft

The 2026 NFL Draft is less than a week away, and the Miami Dolphins have a rookie general manager running their war room in Jon-Eric Sullivan. Although this is his first go at being the head executive in the room, his 20 years with the Green Bay Packers organization give him an excellent prerequisite to handle the task at hand.

Sullivan has had a great mentor to learn from in Brian Gutekunst, who has been the Packers' general manager since 2018 and with the organization since 1999. Sullivan started his run in Green Bay in 2004 as a football operations assistant while Gutekunst was in the middle of his scout role.

Gutekunst served as director of college scouting from 2012-2015, and then the precursor to taking over as general manager was serving as director of player personnel from 2016-2017. Sullivan has mirrored that career path, becoming director of college scouting in 2016, then being promoted to co-director of player personnel in 2018, and finally to vice president of player personnel in 2022.

Now in Miami, Sullivan is taking the reins of a front office and made it very clear in a recent press conference who the boss is when it comes to making selections in this draft process. He told reporters confidently, “It's my call.”

Sullivan has been rather open and transparent in his meetings with South Florida reporters and has given some indication as to how he intends to rebuild a roster, which has been essentially torn down and, in his words, has already gotten “younger and cheaper.”

When trying to jump into his mindset on how he will lean in his selections, Sullivan has indicated a traditional ideology.

"We'll build this from the inside out... we've seen teams that go about it maybe in a questionable way and you get a really good player at quarterback, but he can't stay healthy because he's getting killed," Sullivan said.

This leads many to believe that their first priority could be offensive or defensive linemen early with those two first-round picks. However, with Miami having needs all over the field, he hasn't ruled anything out.

"Where you have holes is obvious, but we're always going to be a best-player-available approach," Sullivan explained.

In terms of whether or not to move up or down the board in trades, he told reporters he won't pass on premium talent simply for extra picks.

"We’re in this thing to draft good football players, that’s what wins games; good football players,” Sullivan said before couching that sentiment a bit. "If the board is sitting right, it becomes a numbers game, alright. If somebody offers something, you look up there, and you go, ‘Hey I know I can get, there’s five players left up there at equal value, and I only have to go back three spots. It’s a conversation....' I’m not going to pass on players and take a significant dip on value of the player to get a pick, if that makes sense to you.”

When looking at specific qualities in a player, there are some buzzwords and phrases he threw around as well. While the character of a prospect is a major factor, versatility, size, and physicality are major traits as well that he will focus on. One of his most popular quotes since becoming Miami’s general manager has been, “Fast gets slow...but big doesn't get small."

Sullivan also indicated what can be viewed as a bit of caution in his picks, stating that if there are character or major injury red flags, he said he flips the player tag upside down on the Dolphins’ board.

"I worked in Green Bay with a guy that used to say - be careful about trying to hit the home run and make sure you just hit the double off the wall," Sullivan said as he described what he's taking from his previous roles.

While the quotes have given fans optimism, there is a huge sense of confidence in Sullivan.

"I have no doubt we will get where we need to go... I have tremendous faith in our process, in the people that carry out the process, and we'll get there," Sullivan said.

Soon enough, we'll find out his approach in his inaugural selection process, where he's the major man in the room, and building a team from the ground up in his image and strategy.

The 2026 NFL draft kicks off on Thursday, April 23, with Miami having two picks (Nos. 11 and 30) on Day 1. They have a total of 11 selections at the moment, with seven being in the top 94.

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This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: 2026 NFL draft: Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan is confident in his work