Miami Dolphins Final 2026 NFL Draft Grades: Did Miami walk the walk after talking the talk this winter?

Round 2, No. 43: LBJacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech Red Raiders*“The toughness and the kind of attitude and competitive atmosphere that (Jeff Hafley) will bring to this football team will speak for itself as we move down the road.”* – Jon-Eric Sullivan, 1/22/26

Rodriguez is an exceptional competitor. He’s tough, has played through injury, and offers a relentless and tireless motor as a player. What’s more, his addition with a top-50 pick embodies the competitive atmosphere that Sullivan was referring. The Dolphins have Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson back from 2025 as incumbent starters amid plenty of needs. The Dolphins didn’t care.

Round 3, No. 75: WR Caleb Douglas, Texas Tech Red Raiders“To say we're going to have a (wide receiver) room of 5’9″ guys would be a lie.” - Jon-Eric Sullivan, the NFL Combine

Douglas was likely the most polarizing of Miami’s selections, in part because the wide receiver board fell favorably with several popular projected options for the Dolphins still on the board at this pick. Miami went against public opinion. But Douglas is 6-foot-3 and a half, 206 pounds, runs a sub-4.4s 40-yard dash. His most direct comparable athletic profile? Former Packers draft selection Marquez Valdes-Scantling; so one can see why Sullivan had the vision.

Round 3, No. 87: TE Will Kacmarek, Ohio State Buckeyes*“We’re going to run the shit out of the ball!” - Kadyn Proctor*, 4/23/26

Am I taking liberties here to pull the Proctor quote? Yes. Do I care? No. And neither should you. This team wants to win the line of scrimmage and they want to run the ball. Kacmarek is a bulldozer as a ‘Y’ blocker. His presence as a blocker on the edge is going to give the Dolphins an impactful presence they haven’t had there in years. Probably since Anthony Fasano.

Round 3, No. 94: WR Chris Bell, Louisville Cardinals*“We need to build it around the quarterback, and you have to surround that quarterback with weapons – the o-line, the wideouts, the backs so it’s not all him. Because do I like being under center and do I like running the football because the play (action) pass off that, you create separation between the second and third level and from a defensive standpoint, that’s really hard. The screen game, the keepers, everything looking the same, hunting explosives.”* – Jeff Hafley, 1/22/26

Chris Bell is a “long-term investment” in Miami as he rehabs a knee injury. But he’s the kind of receiver that Louisville would scheme targets to and let him go to work. He’s a skill player to build around QB Malik Willis. He’s someone who can create explosive plays with and attack that middle of the field on play action passes.

Round 4, No. 130: EDGE Trey Moore, Texas Longhorns*“I like them all. I think having variation is so important. You might say we’re going to be a 4-3 defense, which we’ll base out of 4-3, but I like to get in the 4-3 structures and 3-4 structures all out of the same personnel groupings so I’m not subbing and you’re saying, ‘No, now he’s in 3-4. Subbing back, now they’re in 4-3.' I think front variation is huge and having the ability to be multiple.”* - Jeff Hafley, NFL Combine

Moore is going to give the Dolphins some of that flexibility to toggle between odd and even spacing. He dabbled with off-ball assignments at Texas but has 30 career sacks in college as a hybrid/rush player. Moore could line up and rush from off-ball alignments, as well. Hafley gets a toy that could allow for some of that variation.

Round 4, No. 138: LB Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh Panthers*“When you look at an off-the-ball backer, how does he play in space? How does he react to the run? But then is he a guy that you can match up one on one with the backs…”* - Jeff Hafley, NFL Combine

Louis is a unique talent. His skill set was pretty much outlined by Hafley at the Combine, too. He’s a space defender and hybrid player who thrives in coverage and is aggressive to trigger against the run. He’s a little lean for a traditional off-ball backer, but he’s a passing down space weapon for Hafley’s back seven.

Round 5, No. 158: SAF Michael Taaffe, Texas Longhorns*“With regards to like the dynamic kickoff and those types of things, obviously you’re seeing a lot of returns which is fun, you’re seeing a lot of covered kicks. I think last year where I was at, we ended up covering over 100 kickoffs. That’s a lot of opportunities for guys to play and a lot of opportunities for the opponent to get big plays. I do think it’s growing and gaining more attention."* - Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, 2/4/26

Nearly 850 career special teams snaps for Taaffe, a former walk-on, tells you all you need to know. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get on the field. The recent rule changes on kickoff are putting more of an emphasis on those who can block and cover/tackle kicks.

Round 5, No. 177: WR Kevin Coleman Jr., Missouri Tigers
“The toughness and the kind of attitude and competitive atmosphere that (Jeff Hafley) will bring to this football team will speak for itself as we move down the road.” – Jon-Eric Sullivan, 1/22/26

Bump…this is the only time I’ll use the same quote twice. The most promising young player in the Dolphins’ wide receiver room entering this offseason was third-year pass catcher Malik Washington - and Miami promptly drafted another primary slot with return ability. Game on.

Round 5, No. 180: TE Seydou Traore, Mississippi State Bulldogs*“I think it obviously starts with the quarterback. I think that’s universal, then I would say probably the ability to affect the quarterback and the ability to protect the quarterback, specifically to offensive tackle. Then I would think it probably is your playmakers and the guys that can take the playmakers out of the game.”* - Jon-Eric Sullivan, 4/15/26

Traore is an athletic receiving tight end with the ability to be a playmaker if the team successfully develops him. Despite drafting an in-line tight end in Kacmarek earlier, the Dolphins double-dipped. Only this was with a potential boom at the position in the fifth-round.

Round 6, No. 200: OG DJ Campbell, Texas Longhorns*“Believe in running the ball, believe strongly in running the ball. I think most of the successful teams in the NFL these days run the ball really well at a high clip and really build it from there.* You got to win in the trenches. I like keeping the defense off balance, it's probably my No. 1 thing as far as what I look for as a play caller.” - OC Bobby Slowik, 2/4/26

The power of Campbell helps give Miami some more youth and depth on the offensive interior. The guard spot has been a nuclear-level issue the last two seasons for the Dolphins. Both Proctor and Campbell are phone booth maulers who can help Slowik (and Hafley) realize their vision for the trench play.

Round 7, No. 238: EDGE Max Llewellyn, Iowa Hawkeyes*“The edge rusher position right now, we need to fill that room up. There’s not many left on the roster right now, so not many to evaluate so we have to obviously add some depth there.”* – Jeff Hafley, NFL Combine

Now, this was obviously before free agency. And Miami signed David Ojabo, Robert Beal, and Joshua Uche to the edge rusher room. Still, getting a late double-dip with a heavier defensive end is a nice final bullet point to the draft. Llewellyn will have a chance to make this team as the base end.

Grading The Miami Dolphins 2026 NFL Draft

So as I grade this NFL Draft class, I don’t ask “how good are these players going to be?”. In reality, they’ll all prove themselves on either end of the spectrum on that front in due time. Instead, I ask myself how much their selections align with their words from the past three months. And the answer there is “a lot”!

If we are nitpicking, I would say that the missing element this year was a swing on a quarterback. Sullivan mentioned several times that the team wants to invest at that position often. It just wasn’t in the cards for this weekend, it seems.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Oct 5, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego State Aztecs cornerback Chris Johnson (1) warms up against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors before the game at Snapdragon Stadium.

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