Who Makes It To No. 55 For The Miami Dolphins Tonight?

The 1st-round is in the books and the Dolphins are scheduled to pick again at No. 55. Who makes it that deep into the round...and will Miami wait to pick or jump up the board?

The 1st-round of the 2024 NFL Draft is in the books. And for Miami Dolphins fans, it was a rollercoaster ride of a night — an incredible start with 6 quarterbacks in the first dozen picks followed by a heavy run on potential Dolphins targets to close out the top-20. The pick at No. 21 overall of Chop Robinson, the EDGE from Penn State, makes sense for the Dolphins. He’s a premium position player with elite physical ability and a pass rush floor that should allow him to be apart of Miami’s weekly rush plan in 2024 (don’t let the sack numbers fool you).

But many Dolphins fans feel somewhere between incomplete and apprehensive about the move. I, for one, have some questions about the early-down role for Robinson upon his entry into the league. The post-draft press availabilities seem to allude to a specific plan for Robinson and his usage while he continues “to work on his game” (their words, not mine). Good. They’ll need one to maximize the impact of this pick. There’s a lot of energy and focus on his pass rush production — it’s a red herring, in my opinion. I like his immediate floor as a pass rusher and he’s got ample room to grow. His pass rush win rate and pressure rate per snap taken is excellent.

I just didn’t see a three-down player for 2024. After draft classes in 2022 and 2023 that offered minimal roles on game day, a lot of Dolphins fans — myself included — wanted more with this pick. More snaps. More starts. And Robinson in a healthy pass rush room, is the EDGE4.

There’s plenty more of Chop Robinson to come in the days, weeks and months ahead here on ‘Touchdown, Miami!’. You can rest assured there.

What about the Dolphins’ next pick. You know, the one scheduled to happen tonight? Is that the place for Miami to scratch the itch of Dolphins fans seeking a day one starter for this football team?

Let’s take a look at the scheduled draft order and the remainder of the Draft board and see how things could unfold.

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The Current Draft Order

33. Buffalo Bills

34. New England Patriots

35. Arizona Cardinals

36. Washington Commanders

37. LA Chargers

38. Tennessee Titans

39. Carolina Panthers

40. Washington Commanders

41. Green Bay Packers

42. Houston Texans

43. Atlanta Falcons

44. Las Vegas Raiders

45. New Orleans Saints

46. Indianapolis Colts

47. NY Giants

48. Jacksonville Jaguars

49. Cincinnati Bengals

50. Philadelphia Eagles

51. Pittsburgh Steelers

52. LA Rams

53. Philadelphia Eagles

54. Cleveland Browns

55. Miami Dolphins

So here’s where things get interesting. Consider these teams and ask yourself where their needs may or may not overlap with the Dolphins. Miami’s braintrust as promised to go “best player available” but I assure you there’s a perfect world where this team could find a best player intersection with the team’s needs. A multitude of insider whispers have suggested Miami did indeed kick the tires on moving up from their first pick at No. 21 in addition to the Dolphins themselves openly admitting on Thursday night that they were attempting to move back into the 1st-round after selecting Robinson at No. 21.

Moving to a specific spot on the board is the best way to authentically draft best player available while directly addressing a need.

Expect Miami to have one eye on the value and the other on the needs as a result.

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Dolphins Current Needs & The Board

Miami’s most pressing needs, as we currently stand? In my opinion they are interior offensive line (guard), interior defensive line, safety and a third wide receiver. Here’s how I assess each of those individual positions after the first night of the draft is in the books.

Interior Offensive Line

1. Zach Frazier, West Virginia (2nd round grade)

2. Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon (2nd round grade)

3. Christian Haynes, Connecticut (2nd round grade)

4. Cooper Beebe, Kansas State (2nd round grade)

5. Zak Zinter, Michigan (3rd round grade)

Interior Defensive Line

1. Johnny Newton, Illinois (1st round grade*)

2. Michael Hall Jr., Ohio State (Early 2nd round grade)

3. Brandon Dorlus, Oregon (2nd round grade)

4. Ruke Orhororo, Clemson (3rd round grade)

5. T’Vondre Sweat, Texas (3rd round grade**)

Safety

1. Cooper DeJean, Iowa (1st round grade*)

2. Javon Bullard, Georgia (Early 2nd round grade)

3. Kitan Oladapo, Oregon State (2nd round grade)

4. Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Texas Tech (3rd round grade)

5. Tyler Nubin, Minnesota (3rd round grade)

Wide Receiver

1. Ladd McConkey (2nd round grade)

2. Roman Wilson, Michigan (2nd round grade)

3. Jermaine Burton, Alabama (2nd round grade**)

4. AD Mitchell, Texas Longhorns (2nd round grade*)

5. Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky (3rd round grade)

* denotes injury concern
** denotes off-field concern

In total, I have 29 prospects with 1st round (3), Early 2nd round (5) or 2nd round (21) grades left. Miami will have a chance

Now feels like as good a time as any to acknowledge that my rankings are not equal to the Dolphins. If they were, Graham Barton would have been your pick at No. 21 overall — my four best available players without injury flags were cornerbacks, followed by Barton with a Late 1st-round grade. The concerns I carried with Robinson’s early-down potential dinged him. The Dolphins coveted his long-term outlook and that presumably weighed heavier in their assessment than my grading. That’s fine. I’m generally neutral on the pick; but my own rankings would have came to a different decision.

I say this to say that you should not take these rankings as an end-all, be-all of Miami’s prospects. I would like to think the evaluation of the players is relatively in step but it isn’t a 1-for-1.

The point is this: I expect talent to be available for Miami. Not just any talent. Not just “rare physical gifts with elite upside” talent. I mean: “this guy can start for us now” talent.

But where will the talent be? And that is where I find myself coming back to the offensive line. Projected Day 2 OL still available includes a number of tackles to go along with the outlined interior OL above. I could see as many as 8 OL coming off the board in Round 2. But I don’t think the urgency for the interior OL will run the well dry there for the Dolphins and Miami has more 2nd-round talent available there (without injury or character flags) than any other position. If Miami wants their pick of the litter, they may need to be ready to be aggressive to go get a pick and ensure “best available player” is indeed an OL.

But IF the Dolphins want to upgrade an interior spot inside, they should have the chance to do it today. We’ll have to see what they decide to do. But in the meantime, here’s a 2nd-round mock draft assembled for how I could see the flow of tonight unfold.

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2024 2nd Round Mock Draft