Dolphins' Best UDFA Pick-Ups

The Miami Dolphins have gotten a lot of help through the years from rookie free agents, so pay attention even after the 2023 NFL draft concludes

That the Miami Dolphins have only four selections in the 2023 NFL draft certainly is less than ideal, but one mitigating factor is their ability to find impressive rookie free agents.

We saw it again last year with cornerback Kader Kohou, whose emergence after he arrived from Division II Texas A&M-Commerce was huge for a defense that played the whole season without one-time Pro Bowl selection Byron Jones.

Kohou ended up starting 13 games for the Dolphins in 2022 and his metrics show an impressive 81.7 opponent passer rating when targeted, according to Pro Football Reference. He had one pick, that coming against Aaron Rodgers in the Christmas Day game against the Green Bay Packers.

Along with Kohou, fellow rookie UDFA Verone McKinley III also started two games for Miami, extending the team's streak of having at least one rookie free agent start for the team to four years.

Before Kohou and McKinley, it was offensive lineman Robert Jones in 2021, running back Salvon Ahmed in 2020, and five different players (Preston Williams, Keaton Sutherland, Shaq Calhoun, Patrick Laird and Jonathan Ledbetter) in 2019.

In all, the Dolphins have five rookie free agents who played for them last season, with the others being tight end Tanner Conner, wide receiver Braylon Sanders and defensive lineman Ben Stille.

Bottom line: Pay attention to those players the Dolphins sign as undrafted free agents in May because chances are a handful could end up on the active roster at some point and maybe even in the starting lineup.

THE BEST UNDRAFTED PLAYERS IN DOLPHINS HISTORY

The Dolphins actually have a long history of success with undrafted players, starting with a couple of Hall of Famers who helped the team win those back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1970s.

The 33rd Team is a very impressive website, but we'll have to disagree with their take that Cameron Wake is the best undrafted player in Dolphins history.

While Wake was a tremendous player for the Dolphins — we've already pegged him as the team's player of the 2010s — he'll have to take a back seat here to Jim Langer and perhaps even more so Larry Little.

Both Langer and Little were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Little is tied for the Dolphins lead for most AP All-Pro first-team selections with five — the only player to match him was Zach Thomas — while Langer had three.

So maybe the call here is Little first, Langer second and Wake third.

One thing those three players have in common, though, is that none of them were signed as rookie free agents by the Dolphins. Little was signed by the Chargers before coming over in one of the best trades in franchise history; Langer first signed with Cleveland before being cut and joining the Dolphins; and Wake signed with the New York Giants before making his detour in the Canadian Football League before coming to Miami.

DOLPHINS UDFAs IN THE PRO BOWL

Little, Langer and Wake are among the 12 Dolphins players who have been selected to the Pro Bowl after entering the NFL as undrafted free agents, and the last time it's happened was with cornerback Brent Grimes in 2015.

The rest of the list (in alphabetical order): K Dan Carpenter, LS John Denney, ST Larry Izzo, K Olindo Mare, T Wayne Moore, DE Adewale Ogunleye, NT Brian Sochia and K Garo Yepremian.

Of all of them, the four who were signed out of college after going undrafted by the Dolphins were Carpenter, Denney, Izzo and Ogunleye.