Terron, X and the Two-Year Theory

The Miami Dolphins aren’t strictly looking at their current roster when making draft decisions

Terron Armstead / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

While the Miami Dolphins favor the BPA (best player available) approach over going for need in the 2024 NFL draft, there will be another factor at work.

Call it the two-year theory, if you will.

What that means for General Manager Chris Grier and the Dolphins organization is making decisions based not only on what the roster looks right now but also what it’s likely to look like in 2025.

That approach just might lead to the selection of an offensive tackle in an early round next week, just like it likely played a not-insignificant role in the decision to draft Cam Smith in Round 2 last year.

THE TERRON ARMSTEAD SITUATION

The Dolphins are pretty set at offensive tackle for the upcoming season after veteran Kendall Lamm re-signed to return as the backup to Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson.

But Lamm already has said this will be his last season and more importantly the same could wind up being true for Armstead after he said this offseason he’s contemplated retirement for a few years now.

So maybe, just maybe, the Dolphins will be inclined to get their left tackle of the future in this draft if they find somebody to their liking in one of the first two rounds, particulary if that prospect could help out at guard as a rookie — the way Laremy Tunsil did as a rookie first-round pick in 2016 when the Dolphins still had veteran Branden Albert as their starting left tackle.

Maybe that player ends up being J.C. Latham or Graham Barton or Troy Fautanu if the Dolphins want to go that route.

“I think you’re always looking at your roster," Grier said. "You’re always trying to take a two-year look into the future, what it could be. We always knew that (retirement) possibility could be with him. We’re very respectful of his time and to his credit, he is an incredible communicator. I’ve gotten to know him over the last couple years – he is a fantastic person. So I’m very glad he is coming back, because he has impacted that room so much with those young guys and helped Austin and all those guys grow and Liam (Eichenberg), so having him back is important. But you always look at every position when you kind of go through it and try and look and try and anticipate what some of the issues could be in the future.”

THE XAVIEN HOWARD EXAMPLE

Going into the 2023 draft, cornerback certainly wasn’t at the top of the priority list for the Dolphins after they had acquired former All-Pro Jalen Ramsey in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams to team up with four-time Pro Bowl selection Xavien Howard.

But the Dolphins obviously were aware of Howard’s contract situation, which featured a large cap savings this year if they were to move on from him.

As it turned out, Smith got the fewest snaps from scrimmage of any second-round pick in the NFL in 2024 and that was very disappointing, but this clearly was a pick made with the future — a future without Howard — in mind.

And while Smith not contributing as a rookie was a letdown for a team that ended up going through a lot of cornerbacks, the real payoff for this pick will come when (if?) Smith becomes an eventual successor to Howard at cornerback.

It's the same line of thinking that applies with Armstead.