Why Dolphins Badly Need a Jimmy Johnson-Type Draft

The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to have 10 picks in the 2025 NFL draft and need to come up with a handful of immediate starters or significant contributors

Dolphins general manager Chris Grier discusses the upcoming draft on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. / HAL HABIB / The Palm Beach Post / USA TODAY NETWORK

This will be the most important Miami Dolphins draft in many years, maybe decades, maybe ever.

OK, this probably is too hyperbolic because EVERY single draft is very important for the long-term success not only of the Dolphins but every franchise around the NFL.

But the Dolphins indeed might need to hit on their draft picks more this year than in recent years because of the state of the roster, which has gotten too top-heavy and too thin.

Fortunately for the Dolphins, they will have the luxury of a pretty big draft class, thanks to the three compensatory picks they got as a result of losing quality players (which hurt the depth in the first place) last offseason.

The Dolphins currently are scheduled to have 10 picks in the 2025 draft, the sixth time they have had double-digit selections since the draft went to its current seven rounds in 1993.

The Dolphins had 10 or more picks most recently in 2020, and before that in 1996 (12), 1997 (14), 1998 (10) — Jimmy Johnson's first three years as Dolphisn head coach — and finally in 2007.

The only way this Dolphins draft haul could be better is if it included more premium picks because they currently have only three of the first 115 selections and only two of the first 97.

By contrast, the Dolphins had five picks in the first two rounds (top 64) in 2020 and five of the top 82 picks in 1998.

It's all great and dandy to have all those picks, but the key is maximizing them.

For the Dolphins that should mean finding at least three, if not four, immediate starters or significant contributors.

The last time the Dolphins had one of those drafts was 2021 when they selected Jaylen Waddle, Jaelan Phillips, Jevon Holland and — yes, we'll include him because he started double-digit games as a rookie — Liam Eichenberg.

The Dolphins also did it— to a lesser extent — in 2020 with Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt and Raekwon Davis all starting double-digit games as rookies and Tua Tagovailoa starting nine of the final 10 games.

As we chronicled this week, though, the Dolphins actually needed more than what they got in those 2020 and 2021 drafts because they weren't supplementing an established roster then but rather building one almost from scratch.

The mandate isn't quite as significant this year, but what the Dolphins can't have are early selections who have to sit on the shelf for a year or two — unless the plan is to focus on 2026, which it shouldn't be when the roster carries big-ticket players like Tyreek Hill, Jalen Ramsey and Tagovailoa.

So which double-digit-pick draft would look like something the Dolphins could use this year?

We've already addressed the 2020 draft, and it certainly wasn't the 2007 draft, which featured Ted Ginn Jr. at number 9 overall and QB John Beck as the first two picks.

The 1998 draft also wasn't one to copy considering it was led by running back John Avery in the first round and non-factors Brad Jackson and Larry Shannon in the third — though CB Patrick Surtain certainly was a hit in Round 2.

The 1997 draft featured 14 picks, the most the Dolphins have ever had in a seven-round draft, and even though first-round selection Yatil Green's career was derailed from the start by knee injuries, it did produce Hall of Famer Jason Taylor and immediate starters Sam Madison and Derrick Rodgers.

The Dolphins also got immediate help in 1996 among their 12 picks, with DT Daryl Gardener, RB Karim Abdul-Jabbar and most notably Hall of Fame linebacker Zach Thomas.

Nobody is asking for the Dolphins to get a future Hall of Famer in the 2025 draft — though obviously that would be nice — but they do need something closer to those mid-1990s Jimmy Johnson drafts than what they've gotten in recent years.

THE DOLPHINS' 2025 DRAFT PICKS

Round 1 — 13th overall

Round 2 — 48th overall (16th in round)

Round 3 — 98th overall (34th in round)*

Round 4 — 116th overall (14th in round); 135th overall (33rd in round)*

Round 5 — 150th overall (14th in round); 155th overall (19th in round)

Round 6 — None

Round 7 — 224th overall (8th in round); 231st overall (15th in round); 253rd overall (37th in round)*

*-indicates compensatory pick

TRADES INVOLVING 2025 DOLPHINS PICKS

Round 3 — The Dolphins traded the 79th overall pick (15th in round) to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2024 fourth-round pick used to select RB Jaylen Wright

Round 5 — The Dolphins acquired the 155th overall pick (17th in round) from the Denver Broncos as part of the 2022 trade that brought OLB Bradley Chubb to Miami

Round 6 — The Dolphins traded the 192nd overall pick (16th in round) to the Chicago Bears as part of the 2023 trade for WR Chase Claypool

Round 7 — The Dolphins acquired the 224th overall pick (8th in round) from the Chicago Bears as part of the Claypool trade

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