New Dolphins draft class could break bad trend in Chris Grier’s talent evaluation

Over the past five seasons, Chris Grier’s draft decisions for the Miami Dolphins haven’t been terrible, but there’s one story that Grier hopes doesn’t repeat itself. In 2024, Grier drafted Chop Robinson and Patrick Paul and traded up in Round 4 to select Jaylen Wright. Each player brings their own question marks, but where Grier needs to do better is in the middle rounds, and that trend needs to change.

From Wright to fifth-round pick Mohamed Kamara to sixth-round cornerback Patrick McMorris and the first of two WRs selected in this year’s draft, Grier has to hope his coaches can continue to develop these players.

Yes, 2023 was not a good year for Grier. When you only have four draft picks, the margin for error is much smaller. Grier, or so it seems, hit the jackpot with De’Von Achane, but second-round pick Cam Smith is still a question mark, and Ryan Hayes is holding out while Elijah Higgins is gone. If we look a little more closely at the last five years, the trend of failed mid-round picks is defining.

Thompson is not considered as a third quarterback but has started in the playoffs. Blake Ferguson is not considered because he is a specialist. Van Ginkle has been great and that is what Miami needs from its mid-round picks for the 2024 draft. A performance like Gaskin would also benefit Miami.

The Dolphins have relied far too heavily on one-year deals to fill out their roster. That’s in part because they didn’t have enough players in the draft and failed to develop players when they did. 2020 may have been a great draft with Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson and Robert Hunt, but only Tua, Jackson and Ferguson are still on the Dolphins’ roster.

This training camp will be the first for several of the Dolphins’ draft picks, and fans are excited to see what Malik Washington and Tahj Washington, as well as Kamara, can do. However, their enthusiasm must be tempered a little, as the Dolphins typically don’t have success with these types of selections.

In some cases, experts believe the Dolphins have drafted “bargains,” such as Kamara and Malik Washington, but they need to prove themselves and break a draft trend that has not been good for Grier or the Miami organization.