Each day leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft — April 23-25 — TeamFB7 will break down a different team’s biggest draft need and the best selection to address it. Granted, teams will most often use their first-round pick on the best available player/value and not necessarily always their biggest need, so this isn’t going to compile together into a mock draft in the end. It’s more a breakdown of how each team could best address its most paramount priority if it chooses.
The Miami Dolphins have fully committed to a total rebuild, stripping away all major parts from the Tua Tagovailoa Era that managed two playoff appearances (and no postseason wins) in six years.
Tagovailoa, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, was benched late last season, released last month and his former jersey number (1) has already been repurposed to new wide receiver Jalen Tolbert.
Indeed, there’s no sentimentality left behind from a frustrating few years that fell well short of expectations after the Dolphins surrounded Tagovailoa with top talent, using the No. 6 pick in the 2021 draft on wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and then trading a bounty for Tyreek Hill while making him the highest-paid wide receiver in football.
Former head coach Mike McDaniel was fired, Hill was also released, Waddle was shipped to the Denver Broncos for a nice return (2026 first- and third-round picks and a swap of fourth-rounders), veteran edge rusher Bradley Chubb was released and veteran safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was dumped to the New York Jets for a seventh-round pick (among other roster moves).
Thus leaving star running back De’Von Achane as the figurative Will Smith/Fresh Prince of Bel Air meme, standing alone in an empty living room.
New general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley came from the Green Bay Packers, as did free agent quarterback Malik Willis, who may be a stopgap placeholder or the team’s QB of the future — to be determined.
That is, if he can manage to be productive with the worst receiving corps in the NFL, as presently constructed, with Tolbert, Tutu Atwell and Malik Washington (all No. 3-caliber WRs at best) atop the depth chart. And Achane a no-show at the start of offseason workouts while holding out for a new contract.
The Dolphins hold 11 picks in the upcoming draft — listed by round (overall pick): 1 (11), 1 (30), 2 (43), 3 (75), 3 (87), 3 (90), 3 (94), 4 (130), 5 (151), 7 (227) and 7 (238).
With two first-rounders and seven picks in the top three rounds, Miami will get a nice jumpstart on its rebuild.
Normally, we’d break down what the team’s biggest needs are first, but the Dolphins need a little bit of everything.
Despite tearing down the roster, the Dolphins have so much dead salary cap money from releasing those high-priced veterans that they were able to do very little notable in free agency. Willis (3 years, $67.5 million) and tight end Greg Dulcich (1 year, $3.25 million) were the only new players signed for $1.5 million or more.
What Doesn’t Miami Need In 2026 NFL Draft?
The positions Miami likely won’t consider addressing in the first round, though, are running back (if it is willing to pay what it takes to keep Achane), linebacker (leading tacklers Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson are back), defensive tackle (at least not that early while returning most of the unit from 2025) and offensive tackle (with solid-enough starters Patrick Paul and Austin Jackson still under contract, though Jackson becomes free agent after this season).
(Any of those spots could merit attention later in the draft, though.)
The Dolphins aren’t going to be contending for anything in 2026, so they should be prioritizing drafting the best players available over locking into specific needs necessarily.
So let’s get right into how Miami should use its two first-round picks.
Who Should Miami Dolphins Select At No. 11 In 2026 NFL Draft?
Let’s start with the No. 11 pick …
Wide receiver may be the Dolphins’ most pressing need, but again, the team is building for the long haul — not for the 2026 AFC East race.
There is a chance that either the consensus top cornerback (LSU’s Mansoor Delane) or the consensus top safety (Ohio State’s Caleb Downs) are still sitting on the board at No. 11. If so, the Dolphins shouldn’t overthink it.
Miami signed three cheap cornerbacks in free agency (Alex Austin, Marco Wilson and Darrell Baker Jr., while re-signing A.J. Green) and three cheap safeties (Lonnie Johnson, Zayne Anderson and Ronnie Harrison) — all on one-year deals for less than $1.5 million. None of those players is going to prevent the team from landing a potentially elite difference-maker in the secondary.
If either Downs (the two-time first-team All-American and 2025 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the Buckeyes) or Delane (the first-team All-American who was so stifling in coverage he allowed just 14 receptions all season, per PFF, while breaking up 7 passes and notching 2 interceptions) is on the board, this is an easy call.
If both are there, we’d take Downs.
But it’s possible both are already gone by pick No. 11 with the Chiefs at No. 9 and the Bengals at No. 10 both prime landing spots for either and Downs one of the hardest prospects in this draft to project other than to assume he will go somewhere in the first dozen picks.
In that case …
Then, sure, grab one of the top-tier wide receivers with Ohio State’s Carnell Tate, Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson and USC’s Makai Lemon the consensus top three — and all expected to be selected in the top half of the first round.
Tate is probably already gone at this point and Tyson may be as well, but Lemon makes for an excellent pick for the Dolphins after winning the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s top pass-catcher last season (79 catches for 1,156 yards and 11 TDs for the Trojans). He’s not the biggest WR at 5-foot-11, 192 pounds, but he’s as tough as physical as they come, a smooth route runner with great hands and boasts elite after-the-catch ability. (Think Amon-Ra St. Brown).
Who Should Miami Dolphins Take At No. 30 In 2026 NFL Draft?
As for the No. 30 pick, again, it should be a best-player-available approach at that point. But let’s look at some of the notable mock drafts and their picks for the Dolphins there:
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. (Auburn DE Keldric Faulk), The Ringer’s Todd McShay (Tennessee CB Colton Hood), ESPN’s Peter Schrager (Oregon S Dillon Thieneman), ESPN’s Field Yates (Texas A&M WR KC Concepcion), NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah (Faulk), NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks (Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr.) and ESPN’s Matt Miller (Hood).
That’s kind of how we see it, too.
If the Dolphins get one of those top defensive backs at No. 11, they should probably grab a wide receiver at No. 30 — only because the value there isn’t any lesser than other positions (especially if Concepcion is on the board) and because it would be stunting for Willis to go into the season with the current top of the WR depth chart as is.
If the Dolphins got Lemon or Tyson at No. 11, then landing on Thieneman (we think he goes earlier in the first round, but he’d be an amazing value at No. 30) or one of the other top cornerbacks (Hood or South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse) is a smart play.