Kelly: Dolphins rookie class proves they all have bite | Opinion
There’s usually a runt in every litter.
It’s that one puppy, baby duck, bird, or rookie football player that lags behind the rest.
The runt’s usually weaker, smaller and can’t fight for himself. As painful as it is, the parents usually have to let nature take its course because of the laws of nature, which is based on survival of the fittest.
For the Miami Dolphins, Zeek Biggers was that runt.
Even though the former Georgia Tech starter the Dolphins selected in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft was the biggest of the three defensive tackles, he was the rookie who played the least if quarterback Quinn Ewers, who thoroughly impressed Miami’s coaches during training camp and the exhibition season, is taken out of the equation.
Biggers and Ewers were the only draftees who didn’t begin the season with a starting spot, or a prominent role, and when the Dolphins began the season struggling to defend the run because Kenneth Grant and Jordan Phillips struggled massively, Biggers’ frustration grew.
He used frustration as fuel to motivate him to clean up his diet, lift weights longer and harder, and to pay more attention in team meetings and lock in on his technique, which was lacking. And when he hit the practice field as a scout team defender - getting the first-team offense ready for each week’s opponent - Biggers was determined to catch the coaching staff’s attention.
“I was frustrated man! Why [are] these guys playing, and I’m not,” said Biggers, who has shed 15 pounds from his waist, and has turned plenty of his fat into muscle. “I didn’t want to give them any excuse to not play me.”
Biggers was active for the second game of the season, and then missed six straight games because he wasn’t on the game day roster.
Against Buffalo he was elevated because of an injury Benito Jones was nursing, and from there he never looked back. Biggers made two tackles in his 19 snaps and helped the Dolphins suffocate the Bill’s rushing attack in that win.
The next week, Biggers made seven tackles in 23 defensive snaps in Miami’s overtime win against the Washington Commanders. The next game, he recorded his first sack of the season in Miami’s win against the Saints.
During the past two games he’s playing just as many snaps as Kenneth Grant, the Dolphins’ first-round pick, who has started three games and contributed 23 tackles and 1.5 sacks in the 417 defense snaps he has played, and Jordan Phillips, the fifth-round selection, who has started 12 games and contributed 25 tackles in the 345 defensive snaps he has played this season.
All Biggers is missing is his first NFL start, which will seemingly come in due time based on how forceful he has been playing next to Zach Sieler in Miami’s base defensive package.
“He’s just put in a ton of work. Even from a body composition standpoint, he looks different,” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said. “It’s truly a credit to the kid and all the work he’s done both on and off the field in terms of digesting the playbook, making sure he was sound from an assignment standpoint. He’s taken enormous strides in this run defense.
“His pass rush has been there, we’ve seen that. But from a run defensive perspective, he’s gotten so much better,” Weaver continued. “Really proud of him. [He] has all the potential in the world, and that’s why he’s gotten the snaps he has.”
Biggers is another example of the resolve, and mental toughness the 2025 rookies have this season because at one point they were the anchors weighing down the Dolphins during the team’s 1-6 start.
Miami’s run defense was atrocious then. So bad teams that weren’t committed to the run centered their offensive game plan around attacking the rookie defensive tackles.
When Grant, Phillips and Biggers began to improve by gaining a better grasp on their assignments, and improving their technique, the Dolphins defense started playing better.
When Jonah Savaiinaea started making fewer mistakes as the Dolphins’ starting left guard, settling into his new side (he had never played left guard in college) Miami’s offensive line started pummeling opposing defenses, becoming one of the NFL’s top five rushing attacks in 2025.
“I think he’s upped his game a lot from the first half of this season,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said when asked about Savaiinaea, a Polynesian player he has taken under his wing as a rookie. “He’s been staying here late. He’s been doing a lot of things that have been unnoticed that I’ve been able to see.... He’s taking care of his body, he’s watching film [more], and he’s doing his own walkthroughs in the indoor.”
Tagovailoa said Savaiinaea, whom he calls ‘Little Big Uce,’ because the Polynesian culture use “Uce” as slang for “brother” or “sister,” is finally carrying himself like a veteran.
As are a few others, such as Ollie Gordon II, the tailback the Dolphins selected in the sixth round. His 191 rushing yards are the second most on the team, and he has scored four touchdowns as a rookie, which puts him behind only De’Von Achane and Jaylen Waddle for touchdowns scored this season.
Dante Trader Jr. started three of the 13 games he played in, contributing 40 tackles, forcing one fumble and recovering another in the 313 defense snaps he handled before a shoulder injury slowed his development.
And Jason Marshall Jr. was Miami’s starting nickel cornerback before a hamstring injury got him placed on injured reserve early in the season. While Marshall’s back on the active roster the Dolphins secondary has settled into a scheme that featured Minkah Fitzpatrick manning the nickel spot.
While there are no clear-cut rookie studs in this 2025 Dolphins’ draft class, it seems as if the runts have grown up to be big and strong. And at this point it seems as if this rookie class’ future is encouraging.
“The key to being patient to the rookies is remembering you were once a rookie. You were once Jordan Phillips laying on the ground with no shirt on [watching] TikTok,” linebacker Tyrel Dodson said, referring to Phillips, who was doing just that five feet away from him. “Just being patient with them. We’ve got some good rooks. They learn [quickly]. They listen well.”
