The Dolphins to continue their ‘ultimate investment’ in rookies amid struggles
The Miami Dolphins brass came into the 2025 offseason with a goal.
Following a disappointing 8-9 finish, top decision-makers elected to shed some of their older players in favor of a youth movement. General manager Chris Grier specifically noted the type of younger players that they wanted.
“We’re going to need NFL-ready players,” Grier said April 15, a little more than a week before they 2025 NFL Draft. “There’s no like, ‘Hey, let’s hope this guy is ready.’ These guys are going to be forced into play, and that’s a good thing. So we just have to be right on the person and the character of the guys that we bring in here, that they’re going to do that.”
Five games into the NFL season, it’s clear that the top two draft selections, defensive tackle Kenneth Grant and right guard Jonah Savaiianaea, actually might not be as ready as Grier would have hoped. The duo officially are the two worst-graded rookies, according to Pro Football Focus, an evaluation that became even more noteworthy after a 27-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers. And while growing pains are certainly part of the process for young players, it’s clear that they have fallen below anyone’s most modest expectation.
“There’s an inherent assumption that there are things that they’re going to have to work through,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “And right now, it’s just a job of any player or coach in the National Football League is to improve in the heat, and no one really cares about your problems.”
Added McDaniel: “You continue your ultimate investment and understand that together, we have to improve play, or you have to find other solutions.”
McDaniel gave both Grant and Savaiianaea credit for being steadfast in their commitment to improvement yet also encouraged his veterans to be better to avoid the rookies’ struggles being so magnified.
“There’s a belief in those guys that they’ll get through the other side and feel extremely happy about the delay but it’s going to be earned,” McDaniel said, praising the veterans for not blaming rookies. “We should have less things come up from veterans so that it doesn’t compound the type of things that you’re working through.”
With Grant, the hope was that he would immediately help in the run with goal that the former Michigan standout grows into a better pass rusher. The issue is that opposing offenses have tended to run at him, like when Panthers tailback Rico Dowdle broke off a 25-yard run right before the end of the first half.
Edge rusher Jaelan Phillips has taken a nurturing approach with Grant and some of the other rookies.
“Some of the best players of all time have struggled in their rookie seasons or first couple years,” Phillips said, explaining that he just tries to encourage them as much as possible. “There’s a lot of pressure, obviously, and a lot of expectations. If you kind of embody those expectations, it can affect your play in a sense and you can play tight or less confident.”
On the flip side of the ball, Savaiianaea has given up 16 pressures on the year, per PFF, two of which led to sacks vs. the Panthers. One of the sacks came on a must-have third down on the Dolphins’ final possession of the game.
Center Aaron Brewer encourages Savaiinaea to “not get too frustrated.”
“‘You’re not as far off as you think you are,’” Brewer said of what he tells the younger guys, adding that he tends to emphasizes that the NFL is a long season. “You critique one little thing in your technique and you’ll be hitting that sweet spot.”
As long as the Dolphins continue their all-in approach to the youth movement, these sorts of mistakes can be expected. It might even get a lot worse before anything improves. Although it’s way too early to cast any complete judgment on the rookies, Malik Washington characterized this moment perfectly.
“It’s tough,” the second-year receiver said, explains that they have to be ready to immediately fix their mistakes. “There’s not really a learning curve. There’s not really a time for them to finger things out. They got to learn it right now. We go to be better. We got to go win football games.”
