Dolphins’ Westbrook-Ikhine discusses mysterious season; draft pick now in balance
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine’s peculiar transformation from a consistently productive NFL receiver to a virtual non-factor in the Dolphins’ passing game has been one of the confounding mysteries of Miami’s season.
Westbrook-Ikhine’s career body of work - including 20 touchdown receptions over the previous four seasons - suggest that he should not shoulder all of the blame for his disappointing season (11 catches, 89 yards, no touchdowns).
But the seven-year veteran says if you want to blame anyone, blame him.
“It’s been a little frustrating but [this season] is more just on myself,” he said at his locker last week. “I feel I expect more of myself. I don’t feel I’ve put myself in great positions to earn some of that stuff. So really the frustration lies within myself.”
What could he be doing better?
“Execution, being in the right place in the right time, getting separation, getting open, stuff like that,” he said. “Being a pro, being a guy Tua [Tagovailoa] can count on, coaches can count on. That’s something I’ve always tried to hang my hat on. I feel like I’m not meeting my expectations for myself.”
Much was expected of Westbrook-Ikhine after he caught 32 passes for 497 yards and nine touchdowns in Tennessee last season, his fourth consecutive season in which he finished with between 397 and 497 receiving yards.
But even though he started in the aftermath of Tyreek Hill’s season-ending Week 4 knee injury, Westbrook-Ikhine has been targeted just 19 times all season and has no targets or catches in Miami’s last three games and just 29 receiving yards over his past five.
Over the past three games, he has been on the field for just 22 passing plays compared with 28 running plays.
Asked if he got enough reps with Tagovailoa to build chemistry over the offseason, he said: “We got work. I would say it’s more on me. It’s not necessarily something we didn’t do. It’s more on my end.”
He keeps playing in part because of his blocking. Pro Football Focus said he has been by far the best run-blocker of Miami’s heavy usage receivers and rates him Miami’s fourth best run blocker overall. (He has blocked for 139 runs.)
If Westbrook-Ikhine plays more than 50 or so snaps the remainder of the season, the Dolphins likely would lose a fourth-round compensatory pick in next April’s draft, as Dolphins podcaster Chris Kouffman noted and overthecap.com’s Nick Korte confirmed via email.
Unless the Dolphins decide organizationally to bench him because of that factor, he’s likely to surpass that number, based on the fact that he has played between 13 and 45 snaps in all nine games since Hill’s injury. He logged 25, 15, 13 and 22 snaps the past four games.
“My guess is that given that Mike McDaniel is coaching for his job with no obvious future GM in place, that he really doesn’t care about a compensatory pick,” Korte said, on X and via e-mail.
Westbrook-Ikhine signed a two-year, $6.5 million deal with Miami last March, but a return next season would be surprising. None of his $2.4 million 2026 salary is guaranteed; his Dolphins 2026 cap hit would drop from $3.2 million to $1.6 million if he’s cut before June 1.
This and that
Safety Elijah Campbell (ankle/knee) and linebacker Caleb Johnson (shoulder) did not practice on Thursday.
Seven players were limited: running back De’Von Achane (ribs), linebacker Chop Robinson (oblique), tight end Darren Waller (rest), center Andrew Meyer (tricep), safety Ifeatu Melifonwu (thumb and both sides of his groin), cornerback Rasul Douglas (foot) and long snapper Joe Cardona (hamstring).
Thursday was Meyer’s first practice since going on injured reserve in late August. The Dolphins have 21 days to activate him.
Meanwhile, Steelers star linebacker TJ Watt was hospitalized with a lung injury.
▪ Cornerback Ethan Bonner said that securing his first career interception Sunday was a “cool feeling. I know I can play. They know that.”
▪ Guard Jonah Savaiinaea, coming off perhaps his three best games of the season, said his “confidence is 100% better” and one key to his improvement has been watching film with a defensive player’s perspective, to determine how teams will try to attack him.
Here’s what McDaniel said at his Thursday news conference.
This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM.
