Kelly: Can the 2025 draft class save these Dolphins? Should they have to? | Opinion
The best Miami Dolphins draftees from this past decade weren’t microwaveable, so why should we expect the 2025 draftees to be immediate successes.
Just about every good draftee the Dolphins have had this past decade required slow cooking, and eventually became contributors who the franchise could lean on.
And eventually doesn’t mean their rookie season, so we would be wise to lower the bar for Kenneth Grant, Jonah Savaiinaea and company just a bit.
Laremy Tunsil played left guard as a rookie, and was arguably the weakest link on the unicorn offensive line of 2016 that opened up running lanes for Jay Ajayi, and was a major factor for Miami qualifying for the playoffs that year.
Tunsil eventually blossomed into a franchise left tackle two years later.
Xavien Howard, who was also part of that same draft class, started out slowly as a rookie that season, starting six of the seven games he played, and contributing 40 tackles, six pass deflections and forced one fumble. However, Howard became a Pro Bowl caliber player in the seasons that followed.
Davon Godchaux, a 2017 fifth-round pick, was the best player in his draft class. He had an average rookie season (40 tackles, one forced fumble in 15 games).
Minkah Fitzpatrick was a role player in 2018 and didn’t blossom till the Dolphins traded the first-round pick to Pittsburgh the next season. And Mike Gesicki, Jerome Baker, Durham Smythe and Jason Sanders were all on the slow burn program as well.
Christian Wilkins and Andrew Van Ginkel’s worst seasons in the NFL were their first (2019).
The only rookies who had dynamic seasons this decade were Jaylen Waddle, who set the NFL’s rookie record for receptions in a season, and tailback De’Von Achane, a third-round pick in 2023, who set an NFL record for yards per carry during his rookie season.
But if we’re going to be honest, the very next season Waddle showed what he was really capable of, and last season Achane evolved into the team’s lead back, producing nearly 1,300 all-purpose yards.
In a dream world Kenneth Grant and Jonah Savaiiaea would have record-setting rookie seasons. Forget the All-Rookie team. The Dolphins’ two early round selections would be named to the All-Pro teams out the gate.
But reality, and more importantly, history says that if lucky they will have the typical rookie season. They will likely struggle contributing early, then find their stride before hitting the rookie wall and becoming overwhelmed by the amount of games, and more importantly, the physicality of the NFL. And that’s if they stay healthy (fingers crossed).
Even though Miami needs Grant to become an immediate starter, and handle at least 30 snaps a game as Zach Sieler’s tag-team partner in the trenches, we need to prepare ourselves for the typical struggles that rookies experience.
It’s not easy to learn your surroundings in a new city, make new friends, digest an entire playbook and adjust to the speed of the NFL game in four months.
The same applies for Savaiiaea, who sits in pole position when it comes to working opposite James Daniels, solidifying the interior of Miami’s offensive line as a starting left or right guard (likely right).
The Dolphins traded away available draft assets to get the former Arizona starter, who has worked at four of the five positions on the offensive line, and the hope is that the franchise gets a better payout than the last offensive lineman they traded away a third round pick to move up a couple spots in the draft to acquire, which was Liam Eichenberg.
Simply expecting Savaiiaea to be better than Eichenberg is the baseline of what should be expected from the rookie.
Unfortunately, the bar has been set so low because of recent draftees’ struggles — Cam Smith (2023), Channing Tindall (2022, Erik Ezukanma (2022), Eichenberg and Hunter Long (2021), Noah Igbinoghene and Solomon Kindley (2020), Michael Deiter (2019), Kalen Ballage (2018), Charles Harris, Cordrea Tankersley and Isaac Asiata (2017), and Leonte Carroo (2016) — some rookies have had.
But those who don’t expect much usually receive very little.
There was once a time in this franchise’s proud history where late-round picks not only mattered, but could be franchise-changers, joining back to when Zach Thomas was drafted in the fifth round, and Jason Taylor’s third-round selection in 1997 made everyone forget Yatil Green, a notorious first-round bust from the Jimmy Johnson era, was the first pick of that draft class.
It has been awhile since Miami had that kind of draft success, and to expect it from the 2025 class would be dangerously irresponsible, and unfair to these eight players beginning their NFL journey.
It’s key to set realistic goals, like Grant, Savaiineaa, Jordan Phillips and Zeek Biggers getting in the best shape of their lives since they are the biggest (size wise) draft class the Dolphins have had since 2020.
If Phillips produced 56 tackles and two sacks like Wilkins did as a rookie take a victory lap. If Savaiineaa isn’t the weakest link on the starting offensive line as a rookie Miami might have someone to build that offensive line around.
And having new safety Dante Trader Jr., who was also a lacrosse standout at Maryland, cornerback Jason Marshall, a five-star South Florida football player before he joined the University of Florida and Ollie Gordon II, the 2023 recipient of the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the nation’s top tailback, live up to their potential, then realizing their talent level is a starting point for those late-round selections.
That’s not just on the player, it’s also on the organization — coaches, support staff — to keep things realistic, and to make the proper investment with the hope that everything invested into these rookies leads to growth and gain.
