C
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins bled value on every deal, hence the C.
by [email protected] ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 14 picks
· 1 steals
· 10 reaches
When the story of this class is written, it opens with Kalil Alexander at No. 227, a reach of 68 spots that the board flatly disagrees with.
Ponds falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. They will regret leaving quarterback for another day if the season turns on it.
With quarterback and linebacker unsolved, spending premium capital on cornerback is the choice that costs them.
If Omar Cooper Jr. and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
By-the-book stuff, Omar Cooper Jr. at the Round 1 slot squarely in line with his ranking. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Value said wait; Derrick Moore in Round 2, Pick 11 says they were not listening. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
They talked themselves into Elijah Sarratt at the 49th pick, and the board did not agree. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The board fumbled D'Angelo Ponds all the way to No. 75, and they scooped it up. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They reached a country mile for Caden Curry at pick No. 77, and the board is aghast. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They reached into another round for Michael Trigg, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. It fills a real need, too.
A curious use of slot 90. Quarterback and linebacker needed the pick; a cornerback in Jalon Kilgore did not.
A big swing on Kaleb Proctor at No. 97, well ahead of any board in the building. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Jalen Farmer. The roster fit checks out.
Nadame Tucker at pick No. 130 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They took Charles Demmings at par in the Round 5 slot, which is nothing to complain about. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
A wild overpay on Kalil Alexander in Round 7, Pick 11, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Deven Eastern at the 229th overall pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Adam Randall in pick 238, miles early. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.