A-
Miami Dolphins
A masterclass at the trade table lands the Dolphins a A-.
by Fins1981 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 7 steals
· 7 reaches
The Dolphins clearly saw something nobody else did in Eric Gentry, taking him 132 picks ahead of his grade. The board is not convinced.
Slaughter falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch. They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own.
Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. The veteran additions, Malik Hooker chief among them, give the class a floor the rookies alone would not.
Add it up and few war rooms did better this weekend, Olaivavega Ioane and all.
Pick-by-Pick
A clean, defensible pick in the 26th pick with a little surplus value in Olaivavega Ioane. It fills a real need, too.
In the 31st overall pick they get a building block for the line, reach and all. A clean fit for the roster.
Value with a capital V on Anthony Hill Jr. in No. 47, a genuine coup. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Keionte Scott in slot 75 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Ted Hurst in pick 87 is fair value, right on his grade. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Taking Jake Slaughter in Round 3, Pick 27 is close to grand larceny; an offensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Michael Trigg well ahead of where he belonged. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They barely believed it either: Mike Washington Jr. still on the board at pick No. 94. The roster fit checks out.
Bryce Lance in the 112th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They jumped the gun on Isaiah World, taking him earlier than his grade liked. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
By-the-book stuff, Drew Allar at slot 152 squarely in line with his ranking. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Dametrious Crownover in the 165th overall pick, plain and simple. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Jeff Caldwell in No. 170 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A straight-up fair deal on Ephesians Prysock at the Round 6 slot, value and slot in agreement. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
They talked themselves into Eric Gentry at the 220th overall pick, and the board did not agree. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Deven Eastern. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A slide stopped in the Round 7 slot, with John Michael Gyllenborg worth more than the price. A need, and now a little less of one.
Travis Burke at pick 257 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.