D
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins let Bell fall and pounced. Final grade: D.
by dagray08 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 22 picks
· 14 steals
· 1 reaches
You can fall in love with a player. You are not supposed to marry him in the wrong round. The Dolphins did exactly that with Nadame Tucker in the Round 4 slot. Too much went sideways, and the D is the honest tally.
Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. However the rest shakes out, Bell at that price is a win they earned.
They went 8 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for. The Chamarri Conner pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 29 they get a downhill thumper at linebacker, and a steal at that. A real need, handled.
In Round 1, Pick 30 they get a lockdown presence outside. Need was not the driver here.
They let Dillon Thieneman come to them and pounced at slot 43. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Eli Stowers at the 61st overall pick is the proof. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
The board had Germie Bernard higher than the 70th pick, and the wide receiver fell to them anyway. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Christen Miller in the Round 3 slot is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Value with a capital V on Keionte Scott in pick 75, a genuine coup. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They robbed the room for Jake Slaughter here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Elijah Sarratt in the 90th overall pick. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
The board fumbled Skyler Bell all the way to pick No. 126, and they scooped it up. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They will replay Jalon Kilgore at No. 127 for years; that is how good the value is. Stacking talent where they were already deep.
Jalen Farmer in Round 4, Pick 28 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Trey Zuhn III in pick No. 130. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A tidy little value on Jude Bowry in slot 133, a step better than break-even. A need, and now a little less of one.
Good price on Oscar Delp in No. 138, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. The roster fit checks out.
Value said wait; Nadame Tucker in pick 139 says they were not listening. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
No drama and no debate, Skyler Gill-Howard went about where he belonged in the Round 5 slot. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They did well to land Kaytron Allen in Round 5, Pick 11, just ahead of his grade. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Louis Moore at the 169th overall pick nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.
Aamil Wagner slipping to the 182nd pick is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Somehow Taylen Green was still sitting there in the 207th pick, and they pounced on premier quarterback value. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Jadon Canady at the 227th overall pick. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.