C-
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins won the night they stopped Ponds from sliding. Grade: C-.
by dagray08 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 22 picks
· 19 steals
· 1 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: D'Angelo Ponds, Round 4, Pick 27, roughly 80 picks past where he belonged. A mixed bag that lands at C-.
They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back. They are betting Reiger proves the room right and everyone else wrong.
In the end, a coin-flip class: fine today, with a wide range of outcomes ahead.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 30 they get an anchor for the offensive line, and a steal at that. A real need, handled.
They let Chris Johnson come to them and pounced at pick No. 41. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Value with a capital V on R Mason Thomas in slot 43, a genuine coup. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Brandon Cisse at Round 3, Pick 11 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
You do not let a wide receiver like Chris Bell reach the 82nd pick and blink. They did not. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A.J. Haulcy in the Round 3 slot should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Jake Golday in pick 87 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A wide receiver of that caliber at the 90th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Somehow Josiah Trotter was still sitting there in Round 3, Pick 31, and they pounced on premier linebacker value. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They robbed the room for Jadarian Price here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The roster fit checks out.
They barely believed it either: Max Klare still on the board at No. 120. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They reached into another round for Mason Reiger, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
D'Angelo Ponds at the Round 4 slot is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
Taking Malachi Fields in slot 128 is close to grand larceny; a wide receiver that good had no business lasting this long. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They will replay Domonique Orange at the 130th overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Sam Hecht at pick 133 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
By-the-book stuff, Jaeden Roberts at the 151st overall pick squarely in line with his ranking. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Beau Stephens. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Kaytron Allen at the Round 5 slot is the proof. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Circle this one: Marlin Klein at slot 196 is a fall that decides a draft. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Taylen Green slid further than he should have, and No. 201 is lovely value for the quarterback. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Nice patience on Jadon Canady, who had no business lasting to pick 227. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.