B
Miami Dolphins
Grand theft in Round 7, Pick 8: the Dolphins steal Smith and grade out a B.
by ScouserK ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 7 steals
· 1 reaches
You build a draft on nights like this. Brashard Smith had no business being available in the 224th pick, and the Dolphins did the only sane thing and turned in the card. Call it a sensible B, earned the boring way.
Spending an early pick on safety with quarterback and edge rusher open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. Leaving quarterback unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall.
They will need Kandra to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it.
Bottom line, more hits than misses and a roster nudged the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 13 they get a wrecking ball inside. The biggest hole, addressed.
The board fumbled Malaki Starks all the way to Round 2, Pick 16, and they scooped it up. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A quiet steal in No. 98: Deontae Lawson for less than the market said. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
The board had cheaper options than Luke Kandra at pick 99, and it noticed. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A curious use of pick No. 115. Quarterback and edge rusher needed the pick; a safety in Andrew Mukuba did not.
Tez Johnson at the 149th pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Circle this one: Mason Taylor at the Round 5 slot is a fall that decides a draft. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A running back of that caliber at the 224th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. The roster fit checks out.
You do not let a linebacker like Jay Higgins reach the Round 7 slot and blink. They did not. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They paid sticker price for Garrett Dellinger in Round 7, Pick 35, and that is fine. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.