B-
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins cashed the board's mistake on Simon: B-.
by jmace ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 11 steals
· 1 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Cody Simon, the Round 7 slot, roughly 123 picks past where he belonged. More right than wrong, and a B- to match.
The Gray pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over. The Dolphins indulged a want in Porter while a need in edge rusher and running back stayed open.
A whole weekend of picks and edge rusher is somehow still a want. Stockpiling next year's capital is patient, if unglamorous, asset work.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 31st pick they get a two-high chess piece, and a steal at that. Need was not the driver here.
Circle this one: Kenneth Grant at the 48th overall pick is a fall that decides a draft. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They will replay Benjamin Morrison at pick No. 66 for years; that is how good the value is. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Taking Alfred Collins in slot 93 is close to grand larceny; an interior defensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The needs board was loud and they turned it down, spending No. 95 on Darien Porter with edge rusher and running back unsolved.
A wide receiver of that caliber at Round 3, Pick 34 is the definition of value, full stop. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Ajani Cornelius. The roster fit checks out.
Luke Kandra in the Round 4 slot is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Carson Beck in slot 118 is fair value, right on his grade. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They reached into another round for Joshua Gray, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Steal is underselling it; Kevin Winston Jr. at No. 149 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
The board fumbled Gunnar Helm all the way to the Round 5 slot, and they scooped it up. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Somehow Oronde Gadsden II was still sitting there in Round 7, Pick 8, and they pounced on premier tight end value. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jared Wilson at the 231st pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Cody Simon in the 251st overall pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It fills a real need, too.