Grading the Miami Dolphins 2026 Offseason
Once again, the Miami Dolphins are in rebuild mode after another lackluster season in South Beach that saw key pieces of the 2022 and 2023 Dolphins teams that made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons depart from South Florida. Guys like Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, and plenty of other names notorious with the Mike McDaniel era are all being traded and cut this offseason. In turn of that, the Dolphins under new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley have, barring any moves, their roster for the 2026 pre-season. Of course, with the offseason coming to a close soon, how did the Dolphins actually do this offseason?
Grading the Free Agency Period: C+
It’s hard to be critical about anything that the Dolphins did considering the mess that former general manager Chris Grier left sitting in South Beach. Horrible contracts on unreliable players like Tagovailoa and Chubb completely crushed any chance that Sullivan and company had of building a roster in his first year. That being said, all of the moves made to cut and trade talented players were needed for this team to have any potential for success in the future. Miami has a record-setting $179.2 million in dead money in 2026, with most of it coming from Tagovailoa, Hill, and Waddle.
Luckily for Miami, that number cuts down to $56.6 million in dead money next season, which will put the Dolphins with the third-most cap space in the NFL for the 2027 offseason at $99.1 million. Coming back to this offseason, the “splash move” that Sullivan made was bringing over his former quarterback in Green Bay, Malik Willis, on a three-year, $67.5 million deal. Outside of that move, this offseason was quiet for Miami, which should be fully expected. No big moves, no splash signings, just filling in holes on the roster as best they can before the draft.
Grading the Dolphins’ 2026 Draft: A-
Unlike the free agency period, the Dolphins’ 2026 draft should spark a lot of curiosity for this upcoming season with the draft picks that they made. Headlined by Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor and San Diego State DB Chris Johnson, this draft class was one of the better ones in a class that didn’t feature a lot of the top-end talent we’re used to seeing go throughout the first 10-15 picks. I felt Johnson was an excellent pick, somewhat reminiscent of what Miami did in 2020, taking Auburn DB Noah Igbinoghene, but unlike ‘Igbo’, the San Diego DB is an extremely accomplished cornerback at the college level and will get plenty of reps in what will be one of the worst secondaries in the entire NFL. The second day of the draft for Miami was up and down in my eyes. I absolutely loved the Jacob Rodriguez pick, a bit unexpected with how accomplished the linebacker room is for the Dolphins, but you can’t teach the ability to turn the ball over as he did for Texas Tech in 2025. Likewise, his college teammate, WR Caleb Douglas, was someone who Miami probably could have gotten in place of where they got WR Chris Bell. A lot of questionable, compounded with quality and value, made up the second day of the draft.
The third day of the 2026 NFL Draft, however, I felt was the strongest day for Miami in the draft. A pick that has seemingly worked out really well throughout OTAs and minicamp has been WR Kevin Coleman Jr. Being able to grab guys like LB/S Kyle Louis and S Michael Taaffe were quality picks that have real chances to make a meaningful impact in year one in the NFL, something that most teams can’t say. Now, that’s not something that most teams want to be saying, because the alternative is that those teams are filled with much better talent and will not have to resort to fourth- and fifth-round picks taking up meaningful snaps, but once again, that’s why I referenced the 2026 NFL Draft to spark a lot of curiosity. From an overall standpoint, though, I really liked what Sullivan and Hafley showed in this draft.
Overall Grade for the 2026 Offseason: B
As I mentioned when I started this deep-dive, it’s hard to be super critical of what the Dolphins and Sullivan accomplished this offseason considering the state of the team following the Grier era. It was always bound to be a complete mess in the first year when you combine the most amount of dead money in NFL history with a poorly-constructed roster. That being said, what saved this offseason for Miami was the draft. With how many picks the Dolphins made this past April and the state of the roster before the NFL Draft, there will be a lot of opportunity for someone to bring back a Rookie of the Year Award in 2026.
