The Miami Dolphins made rushing the passer their top priority in the 2024 NFL draft, taking Chop Robinson at No. 21 overall and then double-dipping two days later by snagging Mohamed Kamara in the fifth round.
“We were kind of surprised he was there,” Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said after picking Kamara. “It’s just how physical and how fast. The guy has a tremendous motor. When you watch him play, he just plays hard. He’s relentless, his motor and just loves football.”
While the Dolphins already have a duo of rushers in Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips, both players suffered season-ending injuries that put their availability on Week 1 in doubt. In March, the team signed former Buccaneers pass rusher Shaquil Barrett to offset the departures of Andrew Van Ginkel and Emmanuel Ogbah.
Can Kamara prove to be a valuable rusher in the Dolphins’ rotation? Here are seven things to know about Miami’s fifth-round pick:
The Fort Collins Coloradoan described Kamara as “the maestro smack-talker” of the Colorado State football team.
“He’s like an annoying big brother,” Kamara’s college teammate Nuer Gatkuoth told the Coloradoan. “He gets on my [case] about stuff, but it all comes from a good place.”
“Being dominant, the alpha in the room with his play and making sure he’s holding that standard that ‘y’all want to be great, you have to put the extra work in,’” CSU defensive line coach Buddha Williams said.
Kamara has one brother and five sisters. It was his brother, Amara, who he credits with getting him into football at any early age. “He was the pioneer of our neighborhood. Once he started playing, everyone played after him,” Mohamed Kamara said of his brother, via Dane Brugler of The Athletic.
Amara Kamara, who is 12 years older, played at Temple before spending time in training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2011 and rookie minicamp with the San Diego Chargers in 2012.
Colorado State is a long way from Newark, N.J. where Kamara grew up. But he originally planned to follow in his brother’s footsteps and play for Temple. When the team hired Manny Diaz as its head coach in December 2018, Kamara signed a letter of intent to attend the school a week later, choosing Temple over Rutgers.
But when Diaz abruptly reversed course to take the Miami Hurricanes job after only two weeks on the job with the Owls, Kamara wanted out too. He was granted a waiver and signed with Colorado State in February 2019.
Kamara made an impact early in his CSU career, returning a fumble 63 yards for a touchdown in his freshman year. It just kept getting better and better every year after that. In his last two seasons with the Rams, he racked up 33 tackles for loss and 21.5 sacks.
Only one player in Mountain West Conference history has recorded more sacks than Kamara’s career total of 30.5. Another Dolphins fifth-round pick, Curtis Weaver, recorded 34 in his time at Boise State, but never recorded any in the NFL.
After racking up huge numbers at Colorado State and earning 2023 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors, Kamara didn’t think he deserved to hear 157 names called before his.
“I’m very excited, but I also am very, very angry going the round that I did,” Kamara told reporters. “That’s just my personality. I knew I could’ve went higher and I wanted to go higher, but the lovely team of Miami picked me up and I’m going to give them that burning desire. I have a chip on my shoulder, so it just got even greater.”
Kamara would prefer you just called him “Mo” because it really annoys him when people don’t say his name right.
“That’s something I take personally,” he said. “Don’t mess up my name. Just call me ‘Mo.’ Keep it at that, keep it at that. Some people say MOO-ha-med. It’s just MO-ha-med.”
And the last name? “Ka-MAIR-uh. … I don’t like when you mess up my name, just keep it simple.”
Kamara isn’t the only one who thought he deserved to go higher than Round 5. ESPN’s godfather of draft coverage Mel Kiper Jr. had the pass rusher at No. 68 on his draft board and called him one of the steals of the draft.
NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger called the pick his favorite for any team on Day 3 of the draft.