Miami Dolphins receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle have combined for gaudy numbers in the last two seasons, but the team has struggled to find a reliable third option for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
In the sixth round of the 2024 NFL draft, the Dolphins grabbed a potential solution. Virginia wide receiver Malik Washington was a First Team All-ACC selection in 2023 after bursting on to the scene with a huge year in his only season with the Cavaliers.
“I’m joining the best receiver room in the NFL,” Washington said Saturday. “I’m joining Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle – guys that have proven themselves, guys that have just done a great job at being receivers, done a great job at being a great ballcarriers and great people as well. If you’ve ever seen them, I think what I have to do is come in, learn from those guys, take it all in and earn my way, earn my keep.”
Here’s seven things to know about the Dolphins’ sixth-round receiver:
After four years at Northwestern, where he caught 120 balls for 1,348 yards, Washington essentially matched that production in only one season at Virginia.
Washington finished the 2023 season with 110 receptions for 1,426 yards and nine touchdowns. His reception total led all receivers in the FBS and his receiving yardage was fourth most. Top 10 draft picks Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze were two of the three receivers who managed to finish with more yards.
In the Dolphins’ call to Washington on Saturday, general manager Chris Grier told the receiver that head coach Mike McDaniel was “bugging me to draft you.”
“That’s an understatement, I’ve been seriously annoying towards him,” McDaniel said on the phone.
“The part of Malik that we like the most is there are some professional football players in that room that he’s going to have to compete against to get opportunities. We identified him as a person and an athlete that would be up for the challenge and that’s a tall task,” McDaniel later told reporters.
At 5’9, Washington knows he’s going to be typecast as a “little guy” receiver. When he makes his first appearance in the next “Madden” game, he already anticipates there being a misconception in his ratings.
“I feel like they’re going to put my strength low and I feel like I’m one of the strongest guys in the class,” Washington said in February during an interview with Fanatics View. “The things I’ve been able to accomplish, you don’t do with strength. So I’ve got to make sure that’s high up there.”
Washington’s point is hammered home by the 19 reps he did on the bench press at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, second most among wide receivers. But it goes a little bit beyond that, according to the receiver.
“Some of that stuff you can’t cultivate, you have to be born with it,” Washington told reporters Saturday. “You have to be born with a certain mindset, a certain toughness, and I feel like ever since I started playing football, that’s just how I played. That’s how I play the game, that’s how I see the game. It’s going to be hard-nosed.”
Football brought Washington to a pair of stellar universities and he didn’t waste the opportunity. Northwestern and Virginia are both top 25 national universities in the U.S. News rankings and Washington says he’s leaving with degrees from both institutions.
“When you’re 17, 18 years old, going into college, that was your goal: to graduate and get degrees and now I got two of them,” Washington told Steve Smith Sr. in a March interview. “I got a psychology degree from Northwestern, I got a certificate in organizational leadership, and then I went on to get my masters in higher education.”
In January, Washington received Academic All-American honors, becoming the first Virginia player to do so in seven years.
Washington isn’t afraid to be a physical receiver, despite being 5’9. So it’s not particularly surprising that he looks up to Steve Smith Sr., another 5’9 receiver who was five-time Pro Bowler and had a reputation for backing down to no one.
“My favorite receiver is Steve Smith,” Washington told Fanatics View. “Just super aggressive. Super strong at the catch point and then after the catch, he’s undenied. A player that I really, really try to emulate my game after and try to excel his mark.”
For all the accomplishments Washington stacked up on offense in 2023, he didn’t do a ton on special teams. He was never a returner at Northwestern and averaged only 19.5 yards per kick return at Virginia.
But with much different kickoff rules set to change the way returns look in 2024 and beyond, Washington feels good about his chances at being a difference-maker.
“I’ve seen the new rule change and I think I can be beneficial there,” Washington said. “Wherever the coaches put me, wherever they place me I’m ready to go, I’m ready to attack. Whatever role they give me, just do my best at it, make the most of it.”
Within an hour of being picked by the Dolphins on Saturday, Washington was ready to get to work.
The receiver tagged Miami’s pair of star receivers, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, to let them know he’s ready for an invite to their next training session. Waddle responded with an enthusiastic “LETS GET IT !!!!” and Hill tweeted “Love this let’s rock.”