The Miami Dolphins are a team that, despite their expansive rebuilding efforts throughout the 2020 offseason, face plenty of flexibility with how they choose to attack their roster from here. Because the Dolphins are a team that gravitate towards diverse players with the ability to fill multiple roles, the team will be faced with shuffling the deck as needed if opportunities to bring in blue chip talent at any position comes their way. That includes the offensive line, where the Dolphins drafted three players in the first four rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft — thanks to Robert Hunt’s ability to play both guard and tackle. It also includes the secondary, where the Dolphins’ starting safeties both boast experience playing cornerback.
But as it relates to the 2021 NFL Draft, the Dolphins are (already) widely expected to invest their assets into the skill players. The team just acquired quarterback Tua Tagovailoa via the No. 5 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and their objective now is to surround him with as potent a supporting cast as possible.
But the latest “way too early” mock draft projection for the Miami Dolphins and the 2021 NFL Draft skips out on the early picks at wide receiver and running back. As a matter of fact, it skips out on the offense all together.
Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report has penned a 2021 NFL mock draft and, courtesy of the current betting odds, the Dolphins landed two top-10 overall picks (thanks in part to the Laremy Tunsil trade). And with those two picks, Sobleski pegged the Dolphins two primetime defenders:
No. 6 overall — LB Micah Parsons, Penn State
No. 10 overall — DT Marvin Wilson, Florida State
This pairing of defenders would certainly give the Dolphins one of the more fearsome defensive units in the league. Between the arrivals of Byron Jones and Kyle Van Noy, Miami’s existing nucleus of Christian Wilkins, Xavien Howard and Jerome Baker and these two starring defenders, the Dolphins would be well served to greet any and all comers with resistance. Such an approach to the 1st-round of the 2021 NFL Draft brings into question whether or not the Dolphins retained LB Raekwon McMillan and DT Davon Godchaux in free agency next offseason — but at the very least both players figure to be upgrades and would be cheaper for the Dolphins in the short-term.
That’s what is most exciting about the Dolphins at this juncture — they can let the talent come to them and shouldn’t feel boxed into picking any particular position or player based on need.