The Miami Dolphins’ NFL Draft is complete — the team has successfully added 12 total talents to the roster (if you include RB Matt Breida) throughout the course of the last three days. It serves as the culmination of a difficult 2019 year — in which the Dolphins willingly took a step back and decided to invest themselves into a rebuilding process. That rebuild isn’t complete, but it sure as hell looks different now than it did this time last year — and that’s a great thing.
Consider this. The Miami Dolphins were a hotspot for undrafted free agents at the end of the 2019 NFL Draft. Why? Because this team was so barren and lost for talent that the team was a guarantee for snaps if you could make the roster. And from the Dolphins’ point of view, undrafted free agents were the lottery’s equivalent to free scratch offs. They’re super cheap and despite a low hit rate, there’s enough there to keep you interested.
Sure enough, Miami got a few winning tickets out of the UDFA rat race last year. The most notable are WR Preston Williams and CB Nik Needham.
This year’s UDFA plan is much different for Miami. It’s almost non-existent. The current undrafted free agents currently scheduled to be heading to Miami are as follows:
DL Ray Lima, Iowa State
DL Benito Jones, Mississippi
OG Donnell Stanley, South Carolina
DE Tyshun Redner, Middle Tennessee State
OL Nick Kaltmayer, Kansas State
WR Kirk Merritt, Arkansas State
WR Matt Cole, McKendree
TE/DE Bryce Sterk, Montana State
This group doesn’t have hot, buzzy names. This group probably sees a practice squad stash and perhaps one player make the active roster. And that is the latest and greatest sign of progress yet. Because when UDFAs don’t choose to come play for your team, it is typically for one of two reasons — either your team is considered a complete disaster from a culture standpoint or it is because they don’t feel they have a great chance to showcase themselves on your team.
We know the Dolphins are anything but a disaster, so what does that tell you about this modest crop of undrafted free agents?