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The 2021 NFL offseason is set to kick into high gear — with a two month sprint that will feature the NFL league calendar opening and the NFL Draft. All 32 rosters across the league are set to look a whole lot different. Each team will have an opportunity to look for inspiration for the 2021 NFL Draft from their prior decisions; moves to make and moves to avoid alike.
Pro Football Focus has assembled each and every NFL team’s best NFL Draft decision of the past five years, highlighting the most monumental choice each team has made in recent memory for a fun look down memory lane at some critical selections.
For the Miami Dolphins, Pro Football Focus credited Miami for making a decision that the team is still reaping the benefits of: ending offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil’s slide out of the top-10 selections back in 2016.
“The Dolphins were willing to stop Laremy Tunsil’s slide at 13th overall in 2016 and have been reaping the benefits ever since. He was not only a quality starting left tackle for the Dolphins for two seasons, but he also netted the team the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft after they traded him to the Texans in 2019. That’s about as slam-dunk a pick as you’ll see outside the quarterback position.” — Mike Renner, Pro Football Focus
PFF did not hand out honorable mention choices for each team, but one would think another selection from 2016 would rank highly on a list of runner-ups for Miami — the Dolphins drafted CB Xavien Howard in the 2nd-round of the same year.
But there is little denying the domino effect that drafting Tunsil has brought the Dolphins. Miami enjoyed three seasons of solid play from the former Ole Miss Rebel before trading him for an embarrassment of riches to the Houston Texans, who promptly folded under poor leadership from head coach/general manager Bill O’Brien between 2019 and 2020. The Dolphins chose the right dance partner in their deal with the Texans, which has gifted the team the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft as a direct result and extension of that 2016 decision to draft Tunsil amid character concerns after a video of him in a bong gas mask leaked in the moments before the start of the 2016 draft.
But for as fruitful of a selection as that decision was, Miami’s ultimate payout will be decided with how they choose to invest the pick this April. The team should have no shortage of options while sitting that high in the order. But a booming choice that changes the dynamic of the team could put the decision to draft Tunsil in prime position to be an all-time franchise monumental pivot point.