There are just 7 NFL games left to play this season before the entire league transitions into full offseason and team building mode. Bring it on, we say. The sooner the better. The Dolphins are stocked to the teeth with ammunition and, now with just a handful of games left on the schedule, most of Miami’s 2020 NFL Draft picks are locked in. Barring a trade, that is.
Most of the damage done in the NFL Draft is done within the first 75-100 selections of the order. Anything beyond there is the equivalent of a lottery ticket in many cases. Miami? They’ll have six selections before the start of the “lottery phase” — these are the picks the Dolphins have to make count.
Five of the six are locked in the order. Here’s what we know.
1st-Round
Miami pick: The Dolphins will pick 5th via their own 1st-round pick. The Dolphins entered Week 17 needing a miracle to land any higher in the order — and got no help from any of the possible teams that could have slid in front of them. The icing on the cake? Miami stole a win from the New England Patriots anyway.
Pittsburgh pick: The Dolphins will pick 18th via their trade of DB Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers. When Miami made this move, it looked like the Dolphins could land in the top-10 with two picks. But the Steelers got hot and stole a few games against bad competition. Thankfully, Pittsburgh still missed the playoffs.
Houston pick: The only pick in the top-100 left undecided. This pick will be no better than 25th and could fall as low as 32nd with a Texans Super Bowl victory.
2nd-round
Miami pick: The Dolphins will pick 39th with their own pick in the 2nd-round. The Dolphins lose two spots thanks to rotational tiebreakers with the Chargers and Panthers, both who pick ahead of Miami in the 2nd-round after Miami took the top spot out of the 5-11 teams in the 1st.
New Orleans pick: This pick will fall 56th in the overall order, leaving the Dolphins a minor move away from having five top-50 picks in this year’s class. It’s a great year for that kind of volume, too — the class has tons of good offensive linemen, pass rushers and cornerbacks.
3rd-round
Miami pick: Miami’s last pick in the top-100 will fall 70th overall, nearly a 2nd-round pick.
Compensatory picks
Thanks a lot, Ja’Wuan James! James left Miami this past spring to sign with the Broncos — inking a record setting contract in the process. That move had the Dolphins poised to pick up an extra 3rd-round pick, which could have squeaked into the top-100.
That’s off the table. James played in just 3 games this season for the Broncos, negating the Dolphins’ loss to the point where he’ll now be considered for a 4th-round compensatory pick, which will assuredly fall outside the top-100.
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