The 2020 NFL Draft has come and gone and with it the Miami Dolphins have brought a dozen reinforcements to the roster in an effort to get this team ready to play winning football in 2020. But, as is typically the case with the NFL Draft, the attention has already begun to shift towards next year’s event and which talents might be able to provide the next big boost in talent necessary to again level up the team.
For the Miami Dolphins, 2021 mock drafts will continue to be a fun exercise thanks to the Houston Texans — Miami fans will be rooting against the Texans as hard as they’ll be rooting for the Dolphins. With Miami owning the Texans’ 1st- and 2nd-round draft selections next year, Miami will again be an early repeat picker in these mock draft exercises.
The latest, from USA TODAY’s Draft Wire, has the Dolphins ending up with two selections inside the top-15 of next year’s draft.
Pick No. 7 – Miami Hurricanes DE Greg Rousseau
The Dolphins will be more familiar with Rousseau than anyone thanks to his choice of colleges, he’s right in the Dolphins’ backyard. And with 15.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss in 2019, Rousseau is hard to miss on the field. Listed at 6-foot-6 and 251 pounds, the Hurricanes’ junior pass rusher exploded onto the national scene in 2019.
His fit with the Dolphins will likely be predicated on whether or not the Dolphins’ rejuvenated pass rush finds the pocket of opposing passers easy to collapse next season or not — but if they still struggle to heat the quarterback Rousseau may fit as a Chandler Jones/Jamie Collins type fit for this defense.
Pick No. 13 – Clemson Tigers WR Justyn Ross
The Dolphins’ pass catching room is filled with plenty of questions. Can DeVante Parker and Mike Gesicki sustain their improvement in 2019 for another year to solidify their standing? Will Preston Williams return to full health? Can the Dolphins get production from the oft injured Jakeem Grant for a full season or will the team need more speed?
If the team still has more questions than answers after the 2020 season, Ross may well be a good fit for Miami’s spacing-based offense. Ross’ production regressed in 2019 (he had 1,000 yards in 2018 as breakout freshman but saw his yards per catch drop to 13.1 and his yardage drop to 865 last year for the Tigers. A bounce-back season would make him a strong candidate.