It’s a great year to have three first round picks in the NFL Draft — let’s get that out of the way right now. The Dolphins will have no shortage of talent at their disposal when they go on the clock to make their picks this April — and there are a boatload of players who can help this team turn things around in South Florida.
But the last few days have seen the NFL Draft take some hits at key positions of interest for the Dolphins — which should at the very least help alter Miami’s approach to the free agent pool.
Over the last week, Miami has seen several key prospects announce their intent to return to school for the 2020 college football season at two positions of need: cornerback and interior offensive line.
- Oklahoma center Creed Humphrey
- Stanford cornerback Paulson Adebo
- Tennessee guard Trey Smith
- Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade
Each of these players were considered to be potential top-50 prospects — and they’re all back into the 2021 NFL Draft. Which means Miami’s margin for error in hoping to address these positions in the draft got significantly more slim, and the in the case of the center position probably took it off the board as a realistic option for Miami in the first 50 picks.
Fortunately, this Dolphins team has no shortage of needs and won’t have a problem finding qualified picks with each of their selections. But it certainly does sting to see some plug and play rookie prospects fall off the draft board.
