Miami Dolphins Hold Seven Top-94 Picks in 2026 NFL Draft

The Miami Dolphins enter the 2026 NFL Draft with seven selections among the first 94 picks — a concentration of early-round capital that few franchises assemble in a single offseason. That kind of draft-day leverage, published April 5 by Sports Illustrated’s Dolphins beat, gives Miami’s front office genuine flexibility to address multiple roster gaps at once or package picks upward for premium talent.

Accumulating seven picks inside the top 94 is not accidental. It reflects deliberate roster-building philosophy — one rooted in compensatory picks, absorbed trades, and a discipline to resist mortgaging future assets for short-term gains.

Miami Dolphins’ Draft Capital: How Did They Get Here?

Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier has assembled one of the deepest draft hauls the franchise has held in years, with seven of the first 94 selections on the board. The numbers reveal a pattern of patient accumulation. That approach stands in stark contrast to the aggressive trade-up mentality that defined earlier front-office regimes.

Seven top-94 picks means Miami covers roughly 74% of the first three rounds with a single team’s selections. The league average for a club without compensatory additions sits closer to three or four picks in that window. Grier’s haul positions the Dolphins as one of the most active clubs on Day 1 and Day 2.

Recent Miami drafts show a front office that has cycled through boom-and-bust results at skill positions. Whether Grier can convert this stockpile into genuine starters — rather than depth pieces who never crack the 53-man roster — is the sharper question hanging over Hard Rock Stadium this spring.

Round-by-Round: Who Does the Mock Target?

Sports Illustrated Dolphins publisher Alain Poupart, a credentialed member of the Miami press corps who has covered three Super Bowls and the annual NFL Scouting Combine, built a full three-round projection using a widely referenced draft modeling tool. Two picks stand out for scheme fit and positional value.

At Pick 43 in Round 2, Poupart slots Ohio State defensive tackle Kadyn McDonald to Miami. Interior defensive line depth has been an ongoing concern for coordinator Anthony Weaver’s unit. McDonald’s ability to occupy double teams at the point of attack targets a structural weakness that showed up in Miami’s run-defense numbers last season. A tackle who commands a center and guard simultaneously opens cleaner pass-rush lanes, cuts starter snap counts, and improves red zone efficiency against power run sets.

Round 3, Pick 75 brings LSU safety A.J. Haulcy into the projection. Miami’s secondary has carried depth questions behind its starters. Haulcy’s coverage profile fits the versatile, high-snap role that defensive coordinators prize in a Cover-2 or quarters shell. College safeties carry real transition risk in the NFL, but his LSU pedigree and third-down skill set make the pick strategically coherent.

What Miami’s Draft Strategy Reveals About Roster Priorities

Miami’s 2026 draft approach signals a clear intent to rebuild depth on defense — specifically along the interior line and at safety. Targeting McDonald and Haulcy in the top 94 suggests the coaching staff identified those spots as cap-efficient upgrades rather than free-agency targets. That logic holds given the Dolphins’ salary cap picture heading into the new league year.

A counterargument deserves attention. Seven picks in 94 selections creates a roster-management burden just as real as a talent shortage. Practice squad decisions, 53-man cutdowns, and snap-count distribution all grow more complex when a team floods its roster with rookies at once. Sequencing development carefully matters most at safety, where the NFL learning curve tends to be steep regardless of college production.

Defensive linemen and safeties on four-year rookie deals carry cap hits a fraction of veteran equivalents. That financial reality makes the McDonald and Haulcy projections coherent beyond pure talent evaluation — cheap, controlled contracts are the structural engine behind volume drafting at non-quarterback positions.

Miami Dolphins Preparation Window Before Draft Weekend

Miami Dolphins personnel staff will spend the next two weeks finalizing their board, with pre-draft visits, medical re-checks from the NFL Scouting Combine, and private workouts all feeding into final rankings. The defensive focus in Poupart’s projection reflects one credible path, but front offices routinely deviate when unexpected players fall or trade offers arrive on the clock.

Seven picks in the top 94 also gives Miami genuine trade-down leverage. A club needing to move into the late first or early second round could find the Dolphins a willing partner — particularly if the price includes a future first-round pick extending Miami’s asset base into 2027. Cornerback and wide receiver, two positions absent from Poupart’s three-round breakdown, could still factor into the final calculus depending on how the board develops.

The 2026 NFL Draft runs April 23-25 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Miami’s preparation window is narrow, and the decisions made over the next three weeks will define the franchise’s competitive arc for the next half-decade.

Key Developments in Miami’s 2026 Draft Preparation

• Poupart’s three-round projection was built using a widely referenced draft modeling platform that tracks pick availability and player rankings across all 32 clubs.
• Poupart’s press credentials include Senior Bowl coverage and annual Combine attendance in addition to three Super Bowls — adding evaluative depth beyond standard box-score scouting.
• McDonald’s Round 2, Pick 43 slot falls in the range where three-down defensive tackles historically generate the strongest return on draft capital relative to their eventual rookie-scale cap hit.
• Haulcy’s Round 3, Pick 75 projection represents one of four selections Miami holds across Days 2 and 3, giving the club multiple chances to address secondary depth.
• The full seven-pick haul spans Rounds 1 through 3, with the precise first-round slot not detailed in Poupart’s breakdown but confirmed as part of Miami’s total allocation.