A look back at the Miami Dolphins NFL Draft history
By George Keim
On Thursday evening the National Football League will hold its 83rd annual players draft. The Miami Dolphins were established in 1966 meaning this will be the franchise’s 53rd draft.
The Miami Dolphins have made it clear that a rebuild has started taking place and the 2019 draft will go a long way in determining how successful this rebuild will be. The Dolphins must have an overall successful draft and making the right decision in the 1st round will set that stage. Unfortunately, first round success hasn’t been a strength for the Dolphins.
Let’s look at some of the hits and misses over the years. There have been nine drafts where the Dolphins did not hold a first round pick and five where they held two first round picks. So overall the Dolphins have made a selection in 49 of the 53 drafts they’ve been around for.
Looking at the good, the Dolphins have selected three players in the first round who eventually were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Griese ‘67, Csonka ‘68, and Marino ‘83). At first glance you might think that that’s not great, but as I looked at a few other franchises over that same time period, that’s about average (Steelers 5, Raiders 4, 49ers 2, Patriots 3 assuming Brady).
The next tier of drafted players (only 1st rounders) are those that were selected to multiple Pro Bowls while with the Dolphins. This is where things start to go down hill. Of the 46 remaining players (taking out the three Hall of Famers), Dolphins’ first round selections have accounted for a total of 26 Pro Bowl seasons, 23 of them came from six players (Webb 7, Stanfill 5, Long 4, Pouncey 3, Foster 2, Bowens 2). Troy Vincent made 5 Pro Bowls but unfortunately they all came during his time with the Eagles. It’s not a stretch to think that most fans feel that a first round selection, especially one picked in the top half of the round, should be considered a future Pro Bowl caliber player.
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The Dolphins hit rock bottom from 1997 to 2003. This seven-year stretch produced the following results in the first round, Yatil Green, John Avery, No Pick, No Pick, Jamar Fletcher, No Pick, and No Pick. A stretch Dolphin fans would surely like to forget. It’s not a coincidence that the franchise’s playoff droughts began in the years following this run.
I understand that not every first round pick is going to work out as we would like but over the past 53 years the Dolphins have only picked what I would consider an impact player 25% of the time. That is just not good enough. If the Dolphins’ current brass want to get this rebuild off to a successful start then that first step will be selecting an impact player Thursday night when the commissioner steps to the podium and says “with the 13th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft the Miami Dolphins select……”