Ted Ginn is longest tenured Miami Dolphins draft pick left in the NFL

The Miami Dolphins are rebuilding and one look back at their drafts over the last ten years is a reason why they are rebuilding.

Consider that the longest tenured Miami Dolphins draft pick still in the NFL is the team’s former first-round selection, Ted Ginn, Jr. That alone says a lot about the Dolphins draft success or failures.

Ted Ginn was drafted in the 2007 draft by Randy Mueller and Cam Cameron. His stay in Miami wasn’t a good one or a long one. Ginn lasted three years with the Dolphins but after he left, he found a niche with other teams and even went to the Super Bowl. Ginn is still in the league today which still surprises many.

The next longest tenured former draft pick is Chad Henne taken in 2008. A back-up most of his career since leaving the Dolphins, Henne has managed to carve out a successful career being that back-up. He will start the 2019 season with his third NFL team after leaving the Jaguars in 2018 to join the Chiefs.

In both cases, only those two players still play in the NFL today from those two draft classes. With the abrupt in-game retirement of 2009’s draft pick Vontae Davis, the 2009 draft class has no one left in the NFL.

The longest tenured Miami Dolphin is Reshad Jones who was taken in round five of the 2010 draft but his future beyond the 2019 season with the Dolphins is uncertain. He remains the only draft pick from that class that played in 2018 with John Jerry having played his last in 2017.

2011 was a better year for the Dolphins who still watch two of their draft picks play. Mike Pouncey was a Pro Bowl center for the Chargers last season and Charles Clay now plays for the Cardinals.

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Still, only two players remain on NFL rosters from that class as well and the other four draft picks from that class didn’t last long in the league with only two making it to the 2015 season.

Four members of the 2012 class still have work in the NFL. Ryan Tannehill was traded to the Titans, Lamar Miller is coming off a Pro Bowl season with the Texans, Olivier Vernon is now with the Browns, and Rishard Matthews played for both the Titans and Jets in 2018.

Nine players were drafted by the Dolphins in 2013 and of those nine, five still have hopes of playing in 2019. Dion Jordan will serve another suspension and it is unlikely he finds his way back to the NFL while Jamar Taylor, Dion Sims, Mike Gillislee, and Caleb Sturgis all had work in 2018.

The years following should have provided the Dolphins with key building blocks but instead, the Dolphins either missed or gave up on players. Walt Aikens remains with Miami but the rest of the draft class are either out of the league or gone to other teams including first-round pick Ja’Wuan James, and 2nd rounder Jarvis Landry.

Only two players remain in Miami from the 2015 class with DeVante Parker and Bobby McCain holding spots on the roster. McCain has become a solid contributor while Parker is still a big question mark.

The good news is that it has gotten a lot better for the Dolphins since 2015. Four players remain from the 2016 class including Laremy Tunsil and the recently extended Xavien Howard as well Kenyan Drake and Jakeem Grant. In 2017, a class that featured seven draft picks, all but Isaac Asiata remain with the team.

All of the 2018 class remain on the team but it now becomes the job of Brian Flores and his staff to get the best out of them and evaluate the situations with each to make sure they fit with the rebuild and not all of them will make it to the final 53 man roster or the practice squad.

Good drafting is paramount in building a winning franchise and as we can see, the Dolphins failures to do so have led us to this rebuild but the good news is that the latest draft classes appear to be solid investments.

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