Miami Dolphins 2020 NFL Rookie of the Year candidates

The Miami Dolphins could have an NFL Rookie of the Year on their roster.

If the NFL’s Rookie of the Year award was doled out by lottery, the Miami Dolphins with their 11 draft picks would have a great chance of putting one of their own on the stage come February. In reality, the Dolphins are still too much in the transition to field a ROY in 2020.

With Tua Tagovailoa sitting out most if not all of the 2020 season, the Dolphins’ best candidate for a ROY will be on the bench. Traditionally, we don’t see offensive lineman given the award so we can rule out Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, and Solomon Kindley. The NFL is not going to hand the “honor” to a long snapper so take out Blake Ferguson. That leaves six candidates from the Dolphins draft picks to win the award. Not including undrafted free agents who are even longer shots.

Here are those six candidates and what they would need to do to make that big of an impression on the rest of the league.

Secondary players.

Noah Igbinoghene: 

It will be tough for the Dolphins third first-round draft pick to make that kind of impression. He will be a slot corner to start and more than likely play in nickel packages. He will not, barring injury, be a full-time edge corner. His best chances are to see similar use that Miami tried to use last year with Minkah Fitzpatrick. Move him around and get him in position to make plays, and thus, make his own highlight real.

Brandon Jones

Another secondary player that is going to see limited action without injury giving him an opportunity. Jones, like Igbinoghene, will need to be put into positions where he can make plays because otherwise, he will not gain the recognition nationally that he would need for that award.

Defensive End

Raekwon Davis, Jason Strowbridge, Curtis Weaver

I didn’t want to lump them all together but honestly, how could you not? Each will be situational players in 2020 unless they jump off the depth chart and impress the coaching staff. In order to get even one vote, they need to be putting up impressive sack numbers.

If sacks are what we look at first, Weaver could be the guy that stands out the most but there are some who view him as too raw at this point so it would be surprising to see him get the snap counts to make that kind of an impact unless he is a situational pass rusher.

Although young, the Dolphins are deep at defensive end and we can expect a good rotation of fresh legs. There is no Chase Young name that pops out so, on a national level, these players will need to impress statistically because no one is going to be searching their names on Mondays. Not until they keep seeing their names on top of the stat sheets.

Only one Miami Dolphins offensive player has any shot at ROY.

Offense

Malcolm Perry

It would be a shock to see Perry get a vote for OROY. He is a 7th round draft pick that has no true set position. He will be a versatile utility tool and while that can be impressive, he will not win one-on-one voting with players at other positions unless he can put up the statistics in those same categories. With Jordan Howard and Matt Breida on the roster, touches will not come enough for the youngster to make a statement.