Miami Dolphins: 3 wide receivers Dolphins passed on for Josh Rosen

#2. A.J. Brown

Another candidate on our list is someone who has actually outperformed Metcalf over their first two seasons in the NFL, much the way he did when the two were college teammates.

As much fanfare as there was about Metcalf and where he would be drafted, the best wide receiver coming out of Ole Miss that season was AJ Brown. Brown was a junior who had just put together back-to-back monster seasons. In 23 games over his final two years, he put up well over 2,500 yards and caught 17 touchdowns, the yardage number being far and away the highest in the SEC.

In retrospect, there probably shouldn’t have been any receiver drafted ahead of Brown that year. His stats were arguably the most impressive, and achieved the numbers that he did by playing opposite to another high-round draft pick. But he would wind up being the fourth wide out drafted in 2019. Ahead of him were Marquise Brown, K’Neal Harry, and Deebo Samuel, two of whom have been solid, though not near the level of Brown and his production.

The Dolphins could have had him. Miami’s original second round pick was the 48th overall, and Brown was taken by the Titans with the 51st. His collegiate success has carried over immediately to the NFL, and he has put up two 1,000+ yard seasons to begin his career. His next touchdown reception will be his 20th. But much of Brown’s success can be shared or attributed to a familiar face to Dolphins’ fans in Ryan Tannehill. The quarterback who spent his first seven seasons in Miami gets to enjoy the explosive wide receiver instead. At least somebody is happy.