April 28 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 NFL Draft. For those who may be fuzzy on the timeline, here's a refresher. The Miami Dolphins were coming off a dreary 6–10 season in 2015, and had made the ill-fated decision to hire Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase to be their new head coach. Not to be outdone, they also brought on sleeper agent, uh, I mean, former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, to be their executive vice president of football operations.
They opted to trade down with the Philadelphia Eagles from their original selection at No. 8, acquiring the No. 13 pick, linebacker Kiko Alonso, and cornerback Byron Maxwell in the process. Then, the unthinkable happened. The draft's top offensive lineman for the entire draft process, Ole Miss' Laremy Tunsil, saw a video surface on social media of him using a gas mask bong, sending him plummeting down the draft board.
Tunsil was an A+ prospect — excellent film, good measurables with rare movement skills to boot. The Dolphins' decision to draft him anyway turned out to be one of the best decisions in team history, simultaneously providing indisputable proof that even a blind squirrel (Mike Tannenbaum) can find a nut. That fateful decision — while not resulting in a literal statue for Tunsil outside Hard Rock Stadium — has become a transaction of legend.
Due to an unfortunate injury concern, the Dolphins could get the chance to draft another top tackle in Miami's Francis Mauigoa.
The Dolphins need to bypass fear and select Francis Mauigoa if he falls to them at No. 11
The Dolphins have a chance to repeat history on Thursday, and they need to be bold enough to take it. While not nearly as spicy, the draft-week news release regarding Miami Hurricanes offensive tackle Mauigoa's back injury could lead to a draft fall that rivals Tunsil's. The report from Adam Schefter states that Mauigoa has a herniated disc in his back that is currently asymptomatic, though if it were to worsen, surgery could sideline the hulking lineman for roughly three months.
Here's the thing. The Dolphins, while not ready to admit that they are tanking, are, well, tanking. The decision to embark on the 2026 season with $179 million in dead cap makes this abundantly clear. On one hand, should the Dolphins draft Mauigoa and encourage him to get the surgery preemptively, they are the NFL's farthest from "win now" team. Even if his recovery stretched into training camp, a short stint on the PUP list to begin the season wouldn't be the end of the world.
What's more, being a prisoner of the moment is rampant in NFL circles, and the Dolphins would be wise to capitalize on it. There are several other prospects (Jordyn Tyson, Aveion Terrell, Caleb Banks, for example) who have dealt with injuries in the pre-draft process. Should a strained hamstring in March affect a team's decision in April, and thus alter their future for the next four or five years? Of course not. Yet teams will shy away from a player with a minor injury simply because of the optics.
The Dolphins shouldn't be that team. Just like with Laremy Tunsil in 2016, Mauigoa has spent the entire draft process being the near-unanimous top offensive lineman. Jon-Eric Sullivan appears to be a no-nonsense kind of guy, someone who can see through an overzealous pre-draft smokescreen. There is no need to overthink the pick.
Whether Mauigoa winds up being traded for a haul for the ages in three years or he turns out to be a five-time Pro Bowler like Tunsil, the Dolphins would make out like bandits either way. They say that fortune favors the bold, so pull the trigger, Jon-Eric Sullivan. The tackle duo of Patrick Paul and Francis Mauigoa will pay dividends for the Miami Dolphins for the next decade — the elusive foundation they've been chasing for the last 25 years.
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