Jon-Eric Sullivan's inaugural draft class has been something of a divisive topic. The Dolphins are one of the most volatile teams when it comes to draft class grades, and for good reason. The NFL Draft is the ultimate guessing game, a fact that doesn't absolve a franchise from criticism where criticism is warranted. The data paints a troubling picture for at least one of the Dolphins' 13 choices.
In an effort to gauge how each general manager handled their draft inventory, we compared each player's actual draft positioning to their placement on Pro Football Network's consensus board. As a reminder, the board consolidates the opinions of a wide variety of draft evaluators to give us an idea of where a player should've gone in the draft.
Mississippi State tight end Seydou Traore represented the biggest reach of the Dolphins' entire class by being selected 172 spots before his placement on the consensus big board. What's more, he was actually the 15th biggest reach of all 257 players who heard their names called in the NFL Draft. This metric indicates that Traore was expected to be an undrafted free agent, whom the Dolphins instead drafted in the fifth round.
SeydouTraore joins a crowded TE room for the Miami Dolphins
Typically, teams would like to have all of their draft picks make the opening-day roster. That's especially true for the top five rounds. The reality is that by doubling up at the position with Traore and third-round pick Will Kacmarek, the Dolphins may have a hard time sneaking a fourth tight end onto their roster. As a reminder, Sullivan opted to re-sign 2025 breakout Greg Dulcich to a one-year deal in free agency, and he supplemented that move by signing Green Bay Packers import Ben Sims.
If we assume for a moment that Dulcich, Kacmarek, and Sims will be on the roster, that would leave Traore competing with Cole Turner, Jalin Conyers, and Zack Kuntz for a fourth tight end job, should the Dolphins opt to keep that many. It's nonetheless a risky proposition.
With the negative out of the way, Traore still boasts an enticing athletic profile that clearly drew the Dolphins' attention. His athletic feats garnered him a 9.42 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) that ranks 87th out of 1,472 tight end prospects since 1987. This score was bolstered by his elite 40-yard dash time (4.59) and vertical jump (40"), truly rare marks for a player at his position.
As fate would have it, two of the comparisons pulled for him based on athletic similarities were Kenyon Sadiq and Eli Stowers, otherwise known as the first two tight ends drafted in 2026. The problem Traore faces, particularly as a 23-year-old rookie, is that he is seemingly still learning the game. That is to be expected, considering he got his start in football late after attending the NFL Academy in London.
His 60.3 PFF grade was just about average, a disappointing development for a player entering his fifth year of college football. At the very least, he had consistent production in his last two seasons for the Bulldogs, totaling 69 receptions, 730 yards, and six touchdowns.
It remains to be seen if Traore will be able to make his mark with the Dolphins. The odds are seemingly stacked against him, though, with an athletic profile like his, it's not hard to find some hope.
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