Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley have a lot of runway to turn the organization around. You know, as long as they make the right moves. Team owner Stephen Ross can only tolerate so much more losing.
Seriously. The Dolphins haven't won a playoff game since the 2000 season. We're up over a quarter-century now. Might be a good time to get it right!
Sullivan and Hafley are committed to maximizing their leeway to say the least. They were in lockstep about eating almost $100 million in dead money to move off quarterback Tua Tagovialoa this offseason. They traded star wideout Jaylen Waddle to Denver for a first-round pick. Myriad other veterans were shown the door one way or another.
This is what tanking looks like in the NFL, right?
Then again, Malik Willis is theoretically a huge upgrade over Tua at a fraction of the cost. Sullivan and Hafley hail from Green Bay, where the Packers have drafted and developed their way to perennial contention (minus the Micah Parsons trade). They're hoping to replicate that success with seven top-94 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
But the foundation of this ambitious Dolphins teardown needs to be built on something strong. All due respect to a young man I've never met and never will, one of their purported first-round targets shouldn't strike anyone as a future franchise cornerstone.
ESPN draft expert asserts overhyped SEC defender is squarely on Dolphins' draft radar
Jordan Reid of ESPN fame hopped on the Phinside The NFL podcast to discuss all sorts of Dolphins draft prospects and who the team could target. Unfortunately, Auburn edge defender Keldric Faulk popped up not only as an option with the 11th overall pick, but someone who Miami could trade up for from No. 30:
"He fits the timeline of the Dolphins. Somebody that's an NFL-ready run defender that you're really projecting what it could be a year or two from now. He's not an overly great pass rusher right now, but you're going to trust the tools; you're going to trust the athleticism. So, when you're ready to compete two, three, four years from now with this regime, he's gonna be ready to go, and he's only gonna be 25 years old. So I don't think Dolphins fans are discussing enough. [..] Whether it's at 11 or even 30, I could see them trading up from 30, if he slips to 18,19, 20."
In my still-finalizing big board, I have Faulk rated as the 78th overall prospect. That's up from 94th on my last public release, but still. Reaching for Faulk any time in the first round would be a colossal mistake by the Fins front office.
Yes, if any team can afford patience on a developmental prospect, it's Miami. But at a certain point, you need to put quality players on the field.
Reid's assertion here is that Keldric Faulk is a full-on Bruno Caboclo case. For the uninitiated, Caboclo was selected in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft, whereupon analyst Fran Fraschilla proclaimed that Caboclo was, in terms of making an NBA impact, "two years away from being two years away."
I use that phrase often as the site expert at Stripe Hype, because Faulk is precisely the type of needless first-round gamble the Cincinnati Bengals take almost every single year. Look no further than Shemar Stewart in 2025.
OK, fine, I'll further my point. Look further indeed toward 2023 first-rounder Myles Murphy, who finally started showing signs of quality play halfway through his third season.
In fact, I compared Stewart directly to Faulk mere weeks ago because speculation swirled that the Bengals may draft the latter.
Back on the topic of Faulk to the Dolphins, though. He's not a good pass rusher. Even his 2024 production as a pass rusher was a mirage.
A good chunk of Faulk's sacks (three of seven) and QB pressures (22 of 45) came against poor competition, such as Vandy's turnstile o-line, New Mexico, Alabama A&M, and the California Golden Bears. Fernando Mendoza was Cal's quarterback that year, but his o-line yielded among the most sacks in the nation.
Miami doesn't have a strong veteran to mentor Faulk in one-year Band-Aids Josh Uche and David Ojabo. Chop Robinson was a raw prospect in his own right who was trying to claw his way back from a sophomore slump. Doesn't sound like a great environment for Faulk to thrive in!
Now, drafting a raw right tackle like Arizona State's Max Iheanachor early on? I can get on board with that. Austin Jackson is there to help him along, or at the very least, lead by example. Otherwise, Sullivan's focus should be on the top cornerback prospects and adding multiple, pro-ready pass-catchers to help Willis not fall flat on his face as the new QB1.
Maybe you trade one of your four third-round picks to get into the latter part of Round 2 to draft someone like Keldric Faulk. Or pray he falls to the third round. Otherwise? Hard, hard pass.
Dolphins fans would pull up en masse to team headquarters to protest the Faulk introductory press conference if the pick Miami got from Denver for Waddle and more was used to acquire him. And they'd be 100% justified in doing so.