The 2026 NFL Draft was a big one for the Miami Dolphins. After moving on from the majority of their key players from the previous era, new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan entered the draft with 11 picks. That gave Sullivan and new head coach Jeff Hafley a tremendous opportunity to jumpstart the rebuild.
Miami ultimately ended up making 13 selections, and while the group is an intriguing class on paper, there was one pick that already brought Sullivan a lot of criticism. That was the selection of wide receiver Caleb Douglas in the third round. Miami taking Douglas was immediately characterized as a reach, and that narrative has only grown stronger in the days following the draft.
NFL analyst Seth Walder asked five front office members, from different teams, about where six different players were selected and what level of reach they were. The three categories were not a reach, a light reach, and a true reach. Caleb Douglas was one of the six players, and he was the only one unanimously called a true reach.
Miami Dolphins’ draft pick Caleb Douglas called a true reach by NFL front office members
Walder defined a true reach as “Most teams likely did not have a player ranked in the ballpark they were selected.” In other words, no one was expecting Douglas to come off the board anytime soon, so everyone was questioning Miami. While there has been a lot of talk following the draft about consensus boards and teams ultimately having their own board, it’s also important to have a good grasp of how teams view prospects in order to maximize value.
If the league didn’t think Douglas was anywhere near a third-rounder, the Dolphins could’ve selected another talented player and still landed the receiver later in the draft. Either way, the draft is complete now, and time will tell who was right between Miami and the rest of the league.
Despite the criticism of where he was drafted, Douglas is an intriguing receiver. After two years at Florida, where he barely contributed, the wideout transferred to Texas Tech and posted back-to-back 800-yard seasons, scoring 13 total touchdowns. He now joins a Dolphins team that needs help at wideout, so he’ll have an immediate opportunity to prove Miami right and make everyone else eat their words.
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