New Dolphins draft class could break a bad trend for Chris Grier's talent evaluation

Over the last five seasons, Chris Grier's drafting decisions for the Miami Dolphins have not been horrible, but there is a history that Grier is hoping will not repeat. In 2024, Grier drafted Chop Robinson, Patrick Paul, and traded into Round 4 to select Jaylen Wright. Each player comes with their own question marks, but where Grier needs to do better is in the middle rounds, and this is a trend that needs to change.

From Wright, to fifth-round pick Mohamed Kamara, to sixth-round corner Patrick McMorris and the first of two WRs taken in this year's draft, Grier has to hope that his coaches can develop these players.

Yup, 2023 wasn't a good year for Grier. When you have only four draft picks, the margin for error is much smaller. Grier hit, or so it seems, on De'Von Achane, but second-round pick Cam Smith is still a question mark, and Ryan Hayes is holding on, while Elijah Higgins is gone. If we look a little deeper into the last five years, the trend for busted mid-round picks is defining.

• 2022 - Erik Ezukanma - Round 4. Cameron Goode - Round 7. Skylar Thompson - Round 7.

• 2021 - Hunter Long - Round 3. Larnel Coleman - Round 7. Gerrid Doaks - Round 7.

• 2020 - Solomon Kindley - Round 4. Jason Strowbridge - Round 5. Curtis Weaver - Round 5. Blake Ferguson - Round 6. Malcolm Perry - Round 7.

• 2019 - Andrew Van Ginkel - Round 5. Isaiah Prince - Round 6. Chandler Cox - Round 7. Myles Gaskin - Round 7.

Thompson gets a pass as a third-string quarterback, but he has started in the playoffs. Blake Ferguson gets a pass as he is specifically a specialist. Van Ginkle worked out great and that is what Miami needs from their 2024 draft class mid-round selections. Getting Gaskin-type production would also benefit Miami.

The Dolphins have relied far too much on one-year deals to supplement the roster. Part of that is because they did not have deep draft classes and failed to develop players when they did. With that said, 2020 may have been a great draft with Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson, and Robert Hunt, but only Tua, Jackson, and Ferguson remain on the Dolphins roster.

This training camp will be the first for several Dolphins draft picks, and fans are excited to see what Malik Washington and Tahj Washington, as well as Kamara, can do. Still, their enthusiasm has to be tempered a bit because the Dolphins typically haven't hit on those types of selections.

In a few cases, experts believe the Dolphins have drafted "steals," like Kamara and Malik Washington, but they will have to show up and break a drafting trend that hasn't been good for Grier or the Miami organization.