EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The best players will play for the Miami Dolphins this season; age or experience won't be a factor.First-year general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan promised as much one week before selecting a league-high 13 rookies in the 2026 NFL draft. After a seismic roster shift this offseason which left them with needs nearly across the board, the Dolphins will rely on their draft class to acclimate to the league quickly."We're going to play the best players. That's the beautiful part about the culture, the competition that's going to be at the forefront of everything we do," Sullivan said in April. "It doesn't matter if you're a second-round pick or you're an undrafted free agent, if you're an eight-year vet or a second-year player, if you give us the best chance to win on Sunday, you're going to be one of the 22 on the field."We're just not in a situation where we have the flexibility and the luxury to be choosy like that -- that's just the truth of it."In an effort to get "younger and cheaper," Sullivan released several highly-paid veterans and traded others, accumulating an NFL-record $179 million of dead cap space in the process.Miami must replace 12 departed starters from a season ago. Its plan to do so involves a mix of veterans on one-year deals and rookies.Defensively, the Dolphins will employ an entirely new secondary from 2025. They selected cornerback Chris Johnson in the first round and he will presumably start right away. He said he's embracing the pressure of turning around a secondary that allowed a league-high 72% of opponents' passes to be completed last season, and that his teammates have helped him acclimate."We've already got a brotherhood in the corner room or as [defensive backs] in general," Johnson said. "Coming in, you think guys are going to dislike you for whatever reason or different kind of rumors that you've heard growing up, but everybody here is welcoming me with open arms and nobody keeps any secrets from anybody."Fifth-round pick Michael Taaffe will also challenge for a starting job at safety, where the Dolphins are thin and have only one presumed starter in second-year player Dante Trader Jr.Miami also selected linebackers Jacob Rodriguez and Kyle Louis, and pass rushers Trey Moore and Max Llewellyn to round out their defensive draftees. Rodriguez, the team's second-round pick, is a "future green dot guy," Sullivan said, and someone who will "call the defense in time."Louis, the fourth-round pick out of Pittsburgh, was seen as a potential safety at the NFL level due to his size. The Dolphins plan to play him at linebacker, particularly in passing situations."[Coach Jeff Hafley] just told me that he was going to test my limitations," Louis said. "Whatever I can show him, that's where he going to figure some way out to put me at best."On the other side of the ball, first round pick Kadyn Proctor will slot in right away at left guard this season, with his size (6-foot-7, 358 pounds) making him a rarity at the position.Despite playing tackle at Alabama, he will play guard at least in his rookie season in order to get valuable playing time right away, and give the Dolphins their best starting five offensive linemen. It's difficult to evaluate linemen before the pads come on, but his work ethic during spring practices left an impression on his veteran teammates."The mindset he's coming in with is almost like a vet," Dolphins All-Pro center Aaron Brewer said. "He's looking at it as when he was a junior at Bama. Like he had young dudes come in, and he knows when you're young, you're spinning. So he's trying to do everything he can to get ahead of the eight ball, to not act as a rookie, and so I love that from him."His mentality when he comes out here, he's trying to work. He's trying to take in everything he can to be the best left guard next to me as possible."Rookie wide receivers Caleb Douglas, Chris Bell and Kevin Coleman Jr. hope to crack a thin wide receiver rotation, although Bell will start training camp on the active/non-football injury list as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in December.Bell was a potential late first-round pick before tearing his knee, and Sullivan acknowledged he wouldn't have been available at pick No. 94 if he were fully healthy. The Dolphins do not plan to rush him into action, but they do have big plans for him in the future."We would expect him to help us this year, but it's a long-term investment," Sullivan said in April. "We felt like the talent is very high. The upside is very high, and it's again, a long-term investment with kind of looking down the road. We think we got a really good one."An under-discussed rookie who should see ample playing time from the jump is third round pick Will Kacmarek. The former Ohio State product plays an unheralded role as a blocking tight end, but Sullivan believes he's already among the best in the NFL at what he does.Kacmarek described himself as a "dominant run blocker," which fits right into the Dolphins' focus on running the ball this season."He's an unsung hero. You know, he's a grimy, dirty, bite-your-face-off type of dude," Sullivan said. "He's going to be a difference maker for us in the run game which allows your offense to do so many different things ... I think he's elite as a blocker. When you watch the league and see tight ends block, I think this guy, day one, is on the upper echelon of that and will only get better."He is a subtly good wide receiver. Now I'm not going to tell you that he's going to be running away from people and doing all those things ... he's not a guy that can't help you in the passing game, I just think his superpower is the in-line blocking."Sullivan said after the draft that the theme for this class was "good football players who can do different things," but Hafley and his staff have been careful not to put too much on their rookies' plates from the start.Some players, like Johnson, will train at multiple positions but Hafley said they'll be able to hone in on where exactly each player fits once training camp opens next week."We've got to be careful overloading any young player, but we also have to get a feel for the players and see how much that they can handle," Hafley said in June. "Quickly we've seen that Chris (Johnson) is capable of handling multiple positions, so you'll see him on the inside, you'll see him on the outside. He'll be doing both. Proctor, you'll see on one side right now."So it's case by case, and I think that's our job as coaches is to figure that out. Some guys, we're still not sure yet. Practice has been limited. Team reps have been limited, and we'll figure that out in training camp."
