Miami Dolphins
Fourteen Picks: Inside the Biggest Draft Class in the NFL
No team came out of the 2026 draft with more bodies than Miami. Fourteen picks across seven rounds, two of them in the first, and a class that touches nearly every position group on the roster.
Volume is a strategy. Here’s what it bought.
Kadyn Proctor, OT — No. 12, Alabama
The player. Miami took Proctor 12th in a first round defined by protecting the quarterback — nine offensive linemen went in the first 32 picks, seven of them tackles.
The complication. Proctor arrived with a scouting report that included his former coach. Nick Saban publicly described him as not really a self-starter, which is the kind of comment that follows a player into the league and gets quoted every time he has a bad game.
The counterargument is straightforward: teams don’t spend the 12th pick on physical tools they doubt. Miami evidently believes the motor question is a coaching problem rather than a character one.
Playing time projection. Immediate starter. Twelfth overall tackles play from Week 1.
Chris Johnson, CB — No. 27, San Diego State
Miami’s second first-rounder and the more straightforward of the two.
Playing time projection. Rotational corner immediately, with a path to starting depending on how the secondary settles.
Jacob Rodriguez, LB — No. 43, Texas Tech
The second-round linebacker, and the first of a striking pattern: Miami drafted an unusual number of front-seven and secondary players.
Playing time projection. Rotational, with special teams work guaranteed.
The receiver stack
Miami took three receivers: Caleb Douglas (No. 75, Texas Tech), Chris Bell (No. 94, Louisville) and Kevin Coleman Jr. (No. 177, Missouri), plus tight ends Will Kacmarek (No. 87, Ohio State) and Seydou Traore (No. 180, Mississippi State).
Five pass catchers in one class is a deliberate choice. Not all of them make the roster; the ones who do will have earned it against each other.
Playing time projection. Douglas has the clearest early path as the highest pick of the group.
The defensive back haul
Zakee Wheatley (No. 151, Penn State) and Michael Taaffe (No. 158, Texas) both arrived in the fifth round, joining Johnson from the first. Three defensive backs in one draft is a secondary being rebuilt in one weekend.
Four more across the front seven
Trey Moore, EDGE (No. 130, Texas), Kyle Louis, LB (No. 138, Pittsburgh), DJ Campbell, G (No. 200, Texas) and Max Llewellyn, EDGE (No. 238, Iowa) round out the class.
Three from around the AFC East
David Bailey, EDGE — New York Jets (No. 2). An AFC East matter, and Miami’s offensive line will meet him twice a year. The Jets took Bailey over Ohio State’s Arvell Reese with the second pick, betting on what he does rushing the passer. Proctor versus Bailey is the division’s most direct rookie matchup.
Caleb Lomu, OT — New England Patriots (No. 28). The other AFC East first-round tackle. New England traded up to get him, and he’s the college teammate of Spencer Fano, who went ninth to Cleveland — Utah put two tackles in the first round.
Fernando Mendoza, QB — Las Vegas Raiders (No. 1). The class headline. Mendoza went from an unknown in August 2025 to a Heisman winner and national champion at Indiana to first overall — the first Hoosier taken in round one since 1994. He opened camp behind Kirk Cousins.
What the volume actually means
Fourteen picks is what a roster reset looks like. Miami didn’t trade up for a franchise player; it accumulated chances across every level of the draft and will keep whichever ones hit.
That approach produces more busts than a top-heavy draft and more contributors too. It’s judged in 2028, not this October — with the exception of Proctor, who gets judged on Week 1.
The number that grades this draft
Proctor’s motor, because everyone will be watching it whether it deserves the attention or not. A 12th overall tackle who plays hard for seventeen weeks makes the Saban comment a footnote. One who doesn’t makes it the headline for three years.
Beyond that: how many of the fourteen are still on the roster in December. That number is the real verdict on this draft.
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