Miami Dolphins Draft Needs & Mock Draft for 2024

As a lead-up to the 2024 NFL draft, we’ve broken down the current depth chart of every NFL team and identified the biggest draft and team needs for the Miami Dolphins.

You can find additional team-by-team draft needs articles and other draft content on our 2024 NFL Draft Hub.

Miami Dolphins Needs: Top Positions of Need in 2024

1. Offensive Guard
2. Defensive Line
3. EDGE

What Picks Do the Miami Dolphins Have in 2024?

The Miami Dolphins have 6 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, including:

• Round 1 (21)
• Round 2 (55)
• Round 5 (158)
• Round 6 (184)
• Round 6 (198)
• Round 7 (241)

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Miami Dolphins Draft Capital Stats

Our Sharp Draft Value Rank is a valuation of draft capital based on a combination of average performance delivered and average dollars earned on second contracts.

This is based on two public models: performance delivered based on draft slot (the AV model created by Chase Stuart) and contractual earnings in non-rookie deals based upon draft slot (the OTC model created by Brad Spielberger and Jason Fitzgerald).

• Dolphins Sharp Draft Value Rank: 31 of 32 teams
• Dolphins AV Model Draft Value Rank: 31 of 32 teams
• Dolphins OTC Model Draft Value Rank: 31 of 32 teams

Miami Dolphins Draft Value vs. Other Teams:

The Dolphins’ draft value is 34% lower than the league average of all 32 teams. 30 other teams have more draft value entering the 2024 NFL Draft.

Miami Dolphins Draft Prediction:

Brendan Donahue has the Dolphins trading down to select Jer’Zhan Newton (DL, Illinois) with the 27th overall pick in his most recent 2024 NFL Mock Draft.

Mock draft expert Ryan McCrystal believes the Dolphins could target an offensive lineman like Graham Barton (OL, Duke) with their top pick at No. 21 overall in the first round.

Miami Dolphins Strength of Schedule, 2024

The Miami Dolphins have the 8th-easiest NFL strength of schedule for the 2024 NFL season.

Miami Dolphins Offense: Depth Chart, Analysis & Draft Needs

Rich Hribar breaks down the offensive depth chart by position for the Miami Dolphins, identifying areas where the team could improve in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft.

Quarterback Depth Chart, Dolphins:

1. Tua Tagovailoa
2. Mike White
3. Skylar Thompson

Playing the first full season of his career, Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing yards (4,624) in 2023.

In the past two seasons with Mike McDaniel (and Tyreek Hill), Tagovailoa has posted touchdown rates of 6.3% (first in the league) and 5.2% (seventh).

Tagovailoa did have a career-high 2.5% interception rate (26th in the league).

Tagovailoa and the Dolphins have won more games than the season prior with him as a starter in each of his four seasons.

Although Tua has produced steady counting stats when on the field the past two seasons, he still is without a long-term contract as he plays on the fifth-year option this season.

There are still some “chicken or the egg” questions surrounding Tua’s stats and his offensive attachment since Miami has struggled in big games when forced to punch up in competition.

Miami is 17-4 against non-playoff teams the past two seasons, averaging 30.0 points and 276.1 passing yards per game against those opponents.

The Dolphins are 3-12 versus playoff teams the past two seasons, averaging 20.1 points and 240.2 passing yards per game in those contests.

Tua has thrown more than two touchdown passes in just one of those games.

That said, the Dolphins are also not in a spot where they are likely to be able to make a viable pivot even if they internally have any concerns themselves.

In all likelihood, Tagovailoa and Miami will reach an agreement. It just remains to be seen what the structure and salary look like.

With limited early-round draft picks, Miami is not going to be using one on a quarterback.

Running Back Depth Chart, Dolphins:

1. Raheem Mostert
2. De’Von Achane
3. Jeff Wilson
4. Salvon Ahmed
5. Chris Brooks
6. Alec Ingold (FB)

The Dolphins can the football, even despite their situation on the offensive line.

In 2023, Miami running backs ranked:

• 1st in yards per rush (5.5 YPC)
• 1st in EPA per rush (0.10)
• 1st in success rate (45.7%)
• 1st in the rate of runs that gained 10 or more yards (15.3%)
• 1st in yards after contact per rush (3.85)
• 3rd in the rate of runs that resulted in a first down or touchdown (25.9%)

At age 31, Raheem Mostert set career highs with 234 touches, 1,187 total yards, and 21 touchdowns.

The only running backs to ever score more touchdowns in a season at age 30 or older are Priest Holmes (27 touchdowns at age 30) in 2003  and John Riggins (24 scores at age 34) in 1983.

The initial plan for Mostert last season may have been less work, but Miami dealt with players in and out of the lineup in their backfield all season long.

Mostert himself even missed two games to close the season.

Coming off of back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns in Miami, the Dolphins added a year to his contract, which was originally set to expire after this season.

Miami selected De’Von Achane in the third round last spring and found offensive lightning.

Achane totaled 997 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns on just 130 touches.

He averaged an insane 7.8 yards per rush.

No other running back in league history has ever averaged more than 7.0 yards per carry with 100 or more rushes in a season.

Achane had a run of 10 or more yards on 21.6% of his runs as a rookie.

The only other player with a higher rate in the 2000s was Alvin Kamara back in 2017.

While Achane was electric whenever he was available, that availability was an issue as a rookie.

He had a shoulder injury in the preseason that put him behind the curve to open the season, had an MCL sprain that caused him to miss four weeks in the middle of the season, then he re-aggravated that injury in his first game back after just three total snaps. Achane then closed the season with a toe injury.

At the end of his rookie season, Achane missed six total games and had two other games in which he totaled nine snaps.

While a healthy version of Achane looks bonkers if you could extrapolate his 2023 efficiency, his size (5-foot-9 and 188 pounds) could be a factor and restrictor plate on ever being maxed out with immense volume.

With a sturdy one-two punch at the top of the position, Miami still has reliable backs Jeff Wilson and Salvon Ahmed under contract for 2024, while Chris Brooks is signed through 2025.

Wide Receiver Depth Chart, Dolphins:

1. Tyreek Hill
2. Jaylen Waddle
3. Braxton Berrios
4. River Cracraft
5. Erik Ezukanma
6. Tanner Conner
7. Anthony Schwartz
8. Braylon Sanders
9. Mathew Sexton

Miami remains top-heavy at wide receiver, relying on incredible output from Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.

In 2023, Hill and Waddle combined to account for 50.9% of the team targets. Hill received 171 looks while Waddle had 104. The next closest player on the team had 43.

Hill has been incredible over his two years in Miami.

At one point in 2023, he was pacing to challenge the single-season record for receiving yardage, but a late-season ankle issue slowed him down just a bit and he fell shy of that record.

Hill still ended up leading the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards and 13 touchdown receptions.

He has been so good over his two seasons in Miami that he has even been top-10 in MVP voting in each season as a wide receiver.

Hill has been targeted on 32.0% and 36.6% of his routes the past two seasons, the highest rates of his career.

He just turned 30 with three huge years left on his contract, carrying cap hits of $31.3 million, $34.2 million, and $56.3 million.

Given that the team will likely extend Tua and will need to work out something Waddle, we can bet against Tyreek playing that 2026 season at the current cap number.

Working through a core injury to start the season, sustaining a concussion in Week 2, and then suffering a late-season ankle injury, Waddle ended up missing three games in 2023, but he still managed to catch 72 passes for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns.

Waddle has now gone over 1,000 yards receiving in each of his three seasons in the league.

He is in the final year of his rookie contract, with a fifth-year option available in 2025 at $15.6 million, something we can bet on Miami picking up before the May 3rd deadline.

While Waddle has played more Robin to Hill’s Batman in the past two seasons, we still have seen a glimpse of the upside he presents when tasked to be the lead option.

Waddle ran 101 pass routes last season with Hill off of the field.

On those plays, he was targeted on 35.6% of his routes while averaging 3.68 yards per route run.

When Hill missed Week 15 entirely, Waddle caught eight passes for 142 yards and a touchdown against the Jets.

After Hill and Waddle, this wide receiver room falls off a cliff.

There is not an above-average starter among this group should Miami be pressed to play a long stretch of the season without Hill or Waddle.

I am not listing wide receiver as a necessity because of Hill and Waddle.

Miami does not have to go after a wideout with their front-end draft capital since they are one of the few teams remaining in the league that uses a fullback and does not play 3WR sets often (30th in the NFL 11 personnel in 2023), but they could use more talent here behind their two lead options.