Though he remains the Dolphins’ lone unsigned draft pick, Miami selected Arizona offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea with pick No. 37 overall in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.

The Dolphins traded with the Raiders to move up 11 spots to select Savaiinaea, too. Miami dealt away its second-rounder (No. 48), its third-rounder (No. 98) and its fourth-round choice (No. 135) in exchange for the Raiders’ second-round selection and a fifth-round draft pick that the Dolphins used to select Maryland defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.

Both of the selections the Dolphins packaged with No. 48 overall to move up with the Raiders were awarded by the NFL as compensatory selections earlier this year. The No. 98 pick was given to Miami for the departure of guard Robert Hunt and the No. 135 overall was awarded for the loss of defensive tackle Christian Wilkins.

After an offseason where Miami watched Robert Jones and Isaiah Wynn exit in free agency, the Dolphins are banking on Savaiinaea morphing into one of their starting offensive guards opposite free agent signee James Daniels.

Stats: Started 36 games from 2022-24 (16 at right tackle, 15 at right guard, 5 at left tackle)

Savaiinaea was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 choice in 2022 and 2023 before garnering honorable mention All-Big 12 status in 2024.

What the Dolphins said after drafting Jonah Savaiinaea

“For us, just candid, this was a player we had targeted, we spent a lot of time with, we had him in on a 30 visit, spent a lot of time at all-star games,” Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said of Savaiinaea in April. “Butch (Barry) went out and spent a day with him and had a private workout with him. This is a player that we were very convicted on for what he can add with his size, his power, he’s got versatility.

“He’s played tackle, guard. So he’s an athletic kid, and as we spent time getting to know him he was the right kind of guy for us. He loves ball, he’s very competitive, so for us it was important as we were going through the board that he was the highest rated guy we had. And so the opportunity arose and we took it.”

Jonah Savaiinaea’s comments on joining the Dolphins

“Man, this is like a dream come true. Just being in the league and knowing that this our job now for you. It’s not like a regular practice; you’re here to take someone’s job. So just having that mindset and being in this organization, being around great people, I’m just excited to get going. We’ve got practice coming up, so it’s something I’m looking forward to,” Savaiinaea said in May during Dolphins rookie minicamp.

The 6’5, 326-pound offensive lineman shared his goals at the time for minicamp.

“Obviously we just got here, I haven’t done anything yet. So obviously I’m trying to prove myself to the vets that they can count on me, just earning their trust, because they don’t care if you’re drafted or undrafted or you just got signed.

“They want to see you putting in that winning mentality here. We want guys that want to win here, so just being able to be a sponge and soak in all the information from them. Taking a look around, who are my vets, looking at what they’re doing and just taking it from them, that’s what is really important for me,” Savaiinaea said.

Dolphins’ mandatory minicamp update

“He’s showed up every day just ready to work. He’s very physical, very fast guy, and he gets better every day. I think he’ll be great in the system,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said during Miami’s mandatory minicamp.

McDaniel didn’t tip the Dolphins’ hand on which side Savaiinaea might start at, but he did comment on some of the thought process on how the organization might settle that moving forward with Daniels and Savaiinaea.

“Right now for James [Daniels], he’s very capable of doing either side, but when you have a rookie in the mix, you kind of have to settle at first, settle down the rotation and movement of people all over the place so you can get a realistic evaluation and relative to all the players on the team and allow a football player to play football and slow the game down.

“So stick Jonah at one position; OK, that kind of tempers down some of the multiplicity, and then once you feel comfortable with the people competing for jobs, you start rotating them more. You’re really looking for a reason to keep someone exactly one place. Otherwise, it’s always better to have them versatile for any sort of scenario that you can’t really forecast. But with rookies, we like to start in a spot and get them to grow from there,” McDaniel said.

As the Dolphins move toward training camp, the urgency to ink Savaiinaea increases. Miami is entering a pivotal season in the McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa era and it needs Savaiinaea in the facility ready to get to work as soon as possible.