Kelly: Building Dolphins around a draft class is risky behavior

Babies usually crawl before they even begin the journey to walk.

That process actually begins with standing, and then wobbly steps as their balance kicks in.

In time, they’re walking, then running, which is when the real fun begins.

There’s a pattern of progression, and the exact same thing happens to most, if not all young NFL players as they get their pro legs under them.

Not even Dan Marino came out the draft guns blazing. He was good early, but not Dan Marino. Same for Jarvis Landry, Xavien Howard, Laremy Tunsil, Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane, the Dolphins’ recent draft studs.

This is important to point out because those expecting a young football team composed of rookies, second and third-year players, cheap NFL veterans signed to minimum pay contacts to run before they crawl need to brace themselves for stumbles.

And bruises.

The Miami Dolphins are rebuilding, and doing so they are leaning heavily towards building the 2026 roster around this year’s rookie class, which at the moment will feature 11 selections (for now, might be more if other pieces and players are traded).

That approach can become a risky proposition because of how slow most young players often develop.

And if you don’t believe this, think back to last year’s draft class.

The rookie defensive linemen were horrendous in the first quarter of the season because they couldn’t play technique sound football. When Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips and Zeek Biggers, the three defensive tackles Miami selected last year and put in prominent roles last season, got their bearings around midseason Miami’s defense started showing improvement.

Dante Trader Jr. should have been Miami’s starting safety all season, but the costly missed tackle he had in the deciding fourth-quarter drive of Miami’s 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers chipped away at his confidence, and the coach staff’s confidence in the former Maryland football and lacrosse standout, and cost him crucial playing time.

Trader still had talent, but he needed to be slow cooked. And might still.

No rookie got more action as a starter than Jonah Savaiinaea. But last year’s starting left guard, a player the Dolphins traded up to acquire because he was supposedly a sure thing, turned out to be one of worst performing offensive guard in the NFL last season.

Savaiinaea’s still projected as a starter heading into 2026 unless the Dolphins find a replacement in this upcoming draft. But the Dolphins have already invested 1,000-plus snaps into the former Arizona standout, so why turn back now?

Miami had to turn Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick into a nickel cornerback because Jason Marshall Jr., a fifth round draft pick they gifted that critical role to before the 2025 season started, showed he couldn’t handle it.

Every rookie struggled at some point last year, and it cost Miami games, wins.

The veterans on the roster knew this, and openly talked about it last season, waiting patiently for the rookies to turn the corner. They tolerated it because the team’s decision makers then didn’t give themselves any other options.

It appears new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan’s doubling down on the going young approach, which means patience will likely be required.

When the rookies did take steps forward, the 2025 team improved. But last season illustrates what happens when your roster is build around young, unproven talent, which the Dolphins new decision makers seem to be full invested in.

In an ideal world, this upcoming draft class will deliver the Dolphins five starting players. And hopefully some of them become Pro Bowl caliber talents like Achane, and pillars of the franchise like left tackle Patrick Paul. However, that’s not a reasonable expectation, no matter how many draft picks the Dolphins have. Or how early the selections are made.

History has taught me that rookies don’t know what they don’t know, and they also require a ton of hand holding by the coaches, and veteran players.

We don’t know much about this coaching staff. Let us hope they can develop talent better than Miami’s last two coaching staffs.

And if we’re being honest, the Dolphins franchise needs to put out a APB for veteran leadership outside of Jordyn Brooks, Tyrel Dodson, Zach Sieler and Aaron Brewer because of how last year’s roster have been gutted by trades, salary trimming, and veteran banishment.

While this rebuild is important, and necessary for the Dolphins to take the next step forward, potentially becoming a team that could win playoff game for the first time in 25 years, the journey is going to require patience as these rookies and second year player stumble around in the living room, knocking over furniture.

All we can hope is that once the legs settle, and walking becomes the norm, eventually they’ll run with grace and majesty.

Kelly: Building Dolphins around a draft class is risky behavior | Opinion

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