{"id":849273,"date":"2026-04-02T13:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849273\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:14:16","slug":"dolphins-heavily-linked-to-top-offensive-lineman-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849273\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins heavily linked to top offensive lineman in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Well, folks\u2026 it\u2019s April. So you know what that means.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The 2026 NFL Draft takes place at the end of this month! In fact, the first round kicks off exactly three weeks from today on Thursday, April 23rd. The Miami Dolphins hold two picks in the first round of this year\u2019s selection process \u2014 with their first selection scheduled to take place at pick #11.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There has been plenty of speculation as to who the Dolphins may be targeting with the 11th pick in the draft, but one expert sees them as the \u201csweet spot\u201d for University of Miami\u2019s Francis Mauigoa \u2014 one of the top offensive linemen available.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Tony Pauline \u2014 a longtime draft pundit who now writes for Essentially Sports \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/nfl-active-news-sources-browns-open-to-trade-down-draft-spencer-fano-lions-eye-kadyn-proctor\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">released an article<\/a> on Thursday predicting landing spots for the incoming rookie offensive tackles. About Mauigoa and the Dolphins, he had this to say:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">When it comes to Mauigoa, except for the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets, most of the teams at the top of the draft have spent significant time with him. I\u2019m told the sweet spot is the Chiefs with the ninth pick or the Miami Dolphins with pick No. 11, as both teams have spent an \u201cinordinate amount of time\u201d with the right tackle. Few believe Mauigoa gets past the Miami Dolphins, where he would be a Week 1 starter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For a team that desperately wants to build \u201cfrom the inside out,\u201d as newly hired general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan recently stated, landing Mauigoa would be an absolute home-run when it comes to that intention. Mauigoa \u2014 just 20 years old \u2014 excelled as a right tackle for the Hurricanes last season, but could easily slide inside to guard and give the Dolphins a dominant presence there while Austin Jackson is healthy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Of course, as Pauline states, Mauigoa is one of the more popular players available in the 2026 NFL Draft, so him making it to pick #11 is no certainty. But, if he does, it sounds like Sullivan and the Miami Dolphins would be ready to pounce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, folks\u2026 it\u2019s April. So you know what that means. The 2026 NFL Draft takes place at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2734,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-849273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miami-dolphins-draft","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116335297809493664","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}