{"id":850964,"date":"2026-04-03T07:17:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T07:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850964\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T07:17:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T07:17:23","slug":"hafleys-plan-another-dolphins-30-visit-and-draft-chatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/850964\/","title":{"rendered":"Hafley\u2019s plan, another Dolphins 30 visit and draft chatter"},"content":{"rendered":"

A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Thursday:<\/p>\n

\u25aa If there\u2019s one position where the Dolphins could begin the season with only players on their team last year \u2014 and still be perfectly fine \u2014 it\u2019s tailback.<\/p>\n

But you might have heard that this Dolphins regime likes competition. So it\u2019s no surprise they\u2019re canvassing the list of draft prospects at that position, too.<\/p>\n

Among the backs that intrigue them from this class: Indiana\u2019s Kaelon Black. He\u2019s one of the maximum 30 nonlocal players who have been scheduled for a predraft 30 visit at Dolphins headquarters, as Aaron Wilson reported.<\/p>\n

Black helped anchor the national champion Hoosiers\u2019 ground game last season, rushing 186 times for 1,040 yards (5.6 per carry) and 10 touchdowns. He rushed for 79 yards, including a 20-yard rush on third-and-7 to extend a touchdown drive, in Indiana\u2019s 27\u201321 win against UM in the national championship game. Black played his first two seasons at James Madison and his past two at Indiana.<\/p>\n

Black, who is 5-9 and 208 pounds, is a \u201c\u2019get what is blocked\u2019 runner with good size and above-average aggression as a finisher,\u201d NFL.com\u2019s Lance Zierlein said, adding that \u201cBlack split carries in Indiana\u2019s downhill attack and generally kept the run on its designed track. He lacks ideal burst and utilizes too many stutter steps in processing the run lane while headed to the hole.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not elusive inside but will add yards with his tackle-breaking and fall-forward running style. Black is a grinder with below-average third-down value, but he could create competition for a RB3\/4 role in camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u25aa Coach Jeff Hafley gave a comprehensive answer when asked how he\u2019s going to hold his players accountable, which was a problem at times during the Mike McDaniel era (my words, not Hafley\u2019s).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou make it very black and white \u2014 these are the things we talked about together, this is the standard that we want, this is how we\u2019re going to hold each other accountable and then we\u2019re going to hold you to it,\u201d Hafley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be, \u2018Hey, this is what we say we want, but then we\u2019re going to not show up on time and we\u2019re not going to put in the extra work and we\u2019re not going to do the little things that we\u2019re saying.\u2019 That\u2019s not how it\u2019s going to work. It\u2019s going to be a shared vision and then my job and our job as coaches is to hold them to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to sit down and have that conversation, and then don\u2019t get mad at me [if I get upset] when it\u2019s 110 degrees and you don\u2019t feel like doing it anymore. I\u2019m going to make you do it because you told me when you were comfortable in this meeting room, in air conditioning, that that\u2019s what you wanted and I\u2019m going to remind you of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafley wants his players to tell him \u201chow great you want to be, tell me what your goals are.\u201d And then \u201cI\u2019m going to do everything in my power; so you better be on time or [if not] you\u2019re full of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafley said he will \u201cbe very direct and honest with the players and don\u2019t give them any gray area. I think the players, all the great ones that I\u2019ve been around, they respect that. I\u2019m going to be demanding and I\u2019m not going to demean them; I\u2019m just going to push them because they\u2019re going to want to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u25aa We hear Iowa\u2019s Mark Gronowski, who was the MVP of the FCS championship game in both 2023 and 2024 for South Dakota State, met with a top Dolphins executive in recent weeks after not being invited to the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n

He went 49-6, with 93 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in four seasons at South Dakota State.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t as productive in his one season at Iowa, finishing with 10 TDs and 7 interceptions, with a 63% completion rate. But he rushed for a Big 10-leading 16 rushing touchdowns on 4.2 yards per carry in his one year in the Big 10, and he has good size (6-4) and strength. Gronowski was MVP of the East\/West Shrine game and could be a Dolphins option in the seventh round or after the draft.<\/p>\n

\u25aa ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller served up a seven-round mock draft, an exercise that offers clues on what players could go in what range.<\/p>\n

He has Miami taking Southern Cal receiver Makai Lemon over Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy, Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano, Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq and Arizona State receiver Jordyn Tyson, among others, at No. 11.<\/p>\n

Lemon had 79 receptions for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an elite middle-of-the-field receiver who will immediately help [Malik] Willis in his first stint as a full-time NFL starter,\u201d Miller said. \u201cLemon\u2019s yards-after-catch ability is elite and second only to his hands \u2014 he dropped only one pass in each of the past three seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

At No. 30, Miller has Miami taking Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood over UF defensive tackle Caleb Banks, Auburn edge player Keldric Faulk, Alabama QB Ty Simpson, Missouri edge player Zion Young and Texas A&M guard Chase Bisontis.<\/p>\n

Hood \u201chas 4.44 speed and excellent ability to play the press scheme that Hafley prefers,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

At 43, Miller has Miami taking Vanderbilt\u2019s Eli Stowers, considered the draft\u2019s second-best tight end behind Sadiq, with this comment:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dolphins\u2019 new-look offense will want to feature the tight end because of coordinator Bobby Slowik\u2019s scheme, which has San Francisco roots. Stowers is an elite athlete who had record-setting broad [11 feet, 3 inches] and vertical [45\u00bd inches] jumps at the combine. That explosiveness shows up on tape.\u201d (Miller has UM cornerback Keionte Scott going two spots later, to Baltimore.)<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s four third-round picks for Miami, with his reasons behind each pick:<\/p>\n

At 75, Michigan edge Jaishawn Barham: \u201cA converted linebacker with tons of potential on the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 87, Kansas State safety VJ Payne: \u201cAn elite mover with top-tier finishing ability as a tackler.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 90, Texas A&M guard Trey Zuhn II: \u201cRight guard should be open for a newcomer, and Zuhn has the technique and experience to quickly win the job. He was a left tackle at A&M, but most scouts think his future is inside, given his shorter arms [32\u00bd inches].\u201d<\/p>\n

At 94, Indiana receiver Eijah Sarratt: \u201cMiami needs a physical wideout who can win on the outside. That\u2019s Sarratt (6-foot-3, 210 pounds), who has a route tree that often leaves him open against press coverage.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Miller\u2019s<\/a> seven-round mock draft.<\/p>\n

\u25aa While general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan confirmed that he told Willis about the Jaylen Waddle trade \u2014 after Willis signed but before the trade was announced \u2014 he also added: \u201cI\u2019m not going to ever make it a habit to call and feel like I need to explain myself to players in the locker room for the moves that I\u2019m going to make. That\u2019s not how this position works. I think they would respect me less if I did. I\u2019m going to do what I think is right for the Miami Dolphins, not what a player or players want me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in this case, giving Willis a heads-up was sensible. \u201cI have a tremendous amount of respect for Malik; I wanted to make sure he was comfortable,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI did not want him to feel like he was being tricked. And so we had a conversation. The details of that, I\u2019ll keep to myself. But I felt like because of the timing of everything, I owed him a conversation because he was just walking through the door and that\u2019s how that played out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u25aa Though the Dolphins are set at punter (likely Bradley Pinion) and kicker (Zane Gonzalez or Riley Patterson), Sullivan said: \u201cWe need to be on the lookout for long-term youthful players at those specialist positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my Wednesday 6-pack<\/a> with nuggets on Malik Willis and other issues.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my Wednesday piece on the Ty Simpson situation<\/a> and two other quarterbacks summoned to Dolphins headquarters.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 2:39 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Barry Jackson<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Thursday: \u25aa If there\u2019s one position where the Dolphins could begin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-850964","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-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116339556823336693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850964","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=850964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}