The latest mock draft cooked up by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. looks like a Chris Grier special from the Dolphins’ perspective: He has Miami taking a wide receiver with a history of injuries at No. 11, and an edge player with appealing traits but underwhelming production at No. 30.
The question is whether new Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan will avoid the sand traps that often ensnared Grier and eventually left him on the unemployment line.
Kiper’s newest mock has Miami taking an immensely talented receiver, Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson, at No. 11, even though he has missed multiple games all four of his college seasons — and 18 games in all — because of five different injuries.
Kiper’s mock then has the Dolphins using the 30th pick — acquired in the Jaylen Waddle trade with Denver — on Auburn’s Keldric Faulk, an edge rusher who looks the part (6-6, 276) and can nail a workout but produced a meager two sacks in 12 games last season.
For all of Tyson’s talents, it’s worth remembering that Grier gambled and lost virtually every time he drafted or signed a player with a history of injuries. Tua Tagovailoa tops that list of gambles and it’s a long one, featuring a who’s-who cast of Bradley Chubb, Terron Armstead, James Daniels and others.
It’s also worth remembering that while some edge players coming off a college season of disappointing production go on to become successful pros, the last time the Dolphins took such a player, Grier spent the evening trying to convince reporters that Chop Robinson’s unimpressive stats in his final season at Penn State (four sacks and just 15 tackles) weren’t a concern because of his high volume of QB pressures and attractive traits.
Nearly two years later, Robinson is coming off a season in which his pass rush win rate dropped from 21 % as a rookie to a dismal 9% last season, a year in which he mustered just 10 solo tackles in 417 defensive snaps.
Like Robinson, Faulk had just two sacks against Power 5 teams in his final season of college. Faulk had 30 pressures last season; Robinson had 26 in his final season at Penn State.
Faulk should be more stout against the run than Robinson, but the drop in pass production is worrisome — the plunge in sacks from seven in 2024 to two last season and tackles for loss for 11 to five.
“You are rolling the dice that the talent will win out and he will put it all together,” Kiper said, noting Faulk’s disappointing production last season. “He’s a great kid. The talent is in abundance, if your defensive line coach feels you can get a lot out of him.”
ESPN’s Field Yates said Tyson would arguably be the best receiver in this class (even ahead of likely top-10 pick Carnell Tate) without the durability questions. But do the Dolphins want to go down this road again with a player who can’t consistently stay healthy?
Tyson missed three games with Colorado in 2022 with a torn ACL, MCL and PCL; nine games in 2023 as he continued his rehab at Arizona State; two games in 2024 with a fractured clavicle and four games last season because of hamstring injuries in both legs, an issue that kept him from running at the NFL Combine.
The flip side is that Tyson is really good; he has size (6-2), length, the ability to make contested catches and play all three receiver spots, as well as high-level production: 75 catches for 1,101 yards and 10 TDs in 12 games in 2024 and 61 catches for 711 yards and eight TDs in just nine games last season.
“He would be WR1 if he wasn’t dealing with the hamstring,” Kiper said, calling him one of the six most talented players in the draft. “If you watch him when he was healthy, wow. He can explode past people.”
Perhaps Tyson’s injury misfortune will blow over and he will become a very good starter. Perhaps Faulk will look more like the guy who had seven sacks as a sophomore.
The question for Sullivan is whether he will take the type of first-round gambles, on injury history and underwhelming production, that Grier took without thinking twice.
More from Kiper
A few other Dolphins-relevant notes from Kiper’s chat with reporters last week:
▪ Another edge option at No. 30 could be Missouri’s Zion Young, and Kiper raves about him, noting he’s not only a skilled pass rusher but also “can stuff the run. He’s a force off the edge.”
▪ He said this draft has good depth among interior offensive linemen, and teams will be able to find good players on the third day.
The Dolphins are one of the few teams in the league who haven’t found an above-average long-term starting guard after the second round this century.
▪ This regime likes its offensive linemen to be able to play multiple positions, and Kiper said most of the prospects in the top two rounds can, with a couple exceptions, including Clemson’s Blake Miller, who is in Miami’s range at No. 30 but viewed only as a right tackle. “He’s an NFL-ready right tackle,” Kiper said.
Conversely, Kiper said Utah tackle Spencer Fano also could be “an outstanding guard or a hell of a center” and UM’s Francis Mauigoa could be an effective guard or tackle. Fano or Mauigoa could be there at 11 but not at 30.
▪ Of the three cornerbacks projected for Miami’s range — South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse, Tennessee’s Colton Hood and Clemson’s Avieon Terrell — Kiper likes Terrell the most. He also happens to be the shortest (narrowly) at 5-11.
“Terrell tackles well, has a high football IQ,” Kiper said. “Cisse — some have him in the first round, some have him in the second round. Colton Hood, I’m not as high on him as others.”
Kiper’s colleague, Field Yates, on Tuesday mocked Mauigoa and Texas A&M receiver KC Concepcion to Miami at 11 and 30, respectively. Yates slotted Tyson ninth and Faulk 27th.