The Dolphins will debut their new brand of football on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas. Monday marked a page-turn of sorts, as a flurry of moves occurred with the Dolphins trimming their roster from 90 to 53 players over the last 48 hours.
In addition to their own in-house evaluations, the Dolphins acquired eight new players, including seven waiver claims.
"My job to keep turning over rocks and make sure that we're trying to fortify this roster at every opportunity that we can," General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said.
That message might sound familiar. Sullivan had a similar tune on Jan. 22 when he was announced as the General Manager of the Miami Dolphins.
"Every decision that falls within my line of responsibility will be what's best for the Miami Dolphins, unequivocally," Sullivan said during his introductory press conference. "It will never be about personal relationships or personal agendas; it'll be what's best for this place and the greater good."
Monday's news conference provided further bookends to Sullivan's vision in Miami. In January, he emphasized the importance of finding the quarterback. Five months after signing Malik Willis, Sullivan provided an update on his belief in the new signal caller.
"I feel very comfortable that as these young players grow with Malik, we'll all see what Malik is," Sullivan said. "I think the really good ones tilt the field in their favor, maybe when everything around them is not ideal, and I think he has that kind of ability. Now, time will tell, but I think you'll see a player in Malik that has a lot of traits and then intangibles that will allow him to be successful in this league."
The Dolphins added young talent all over the roster, including an impressive slew of rookie wide receivers. Sullivan stated that the expectation to get Chris Bell back on the field was sometime after the bye week, but his hard work with the training staff helped him debut Friday night against the Falcons.
"I feel really good about the talent in the room," Sullivan said. "I feel like we need to continue to grow and evolve. We need to be more consistent, but I feel like we have NFL players in that room that should be good NFL players."
That's part of the draft-and-develop philosophy Sullivan has imparted to this organization. Inside linebackers Jacob Rodriguez and Kyle Louis had impressive camps and are expected to contribute this season. The same was true of fellow rookie Trey Moore before he suffered an injury against the Giants in the second game of the preseason.
"I've said it time and time again, we're going to be a draft-and-develop team," Sullivan said. "We will always be a young team. I think this is a young man's game. I think from a salary cap standpoint, staying young allows you to be sustainable, and then you go pay your difference makers versus having a bunch of mercenaries that are overpaid, if you will."
The Dolphins will field the youngest team in the NFL this season, thanks to the biggest draft class of the 2026 cycle. The growth and development will be fascinating to watch as Sullivan and Head Coach Jeff Hafley shape this team according to the vision they laid out back in January.
Here are other highlights from today's press conference:
**_On what the current 53-man roster says about the 2026 Dolphins…_**
_Jon-Eric Sullivan: I think it says that we look at ourselves honestly and that any chance we get to get better, we're going to get better. We're not going to tell ourselves lies when things aren't getting done at the level that they need to get done, and we're going to continually turn over rocks to get better at every turn. I'm proud of our guys, all the guys that participated in camp. I think we got a lot of really good things going. I'm very, very happy with our draft class as a whole. Certainly not here to anoint anyone that hasn't played an NFL game yet, but I do think those guys are what we thought they would be. And I think that the vets that we brought in, obviously some made it, some didn't. I'm happy with where we are, but there is always room for growth._
_Jon-Eric Sullivan: I think he's done a nice job. The traits are what jump out to you. I think there's times maybe with his eyes, he could be a little better and cleaner, but Kadyn has done a great job. We watched practice every day and he continues to grow and turn corners and improve. Is he all the way there yet? No. Do I expect him to be a really good player in the future? I do. I think he's doing a really good job. The physicality is, you guys have heard me say it probably to the point of nauseam, but when he gets thick on people and moves people off the ball, it looks different than everybody else. And he presents Malik with a very firm pocket. Guys cannot play through him, and that's why we drafted him. The other stuff is all coachable and he will get better in time._
**_On ILBs Kyle Louis and Willie Gay Jr._**
_Jon-Eric Sullivan: Kyle Louis is a Swiss Army knife, and our expectation for him, I think he'll be a really good special teams player. I'm sure you guys have seen, we've had him out there doing some things that he's never done before as a gunner, and he's really good getting off the ball. He runs well. There's some things he's learning, coming to balance. Our expectation is that while Kyle grows as a positional player, which will be kind of what we call the Joker, the big nickel and safety, that he will be a difference maker for us on special teams. That's his role early. Kyle, he's a really good football player and we expect him to do good things for us. And then Willie, Willie is physical, he can run. Special teams is vitally important to him. Right now we're banged up in the linebacker room, so it's hard to say where he'll land on the depth chart, that's still in flux but we're glad Willie's on the team. I thought he played with great effort, and you always can see his speed and his run and his play style. We'll kind of see how it unfolds with the other guys in the room._
_Jon-Eric Sullivan: I'll start with McCord. I've always been a fan of his. I feel like when you watch the kid play, he's a keep the train on the tracks kind of guy. I think he processes the game quick. I think he throws an accurate catchable football. He runs the offense, and I know he's a smart guy. I know he's a competitive guy. Scouted him in college, obviously followed him and tracked him through the preseason, and I thought he had an opportunity to come in here. We obviously want No. 2 out there, but if something happened, I thought he could run the offense and help give us a chance to win games._
_Jon-Eric Sullivan: Brady's the ultimate competitor. Tough as nails, got a lot of swag, if you will. Guys follow him. You watch what he did at Missouri and his time there he elevated a program that maybe at the time wasn't the most talented, they played well and I think a lot of that had to do with him. And again, I think it upgraded our room. And again, I have nothing but respect for Cam, Quinn, I wish those guys the best. I think they'll play in this league. But I felt like we needed to turn a couple pages and get better in there, get better performance and production._