Miami Dolphins 2025 NFL Draft Picks • Sportzino

After injuries derailed the Miami Dolphins’ hopes of building on a promising 2023 season in 2024, they’ll be eager to address needs and further strengthen a roster that has shown the ability to challenge the best teams in the AFC.

In what could be a pivotal year for Mike McDaniel’s regime in Miami, an aggressive approach to addressing draft needs should be expected. Fortunately for the Dolphins, they are well-equipped to add to a talented roster. With their own first-round pick, slotted at 13th overall, and seven total picks, the Dolphins will have plenty of opportunities to add contributors ahead of the 2025 season.

Read on for the Miami Dolphins’ 2025 NFL Draft outlook.

Miami Dolphins Needs & Draft Strategy

Unsurprisingly, for a team that has flashed elite potential on offense over the last couple of years, the Miami Dolphins’ most pressing needs are primarily on the defensive side of the ball.

Though the Dolphins have building blocks on that side of the ball — mainly pass rushers Demeioun “Chop” Robinson, who finished fifth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting after a six-sack rookie year, and Bradley Chubb — as a unit, they are so thin on talent that any addition would be welcome. In that sense, the Dolphins’ needs span all three levels of their defense.

At safety, with both starters, Jordan Poyer and Jevon Holland, pending free agency, Miami would be wise to add another player. With Poyer headed into his age-34 season and Holland long rumored to be unhappy with the franchise, the Dolphins are overdue to inject fresh talent into their secondary.

Similarly, the Dolphins are starting from scratch as off-ball linebackers with no youth or long-term prospects in place. A patchwork duo of Jordyn Brooks and Anthony Walker Jr. can only hold the line for so long. Brooks’ season, another year removed from a serious knee injury, could help shine a light on Walker’s replacement after the former first-round pick totaled 143 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and three sacks in 17 starts.

As a league-average rushing defense last year, the Dolphins would benefit from range and physicality off the ball, especially in a division with quarterbacks as unique as Josh Allen and Drake Maye.

The Dolphins’ lone building blocks on defense—Bradley Chubb and Demeioun Robinson—are found on the edge, so they would do well to add a space-eating anchor inside. Benito Jones was largely ineffective in this role a year ago, recording 24 tackles and four tackles for loss across 17 games despite the tremendous talent on either side of him.

Potential Miami Dolphins Draft Picks 2025

If the Miami Dolphins look to address their need for safety at the top of the draft, there are a pair of highly intriguing options. Both Georgia’s Malaki Starks and South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori are worthy first-round picks, bringing the type of physicality Miami has sorely missed in recent years.

Selecting either Starks or Emmanwori is logical. Both possess the off-ball versatility that current Dolphins safety Jevon Holland thrives on. Bringing in either would free the Dolphins up to explore a trade for Holland, allowing them to get younger and recoup additional draft picks.

Without a truly elite prospect at linebacker in this year’s draft, the Dolphins could reasonably look elsewhere at the top before circling back on day two. At that time, a trio of players stands out as worthy additions to a defense in need of a boost. UCLA’s Carson Schwesinger would bring a modern-day skill set. What he offers in range and athleticism, however, he lacks in size.

Should the Dolphins prefer to look at prospects better suited for the physical battles between the tackles, the Georgia Bulldogs always offer solutions. Linebackers Jihaad Campbell and Smael Mondon Jr. are both exciting prospects with more traditional size but still boast high versatility. Campbell, in particular, would be well-equipped to try to contain Josh Allen and Drake Maye inside the division for the next five years.

Ohio State’s Tyleik Williams and Michigan’s Kenneth Grant are prototypical nose tackles, with playing styles that would be complemented by the Dolphins’ pass-rush duo.

Both Williams and Grant have the pedigree and size to contribute immediately. What’s more, they both possess the athletic upside needed to develop into difference-makers. Though neither posted more than three sacks in their final college season, it’s easy to imagine that pass-rush productivity climbed with the freedom provided by lining up alongside threats like Robinson and Chubb.