How does Dolphins’ 2021 draft capital stack up versus rest of NFL?

Kyle Crabbs
·3 min read

Any Miami Dolphins fan is more than well aware these days that the team is, once again, loaded to the brim with NFL Draft picks to try to bring about the needed changes to their roster to spur on a winner. We’re down to just one football game remaining for this improbable season— and the presence of both Kansas City and Tampa Bay in the championship showdown reaffirms what we already knew: you need to not just have a savvy star quarterback but you also need to surround him with weapons.

Thankfully, the Miami Dolphins are positioned to surround their quarterback with plenty of new weaponry. But in a survey of the rest of the NFL, how does the Dolphins’ draft power add up?

Tankathon.com offers a full list of the NFL draft order and, conveniently enough, quantifies the value of each selection courtesy of the old Jimmy Johnson trade value chart from back in the 1990s; a tool that helps teams talking about trades to come up with a value for each of their selections. Upon further review, the Dolphins are in pretty darn good shape.

According to the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, the Miami Dolphins have the third most NFL Draft capital of any team in the league, trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 1) and the New York Jets (No. 2). This is to be expected, given that all three teams have multiple 1st-round picks and are all drafting in the top-3 of this year’s order; although Miami has a nice bonus of drafting there on the merits of someone else’s misery.

But perhaps what is most interesting is where Miami lies in the rankings from a point total:

  1. Jacksonville Jaguars: 5,271.8 total value

  2. New York Jets: 4,554.0 total value

  3. Miami Dolphins: 4,304.2 total value

  4. Atlanta Falcons: 2,770.2 total value

  5. Cincinnati Bengals: 2,645.9 total value

Neither New York or Miami is within serious striking distance of Jacksonville — but that’s to be expected when you own the No. 1 pick in the draft. The difference between Miami’s assets and New York’s assets is approximately the value of the No. 68 pick in the NFL Draft; a high 3rd-round selection.

But the drop off from Miami to the next team in the queue is eye-opening, to say the least. Miami is comfortably in third place in the league, the Falcons trail the value of Miami’s draft assets by 1,534 points; the value of the No. 7 pick in the draft and then some.

In comparison? The Seattle Seahawks rank last this year with picks worth a combined value of 442.8 points — around 10% of what Miami brings to the table this offseason. As the league continues to establish the “haves” and “have nots” of this year’s NFL Draft cycle, it is clear that Miami, even with a big splash, will be firmly secured as a team to watch as a huge influence in the draft.