The ESPN Dolphins surprise and growing respect for Grier’s roster. And Dolphins notes

National websites have been ranking NFL teams’ personnel in recent days and this much has become obvious: There is more respect for the talent that Dolphins general manager Chris Grier and his staff have assembled than at any time in the past decade.

ESPN, in recent days, ranked Miami’s roster fourth best in the league, behind only Kansas City, Philadelphia and Buffalo.

Meanwhile, Pro Football Focus rated the Dolphins’ roster 10th.

The ESPN piece — written by Mike Clay and Seth Walder — was based “on the talent, age and production of the players, not taking into account how some coaching staffs can squeeze the best out of their talent.”

Clay and Walder surprisingly rank Miami ahead of Cincinnati, Dallas, the Chargers and 49ers, who are fifth through eighth. The Jets are 10th, just behind Cleveland.

Clay said “Miami’s defense is elite on paper, with the highlight being a loaded cornerback room after the offseason acquisition of Jalen Ramsey. The versatile playmaker will slot in opposite former All-Pro Xavien Howard. Second-year slot man Kader Kohou looks like a gem find after playing 80 percent of the defensive snaps as an undrafted rookie. Nik Needham [once healthy] and second-round rookie Cam Smith add depth.”

Clay worries about tight end, calling it Miami’s weakest unit, with “journeymen Durham Smythe, Eric Saubert and Tyler Kroft to battle for snaps. The trio combined for 227 catches in 250 combined games and will spend a lot of time blocking in 2023. Fortunately for the Dolphins, tight end isn’t a priority position in coach Mike McDaniel’s offense.”

Walder notes that “other than quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s health,” the offensive line is “really the one other aspect that could sink the team. According to NFL Next Gen Stats data, the Miami O-line ranked 24th in pass block win rate a year ago. The unit doesn’t need to be elite, but it can’t afford to be worse than that.”

As for the PFF analysis, Miami — at 10 — is slotted behind only No. 1 Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Buffalo, Dallas, Jets, Baltimore and the Chargers. PFF encourages people to bet the over on Miami’s 9.5 wins over/under, with this comment:

“With a healthy Tua, this Dolphins team has the roster to make a deep playoff run. However, their quarterback’s health remains the biggest question mark and could also be what keeps them out of the playoffs altogether.”

More Dolphins feedback:

▪ PFF says the Dolphins have the second-best defensive backs (behind the Jets), third-best group of receivers, fourth-best group of defensive linemen, 12th-best group of inside linebackers and 17th best group of running backs.

The one surprise on that list was the inside linebacker ranking, higher than some might expect.

Per PFF, new inside linebacker David Long “could end up as one of the steals of the offseason, as his 89.0 run defense grade last season ranked fifth in the NFL. His main problem is health. He has never played more than 12 games in a season.

“The Dolphins don’t have much quality depth and are taking a gamble on Long playing a full season. If he does, this unit could sneak up on opposing offenses.”

And PFF ranks Jaylen Waddle among the best players who hasn’t been in a Pro Bowl: “He has incredible speed and is as dynamic after the catch as any player in football. He is a top 30 receiver right now, and it would be shocking not to see him in a Pro Bowl very soon.”

▪ ESPN’s Herm Edwards, on the Dolphins: “If Tua stays healthy, I believe this team can challenge to win its division. They weren’t very good on defense in a couple of areas, as far as sacking the quarterback and interceptions. They went out and got some corners. They drafted Cam Smith.

“They got Jalen Ramsey. They got [Xavien] Howard. They are going to have a better pass rush. They are going to align eight guys in the box to stop the run because they feel like now, they have the ability in the back end of their defense to cover people — the Jets and Bills receivers. They have built this defense to compete in their division.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ One player I’m eager to see in training camp: cornerback Bryce Thompson; from all indications, was very impressive in mandatory minicamp. Thompson, who went undrafted out of Tennessee in 2021, is still a long shot to stick because the cornerback room is stacked, with Ramsey, Howard, Kohou, Nik Needham, second-rounder Cam Smith, Keion Crossen, Justin Bethel and Noah Igbinoghene.

But Thompson looks like a ball hawk. He had eight interceptions in three years at Tennessee and spent most of the past two seasons on the Saints’ practice squad or active roster, appearing in eight games.

He played for the Seattle Sea Dragons in the XFL this spring, appearing in 10 games with nine starts, totaling 34 tackles and two interceptions.

▪ Rankings of Tagovailoa remain all over the map. NBC’s Chris Simms rated him a way-too-low 21st. CBS has him 17th.

PFF has him 11th, just ahead of Matt Stafford, Deshaun Watson and Derek Carr and noted that “Tua led the league with a massive 8.9 yards per attempt last season and also had one of the highest average depths of target, having been in the middle of the pack before that. He has elite potential within Mike McDaniel’s offense but now needs to repeat it.”

▪ Kohou might get the majority of snaps in the slot, but defensive coordinator Vic Fangio likely will deploy Ramsey there at times.

Keep in mind that even though Ramsey relinquished an out-of-character high 98.6 passer rating in his coverage area overall last season (78th among NFL cornerbacks), he yielded only a 79.7 rating in 136 slot snaps, per PFF. He played 737 snaps in the slot over the past three seasons.

Ramsey played in that “star” role more for the Rams than he did for the Jaguars.