Kelly: Dolphins drafted for the future, using a two-year window to evaluate team needs | Opinion

Why did Miami have to get “instant impact players” like ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. said when handing out the Dolphins’ draft grades for the 2024 class?

Is it because of the age of the roster?

Or the escalating quarterback contract that’s on deck, when/if Tua Tagovailoa finally lands the multiyear deal that will make him the highest-paid player in franchise history?

Is it because of the growing cost of doing business in the NFL? Business seems to be good since owner Steve Ross just reportedly turned down a $10 BILLION offer to sell the team and his sports holdings.

How about the caliber of the quarterbacks, and teams in the AFC? We all know the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning champs, aren’t going anywhere, especially after giving Patrick Mahomes two track stars masquerading as receivers in Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Xavier Worthy Jr.

But why does Mike McDaniel’s team specifically — and not the Buffalo Bills, or the Baltimore Ravens, or Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals — need “instant impact players” from this draft class?

Have the stakes for last year’s 11 win Dolphins team been raised because of the free agent defections?

A snapshot of the roster before the draft indicates there were only two positions - pass rusher and safety - where Miami needed immediate help after free agency.

WHERE MIAMI’S NEEDS FILLED?

The Dolphins have two established starters at safety in Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer, and Patrick McMorris, the team’s second or two sixth-round picks, might provide depth. We’ll see how that plays out, but there are plenty of starting safeties — Justin Simmons and Jamal Adams, two name two — still available in free agency.

The Dolphins took two rushers — Chop Robinson and Mohamed Kamara — in last week’s draft, and the hope is that one of them becomes a quarterback abuser.

Robinson’s a freakish athlete whose sack production in college (11.5 in three seasons) didn’t match up to his jaw-dropping athleticism. He will supposedly need to be coached up plenty, as will Kamara, an undersized _ 6-foot-1) sack fiend (30.5 in his career at Colorado State, who plays with a chip on his shoulder.

In his post draft evaluation, Kiper said he would have taken Missouri defensive lineman Darius Robinson and Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton instead of Chop Robinson, who was universally viewed as a top 25 talent on most draft boards.

In fact, one AFC team informed me they had Chop Robinson ranked as the draft’s 12th-best player on their board.

But everyone has an opinion, and only time will tell if Darius Robinson, who was taken 27th by the Arizona Cardinals, or Barton, who was selected 26th by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have better pro careers.

ROOKIE PASS RUSHER NEEDED NOW

Miami’s hopeful that Robinson or Kamara — or maybe both — can hold the edges down until Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb, who each face lengthy rehab for the serious injuries they sustained late last season, are cleared to play. And if they do, that should provide the immediate help Kiper seeks.

Kiper’s main point with that “instant impact players” comment centered around the selection of Houston offensive tackle Patrick Paul, whom the Dolphins used the 55th pick to take.

Miami passed up on drafting two highly rated safeties in Georgia’s Jevon Bullard (taken 58th by Green Bay) and Cole Bishop (selected 60th by Buffalo), and seemingly got ahead of a run on offensive tackles (six were taken in the 20 picks that came after Paul’s selection). And two highly touted offensive guards — Illinois’ Isaiah Adams and Kansas State’s Cooper Beebe — went early in the third round.

Even though guard is a bigger position of need for Miami because Terron Armstead, Austin Jackson, Kendall Lamm and Jack Discoll provide solid tackle depth, the Dolphins decision makers stress that Paul was the highest rated player on their scheme specific draft board.

Tackle is also one of the five premium positions in today’s NFL, which is why they generally get selected earlier than guard. And who is to say that Paul won’t be better than the tackles drafted right after him, or the seven drafted before him?

WAS RECEIVER ADDRESSED ADEQUATELY?

Miami could have gone with a receiver like Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley, who was taken with the 65th pick by the New York Jets, in the second round, but the Dolphins drafted two established college slot receivers in the later rounds instead. And there’s no guarantee Corley, or another one of the 35 receivers selected in last week’s draft, will be better than Malik Washington, or Tahj Washington, whom Miami picked in the sixth and seventh round.

History proves that teams don’t need to use early picks to find elite receivers.

“Tahj has dynamic ability with the ball in his hands in the middle of the field. Super quick,” ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said, naming Tahj Washington, the 241st pick of the draft, as one of his favorite non-first-round selections. “Love the philosophical fit.”

Hell, there’s no guarantee the Washingtons, who aren’t related by the way, will be better than Braxton Berrios, River Cracraft, or Erik Ezukanma, the in-house receivers Miami’s coaching staff has spent at least one, maybe two or three seasons developing, grooming.

Who cares how the Dolphins complement Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, as long as someone steps forward.

MIAMI’S BUILDING FOR TOMORROW

The Dolphins stress two things about the 2024 draft class after each day of the draft.

First, they operated based on the BPA (Best Player Available) approach.

Now that approach is team, scheme and specific needs based, but that’s been a fundamental, philosophical approach during the general manager Chris Grier era, one that Miami admittedly strays from in the later rounds.

And second, the Dolphins built the present roster looking at the team from the prism of a two-year window.

That means the focus isn’t just about today, it also has one eye locked on tomorrow, when the next batch of contracts expire, free agents price themselves out of Miami’s plans, and the next crop of 30-somethings age out of the program.

If we look at the selection of Robinson, Paul, tailback Jaylen Wright and the rest of Dolphins 2024 draft class through that lense it will be easier to understand, digest that the Dolphins aren’t just living for today, they are also building for tomorrow.

Much like Wright’s selection, the Dolphins didn’t need tailback help when Miami drafted De’Von Achane in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft.

But that pick sure turned out to be a wise use of the team’s limited resources now that Achane set an NFL record for yards per attempt (7.8) as a rookie.

Dolphins fans should be praying that a year from now the skeptics like Kiper will be looking at Miami’s 2024 draft haul with the same level of respect, and admiration they now have for the Achane pick.