Season over, new general manager and head coach in place and reconstruction ready to begin, Miami Dolphins fans and pundits have already begun their respective mock drafts and favorite potential quarterback signings, but much of the effort will likely be futile. That’s because new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan both has a plan and sparse resources, and luckily the two marry pretty well.
Below is a look at some of the statements Sullivan has made publicly since being hired to lead the team, as well as a few he made somewhat privately, and what the translation will likely look like come draft and free agent season.
“We’re going to build through the draft. We’re going to retain our own players — if at all possible — because of the culture piece of it. I think that has allowed Green Bay to have sustained success over time and then again, there’s a financial component. Rookie contracts, all that kind of thing.”
There is a lot to parse out there, but it’s also pretty simple — moving forward, the Dolphins will be looking to build through the draft and retain the players they cultivate.
What does that mean for Miami fans? Patience.
The team is currently in a cap crisis of sorts, ranking near the bottom of the NFL in money available for 2026. And the moves Miami is likely to make will only help clear that hurdle, not put them into some spending stratosphere where it can go get who it wants. That said, a big free agency spend wouldn’t get this roster that far anyway.
The Dolphins enter 2026 with 29 players from its 2025 roster now unrestricted free agents, most in the league. Fortunately, none of the players in question are considered foundational pieces and CB Rasul Douglas likely ranks at the top of desirable free agent returnees.
But to Sullivan’s point, Miami would not be in this position had it maintained the strategy he now wants to employ. The team would have had more roster battles over the years, more players emerging on rookie contracts and ultimately more money to keep those players.
Former GM Chris Grier instead attempted to take the quick road to success, adding big name, high-priced players who both didn’t help and drained the club’s ability to keep some of its better draftees, like Andrew Van Ginkel and Christian Wilkens, for example.
And with there being little doubt that culture was a problem in the Mike McDaniel Era, cultivating players from within will ensure that the culture standard is met or the player is gone.
“I think you have to make sure that your line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball is big, tough, resilient and that there’s depth so that – it’s a violent game, there’s going to be injuries – that you can survive injuries … There’s a saying in our business: fast gets slow, but big doesn’t get small.”
Anybody who has watched Miami the last few years knows how injury woes have derailed any lofty postseason goals the team may have had.
Offensive line and quarterback injuries were a large part of Miami’s struggles down the stretch in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, the injuries hit early with offensive linemen James Daniels and Austin Jackson leaving the right side of the line decimated for most of the season.
Building through the trenches is a positive in a number of ways and it fits the offensive and defensive schemes Hafley & Co. will employ.
First, having a physical team is a tone setter. Second, extreme depth will help ease the pain of inevitable injuries. And finally, the league looks as if the return to power football is its future.
The team did well to secure some much-needed pieces on the defensive front last year, but look for additions to both sides of the line every season, no matter the depth. It’s how a roster stays deep and talented, and sometimes it allows a team to let a player go whose price may be beyond what its braintrust thinks it should spend.
“We’re not going to sacrifice speed and explosion and skill for a bunch of big, stiff guys, but we are going to have substance to us at all levels of our team — at corner, at receiver, at running back, and certainly up front.” Jon-Eric Sullivan Dolphins Introductory Press Conf.
“We’ll be very selective and deliberate in free agency. I think you have to be. If you’re not, you’re treading in dangerous waters. We will utilize free agency. We have to get back to a spot within the salary cap that will allow us to do that.”
The Dolphins have already done the treading in dangerous waters and sank.
But what this sentence says – in addition to wanting to build through the draft – is that the spending-to-win model is no longer.
Combine Sullivan’s comments about wanting players with size, the fact that popular 2026 quarterback option Malik Willis (as an example) is 6-1 and that they aren’t currently at “a spot within the salary cap” that they can utilize free agency, and it feels like the discussion about Willis in Miami can just stop.
It’s not a hypothetical that injury is a concern with Willis. He was hurt when Green Bay needed him down the stretch last year, playing in four games before being injured in the last three (thumb, shoulder and hamstring have been issues in his young career).
In the end, Miami would not likely be high bidder for his services anyway. But the overriding point is, few teams have regularly reaped the benefits of relying on players developed elsewhere.
“We missed (in Green Bay), but we hit on a lot of players over my time there in the middle to late rounds that allow us to be successful and get value out of players that maybe some other teams aren’t.”
This is another referendum regarding safety in numbers. A look at how Green Bay and Miami have handled things in the draft over the years, respectively, is telling.
Green Bay’s strategy has been to draft in numbers and increase the odds of filling team needs. In the last 10 years, the Packers have made 103 selections in the NFL Draft, and in the past five years they averaged a whopping 10.6 picks per season.
By comparison, Miami has selected just 72 players over the last 10 years, but has been particularly bad in the last five, averaging just over five draft picks per season (5.2).
Compare it to the NBA draft lottery. Though it doesn’t always work out, odds are better on hitting the more ping pong balls you have.
FURTHER CONFIRMATION VIA NOT-SO-PRIVATE COMMENTS
On January 29, Sullivan and new head coach Jeff Hafley sat down in an introductory, full staff meeting with employees of the Dolphins organization, not just the football side. A few comments of note came out of the hour-and-a-half long meeting.
First, Sullivan made it clear that Dolphins fans’ mock drafts might be for naught to some degree, as the team is hoping to turn its eight 2026 draft picks into somewhere between 10 and 12. That means trading down, which will likely include the spot at No. 11 overall as it would fetch the greatest return.
While Sullivan has stated his appreciation for making the most of mid-round draft picks, one must assume the team will also be seeking to add to its collection of 2027. It’s a draft widely-held to be much more talent-rich than this year at most positions, especially quarterback. The 2028 QB market looks strong already as well.
There is one problem with a move-back strategy this year – the talent differentiation between the top and bottom of respective rounds is not as great as in typical years. The draft is not frothy at the top, therefore entertaining a team wanting to trade up will be a challenge. Not just for Miami, but for every team.
The other notable comment that came from the meeting at Hard Rock was that there are “so many holes … there will be no quick fix,” and the team will be looking for the best player available in both this draft and 2027.
To be clear what that means — Miami will pay less attention to positions of need and more to their in-house draft board.
PATIENCE WILL PREVAIL
This will not be a “tank” season in Miami. In just a short time listening to him, it’s clear that it’s not Hafley’s style. The result may still wind up the same.
Those interested in the Dolphins should be focused on being patient with the on-field product in terms of wins and losses. The team has limited resources at this juncture, point blank, and there’s not enough talent on board to try and force it by adding big through free agency.
It’s honestly a great way to start for a first-time general manager.
And as the saying goes, it’s the “Jimmys and Joes and not Xs and Os,” so once the Dolphins hit mid-2027 square on, it will be proper to make judgments on whether this was the right group of coaches to bring in.
Until then, try to be less a fan of the outcome and more a fan of the process, because the former may be hard to come by for some time.
Aqua & Coral Report 