The Dolphins are at the beginning of a rebuild, turning things over both at coach and quarterback this offseason and having holes up and down the roster. As such, they make a great target for teams looking to trade up from the 20s, as this draft and perhaps the next should be about collecting as much talent as possible for the Dolphins rather than finding one or two stars.
Below, you can check out which picks the Dolphins currently have, along with our projection of their top positional needs. I'll then build a war-room big board based upon players I think have some kind of chance of making it to their first pick before sharing multiple draft classes that make sense for the team from myself, Ryan Wilson and Chris Trapasso.
As for the actual draft, you'll be able to stream our live coverage right here on CBS Sports HQ (or download the CBS Sports app for free on any mobile or connected TV device) breaking down all the picks and everything you need to know during draft weekend.
Current draft picks
| Round | Overall | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | |
| 2 | 48 | |
| 3 | 78 | |
| 4 | 116 | |
| 5 | 151 | |
| 7 | 233 | from Tennessee |
| 7 | 234 | from Pittsburgh through Cleveland |
Team needs
The CBS Sports NFL writing staff recently compiled positional rankings to identify needs for each team heading into the draft. A helpful guide: any position group that had an average ranking worse than 16.0 (on a scale of 1 to 32) was considered a "need," while any that ranked worse than 23.0 (bottom-third of the league) was considered a "pressing need."
| QB | RB | WR/TE | OL | EDGE | INT DL | LB | DB |
| 29.8 | 27.8 | 29.8 | 28.0 | 28.4 | 30.8 | 25.8 | 21.8 |
Needs: QB, RB, WR/TE, OL, EDGE, INT DL, LB, DB
Pressing: QB, RB, WR/TE, OL, EDGE, INT DL, LB, DB
The Dolphins will almost certainly be the worst team in the league next season and will get to choose from Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, and Jake Fromm at quarterback. They could go pretty much anywhere with their picks this year, because this roster is terrible.
War room big board
With the Dolphins at the beginning of the rebuild, I think it makes perfect to explore a trade down (and maybe even more than one) to amass key picks to help rebuild the roster. Here's how I'd project the Dolphins' draft board for their first pick, considering only players I feel have some chance of making it in range:
- OT Jawaan Taylor, Florida
- DE Montez Sweat, Mississippi State
- DT Ed Oliver, Houston
- QB Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State
- QB Drew Lock, Missouri
- DE Brian Burns, Florida State
- OL Jonah Williams, Alabama
- DT Jeffery Simmons, Mississippi State (trade down)
- CB Greedy Williams, LSU (trade down)
- CB Byron Murphy, Washington (trade down)
Seven-round mock drafts
| Round | Overall | Player | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | to Houston | |
| 1 | 23 | DT Jeffery Simmons, Mississippi State | from HOU* |
| 2 | 48 | G/C Elgton Jenkins, Mississippi State | |
| 2 | 55 | DE Charles Omenihu, Texas | from HOU* |
| 3 | 78 | QB Will Grier, West Virginia | |
| 4 | 116 | to Atlanta | |
| 4 | 137 | WR Gary Jennings Jr., West Virginia | from ATL* |
| 5 | 151 | S Marquise Blair, Utah | |
| 5 | 152 | CB Saivion Smith, Alabama | from ATL* |
| 7 | 233 | to Atlanta | from TEN |
| 7 | 234 | OT Tyree St. Louis, Miami | from PIT |
| | | DE Solomon Thomas (from San Francisco) | |
The Dolphins should be open for business at No. 13 as they're at the start of a rebuild. Considering the Texans should be making nabbing one of the top offensive lineman a priority while also owning an extra second-rounder, this trade should be a match. After swapping No. 13 for No. 23 and 55, the Dolphins use their first pick on the abundantly talented Simmons, who is a top-13 talent in this draft but might not be ready to contribute fully in 2019 after tearing his ACL. That should be just fine for a Dolphins team eyeing the future anyway.
Before Day 2 starts, the Dolphins strike a rare player-for-player trade, sending star safety Reshad Jones and his big cap number to San Francisco for Solomon Thomas, a former No. 3 overall pick who hasn't paid off yet with the 49ers and becomes somewhat expendable after they draft Nick Bosa at No. 2. The move clears up the free safety position for Minkah Fitzpatrick as well. The Dolphins then score an offensive lineman in Jenkins who can start immediately at a problem spot for the offense. The extra second-rounder then becomes a strong base end in Omenihu, who I think could be a star under new coach Brian Flores. In the third round, the Dolphins take a shot with a talented quarterback prospect in Grier who they can give snaps as a rookie at some point before re-evaluating the position next offseason.
After trading back 21 spots in the fourth round in order to make a big leap up from No. 233 to No. 152 later in the draft, the Dolphins add some depth at receiver in Grier's college teammate Jennings, who's thought of as the other West Virginia receiver but had a great showing at the combine and could be a quality starter at the next level. Now with back-to-back picks in the fifth round, the Dolphins snap up two defensive backs, a versatile third safety in Blair who can eventually take over for T.J. McDonald and a corner who can compete for snaps on the outside in Smith. The team stays local for its final pick with a developmental tackle prospect in St. Louis who could eventually push for a starting role at right tackle.
More seven-round mocks:
(*) indicates pick acquired via trade
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State | OL Jonah Williams, Alabama |
| Round 2 | Kaleb McGary, OT, Washington | DE Anthony Nelson, Iowa |
| Round 3 | Michael Deiter, OL, Wisconsin | C Lamont Gaillard, Georgia |
| Round 4 | Mecole Hardman, WR, Georgia | WR Riley Ridley, Georgia |
| Round 5 | Kris Boyd, CB, Texas | DT Gerald Willis, Miami |
| Round 6 | | |
| Round 7 | Tre Watson, LB, Maryland QB Gardner Minshew, Washington State | QB Gardner Minshew, Washington State RB Darwin Thompson, Utah State |
Check out more first-round mocks from CBS Sports.
