Fans of the Miami Dolphins were ecstatic about the offseason acquisition of wide receiver Tyreek Hill in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs, but the first tangible impact of that transaction will mean no selection in the 2022 NFL draft until the third round.
The Dolphins won’t select until the late stages of the third round, the 102nd overall pick to be precise. Only the L.A. Rams will have to wait longer than the Dolphins to make pick number 104 after trading their first-round choice to Detroit for QB Matthew Stafford last year and their second-round and third-round picks to Denver to land pass rusher Von Miller during the 2021 season.
The lack of a pick in the first or second round — barring the Dolphins don’t swing another trade before April 28 or April 29 — doesn’t mean they couldn’t land an immediate contributor or even a future star in the draft.
Their third-round history tells us that.
The Dolphins’ Greatest Third-Round Pick
Of course, we’re not going to hold our breath and hope they repeat what they did 25 years ago when that 1997 third-round selection turned out to be future Hall of Famer Jason Taylor.
Long before then, the Dolphins also did very well in the third round, landing long-time contributors Dick Anderson in 1968, Mercury Morris in 1969, Tim Foley in 1970, Nat Moore in 1974 and Tony Nathan in 1979.
More recently, the Dolphins have done solid, if not spectacular, work in the third round of the draft.
Each of the team’s last seven third-round picks started at least one game as a rookie and, yes, that includes 2021 selection Hunter Long.
Even though he appeared in only seven games and caught only one pass all season, Long did open twice when the Dolphins were in multiple-tight-end sets.
The hope is that Long can be a much bigger factor on offense in 2022, even with the Dolphins currently having the exact same five tight ends on the roster as last year.
The last Dolphins third-round pick to not make the 53-man roster was 1998 selection Brad Jackson, a linebacker from the University of Cincinnati.
The last Dolphins third-round pick to not start a game as a rookie was offensive lineman Billy Turner in 2014. But Turner, who arrived out of North Dakota State, has become a regular starter in the NFL and is heading into his ninth NFL season in 2022 with the Denver Broncos after rejoining them as a free agent.
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The Dolphins’ Recent Third-Round Picks
Since then, the Dolphins have taken in the third round:
2016 — RB Kenyan Drake, WR Leonte Carroo
2017 — CB Cordrea Tankersley
2018 — LB Jerome Baker
2019 — G/C Michael Deiter
2020 — S Brandon Jones
2021 — TE Hunter Long
Jerome Baker
Miami Dolphins
Michael Deiter
Miami Dolphins
Brandon Jones
Miami Dolphins
Carroo and Tankersley obviously didn’t pan out, but Tankersley did start 11 games as a rookie on a team that was coming off a playoff appearance.
On the flip side, Baker has become a key player on defense and Jones became a starter in his second season, while Deiter has started two of his three seasons and certainly will be in the mix to start again in 2022.
Another former third-round pick who could wind up playing a role in 2022 is Lynn Bowden Jr., though he was selected by the Raiders (in 2020) before they traded him to the Dolphins.
The moral of the story is that nobody should sleep on that first Dolphins pick of the 2022 NFL draft, no matter how long it takes to get there.
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