The Miami Dolphins are heading into 2026 training camp with a roster that looks very different from the one fans have been used to. This is a full reset year in Miami, with Jon-Eric Sullivan taking over as general manager and Jeff Hafley stepping in as head coach after the departures of Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel. The front office has turned over the roster, tightened up the salary cap situation, and shifted the focus from a veteran team built to win immediately to one that’s supposed to grow together.
The outside expectations match that reality. FanDuel Sportsbook has the Dolphins at +4000 to win the division, down from +3000 a couple of weeks ago, and their win total is set at 4.5 games.
It’s the kind of outlook that points to a long season. Still, there are a few spots on the roster that should give fans something to track once camp opens.
According to the latest SB Nation Reacts poll, the group fans want to watch most is the offensive line.
That makes sense. For years, the line has been one of the biggest question marks on the roster, and this summer it looks like a unit with plenty to prove.
Miami’s projected starters are Patrick Paul at left tackle, rookie first-round pick Kadyn Proctor at left guard, All-Pro Aaron Brewer at center, Jonah Savaiinaea at right guard, and Austin Jackson at right tackle. The big question is whether that group can actually settle in and function as a real unit.
Proctor is one of the biggest storylines. The Dolphins took him 12th overall, and now he’s making the jump from tackle in college to guard in the NFL.
Savaiinaea is also in a key spot after struggling at left guard last season; now he’s back at right guard, where the team is hoping the combination of a more natural fit and a year of pro experience leads to a better second season. Jackson has shown he can handle right tackle at this level, but injuries have been a recurring issue since Miami drafted him in the first round in 2020.
The secondary finished second in the voting, and it’s easy to see why. There’s been major turnover at both cornerback and safety.
Minkah Fitzpatrick, Ifeatu Melifonwu, and Ashtyn Davis at safety, along with cornerbacks Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas, are all gone after handling starting jobs last season. That opens the door for a long list of candidates, including safeties Dante Trader, Jr., Lonnie Johnson, Jr., Zayne Anderson, Omar Brown, Major Burns, rookie fifth-round pick Michael Taaffe, and rookie undrafted free agent Louis Moore, plus cornerbacks JuJu Brents, Jason Marshall, Jr., Ethan Bonner, Storm Duck, Ethan Robinson, and rookie first-round pick Chris Johnson.
Wide receiver and tight end came in third. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are no longer atop the depth chart, which leaves Miami searching for answers in the passing game.
Malik Washington, Jalen Tolbert, Tutu Atwell, Tahj Washington, Terrace Marshall, Jr., Theo Wease, Jr., rookie third-round pick Caleb Douglas, rookie third-round pick Chris Bell, and rookie fifth-round pick Kevin Coleman, Jr. are all trying to make their case this summer. Greg Dulcich is back at tight end after a solid 2025 season, and both the coaching staff and front office have already pointed to him as a player who could have a major role in the offense.
Those three groups accounted for 77 percent of the vote. The other 23 percent was split among quarterback, where Malik Willis is trying to establish himself as an NFL starter; linebacker, where rookie second-round pick Jacob Rodriguez and rookie fourth-round pick Kyle Louis will be part of the team’s new 4-3 system alongside Tyrel Dodson and All-Pro and 2025 NFL tackle leader Jordyn Brooks; and defensive end, where 2024 first-round pick Chop Robinson is now the lead piece and Miami is looking for the right players to line up around him.
In Other News...
Dolphins Suddenly Face A Serious Trade Question On Defense
The Cowboys linebacker situation has become one of the more interesting defensive questions in the league, with Dee Winters and DeMarvion Overshown projected as starters and younger players battling for the third spot. That uncertainty has already pushed Dallas into the rumor mill, and Sports Illustrateds Mike Moraitis pointed to a familiar name in Miami as a logical way to stabilize the middle of the defense.
From the Dolphins side, the conversation is more about whether theyd even entertain moving a proven veteran than it is about any actual deal taking shape. Miami has not indicated that Jordyn Brooks is available, and no trade has been confirmed, but the fact that his name is surfacing at all says plenty about how teams around the league view the Dolphins defensive pieces and how quickly a need elsewhere can turn into a call worth making. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Just Got Dragged Into A Wild NFL Scenario Again
CBS Sports Carter Bahns took the NFLs usual 17-game grind and turned it into something far more familiar to soccer fans, laying out a World Cup-style bracket with eight groups, round-robin play and a knockout round. It is the kind of speculative exercise that invites every fan base to start gaming out paths, and for Miami it created an especially strange backdrop because the Dolphins were part of the mix in a format built to test how the league might look under a completely different set of rules.
The Broncos wound up in Group D in Bahns setup and made it all the way through the group stage and the Round of 16 before their run ended in the quarterfinals against Cincinnati. For the Dolphins, the more immediate takeaway is less about Denvers eventual exit and more about how quickly these alternate-universe formats can put Miami in the middle of a storyline that feels both ridiculous and oddly plausible, which is exactly why these exercises keep pulling readers back in. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Roster Trend Is Challenging Everything Fans Assume About This Team
The Dolphins roster construction has turned into an odd little geographic story, and it starts with where the players came from before they ever reached the NFL. Texas stands out as the clear pipeline, with a large share of Miamis roster having played college football there, while Florida schools barely register by comparison. For a team that lives and works in one of the countrys biggest football states, that imbalance is enough to make you look twice.
Even more striking is how many Dolphins were actually born in Texas, a number that pushes the team well above the usual local-birth profile you might expect from a South Florida roster. The reasons are not spelled out as official policy, but the pattern has prompted some curiosity about whether the front office values players who have spent their careers outside the familiar pull of home-state ties. For now, it is just one of those roster quirks that says as much about Miamis approach as any depth chart ever could. [Read more 🡒]