What a Dolphins Trade-Up in Round 2 Could Look Like

The Miami Dolphins are likely to have extra third-round picks in 2025, giving them assets if they want to move up in the second round this year

Following the Miami Dolphins' first-round selection of Chop Robinson, GM Chris Grier told South Florida reporters about trade talks.

“We were active on the phones, I’ll just say that.” Grier said. “So, I don’t know how close we got, but we were active probably through the back end of the (first round).”

And if the Dolphins were trying to get back into Round 1, it's certainly fair to suggest they could try to make a move up in the second round.

The Dolphins currently own the 55th pick, and if players they “were excited for” are still available from picks 33 through 45, the Dolphins do have ammunition to move up.

Although not having a third- or fourth-round pick in this draft, Miami should be rich in 2025 third-rounders. In addition to their own, Miami is expected to receive two third-round compensatory picks from the league for the free agent losses of Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt to free agency.

So the Dolphins likely will have an extra 2025 third-round pick to spare if they want to get aggressive. As it stands now, there are two NFL teams currently without a third-round pick next year, the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans.

The Vikings don't have a second-round pick this year, but the Titans do, and it sits at number 38 overall. So Tennessee is one phone call Grier figures to make if he hopes to move up in the second round.

As it stands now, the Dolphins have a pick in every round next year. Since Grier has been general manager in 2016, and sole team architect from an administration standpoint starting in 2019, the 2020 draft was the only one in which he made at least one selection in all seven rounds.

Plenty of talent remains on the board for Miami this year to considering moving 2025 assets as part of a package to move up the board.

The first step is identifying players who would be worth the jump. Based on reports of rumored Miami interest, players like defensive back Cooper DeJean, defensive tackles Jer’Zhan Newtown or Braden Fiske and perhaps an offensive line prospect (West Virginia center Zach Frazier perhaps) could entice Grier to make a few calls. However, it may only take one.

At the start of NFL free agency, the Titans traded their 2025 third-round pick as well as a 2024 seventh to the Kansas City Chiefs for cornerback L'Jarius Sneed and a 2024 seventh-round pick. They could recoup a 2025 third-round pick in a quick chat with Miami on Friday.

Grier has dealt with a few teams habitually, one of them being the Titans. The Dolphins and Titans have partnered on multiple deals in Grier’s tenure.

Grier started his 2019 “rebuild” via demolition. He started with sending quarterback Ryan Tannehill and a 2019 sixth-round pick (ironically, David Long Jr.) to Tennessee for a 2019 seventh-round pick and a 2020 fourth-round pick.

In 2021, the Titans and Dolphins dealt again in an ill-fated trade that had Miami acquire former first-round pick Isaiah Wilson and a 2022 seventh-round pick (Skylar Thompson) in return for a 2021 seventh-round selection.

THE DOLPHINS' RECENT HISTORY OF MOVING UP IN ROUND 2

More significantly, Grier already has shown he's not afraid to move up in the second round, having done it twice since he became Dolphins GM in 2016.

He did it that first year when he gave up a fourth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens to move from 40th overall to 36th and select cornerback Xavien Howard in what stands as one of his best moves to date.

Then in 2021, the Dolphins moved from 50th overall in the second round to 42nd by giving the New York Giants a 2022 third-round pick, eventually taking Liam Eichenberg with that 42nd selection.

The jump involved this time in a potential trade with the Titans would be from 55th to 38th, a move of 17 slots.

Using the 2021 deal as a gauge, a 2025 third-round pick would be a starting point, but Tennessee likely would ask for something else, perhaps the Dolphins' sixth-round pick this year, slated to be the 184th overall. And even that might not do it.

When using the modern Draft Value Chart (Rich Hill model), the Titans' #38 holds a value of 157. Miami’s #55 is worth 101, according to Hill’s chart. A 2025 third-round pick is worth in the range of 30 points, and the 131-point total represents the 45th overall pick.

So maybe it's a team other than Tennessee that becomes a trade partner, one willing to move down in the second round for an additional 2025 third-round pick.

Without a 2024 third or fourth, the Dolphins can’t move what they don’t have. If Miami had its third, which was stripped by the NFL as part of the tampering sanctions, it would be number 86th overall, which Hill values at 49.

The draft resumes Friday at 7 p.m. ET, but Grier and other general managers have been at work for a while. With players on the board and a full afternoon to prepare, a Miami move up should not shock anyone, and the Titans look like an ideal trade partner.