Dolphins Draft Pick Malik Washington Deep Dive

What film study reveals about Miami Dolphins sixth-round pick Malik Washington, where he shines, where he needs work and what his potential role might be as a rookie

Dante Collinelli | May 2, 2024

Malik Washington / Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

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Miami Dolphins

The 2024 NFL draft is over, and the Miami Dolphins are hoping their seven-player class can help them take that next step and get over the hump in the playoffs.

Miami’s draft featured a first-round pick for the first time since 2021, a second-round pick and five picks on Day 3, including a trade to get them back into the fourth round.

Our series of film breakdowns continues with Malik Washington, who the Dolphins drafted at 184 overall in the sixth round out of the University of Virginia. Washington spent four seasons at Northwestern prior to 2023.

He was incredibly productive for the Cavaliers, finishing with 110 receptions (single-season school record), 1,426 receiving yards (single-season school record) and nine touchdowns. Those numbers made him one of 10 Biletnikoff finalists.

Will Washington be the upgrade the Dolphins are looking for in their receiver room? Let’s dive in and see what the film tells us.

Malik Washington is going to fit perfectly in Miami. pic.twitter.com/lENcEEs2uC
— Alfredo Brown (@ThePretendGM) April 29, 2024

Malik Washington’s Ball Skills

One of Washington’s best traits is his ability to catch the ball through contact, away from his frame, and above the rim. Although he’s only 5-8, his ball skills compare more to receivers who are 6-2 and taller.

Washington’s toughness shines when he’s making contested catches above the rim and when taking hits over the middle. The latter is especially important because if Washington is going to make it in the NFL, he’ll have to play in the slot.

Playing in the slot means he’ll have to work the middle of the field and take hits from incoming defenders. That’s especially true when projecting him to Miami’s offense, which uses the middle of the more than most NFL teams.

Washington showed the toughness to make tough catches in between zone windows. That’s likely one of the reasons Miami was interested in him in the first place.

Washington is an excellent ball tracker, but he also has great technique when catching the ball away from his frame. Although his arm length is limited (12th percentile), he makes the most of it by attacking the ball and not letting it get into his chest.

Overall, he’s a tough, reliable target in the middle of the field, which the Dolphins will always be looking for.

Malik Washington’s Usage, Versatility

Besides his ball skills, one of the things that stood out when watching Washington’s tape was how similar his usage at Virginia was to how Miami used its receivers in 2023.

Washington lines up mainly in the slot. However, he also takes a lot of snaps from the H-back position. That’s something the Dolphins used with Tyreek Hill last season to help him duck press coverage.

Not only does Washington line up there, he runs similar routes to the ones Hill did. You’ll see the quick stops, wheels down the sideline, and the patented sprint to the flat. It’s almost uncanny to see another receiver used that way.

Even Washington’s slot usage is similar to Miami’s receivers. As mentioned above, he lived in the middle of the field. Many of his catches came on timing routes against zone coverage in the 5- to 12-yard area, something the Dolphins’ offense thrives on.

He’s already used to moving around the formation and running several basic routes heavily deployed by the Dolphins’ offense. Washington also got a lot of his catches from manufactured touches like screens and pop passes.

The Dolphins like to get creative with those looks, and Washington can add another legitimate threat on those plays.

Malik Washington’s YAC Ability

Washington’s body type is much more comparable to a running back than a receiver, and he certainly moves like a running back after the catch. Virginia did a lot of work to get Washington the ball early and let him create.

He shows good vision after the catch, setting up blockers to turn screens into big gains. On more traditional routes, he’s more reliant on his contact balance and toughness to create extra yards.

Washington will bounce off tackles like a pinball, just bouncing around until he’s suddenly got five extra yards. He won’t go down without a fight despite his smaller stature. Washington broke a lot of tackles at Virginia with just raw effort.

There are some caveats to his game in this area, though. Washington loves to seek out contact, and he handles it pretty well. That said, he’s still an incredibly small player, so he can take some pretty big hits.

He got knocked around a lot because he doesn’t do much work to protect himself with the ball in his hands. Those hits will add up more in the NFL, where players are bigger and tend to hit harder more consistently.

Washington’s other limitation is his lack of long speed. He can create extra yards but won’t rip off many 40-yard plus touchdowns. His burst is solid enough to eat some yards, but he gets caught from behind more often than not.

That’s not to say Washington is slow. He ran a 4.47 40-yard dash, good for the 62nd percentile. However, when factoring in his size, that time is pretty average, and he looks slower than that on tape.

Still, Washington’s YAC is a huge plus in his profile. He just picks up his yards differently than the receivers Miami has on its depth chart now.

Malik Washington’s Route Running

Judging Washington’s route running is tricky because of how limited his route tree was in Virginia’s offense. Washington got a lot of touches on manufactured touches and stop routes in the middle of the field.

Neither of those requires much nuance or route-running prowess. However, there are some flashes of higher-level routes on his tape.

For starters, Washington is incredibly effective running slot fades. He can use his quickness to get good leverage off the line and then track the ball well over his shoulder. The Cavaliers also used Washington on some double moves. He ran an out-and-up move from the slot to great success last season.

Washington also deserves some credit for sitting his routes down against zone coverage. Some receivers aren’t aware of how coverages develop in front of them and run themselves into defensive back’s zones.

He doesn’t do that, making him an incredibly quarterback-friendly target in the middle of the field.

Washington’s quickness in short areas should allow him to develop into a more diverse route runner. He doesn’t do much on tape, but he’s great at what he does already.

It’ll be up to the Dolphins to expand his game if they want him to be anything other than a specialist in the NFL.

The Bottom Line With Malik Washington

After watching his tape, it’s easy to see why the Dolphins are excited about a sixth-round receiver. Washington’s film is much better than where he was selected last weekend.

Pound for pound, he’s one of the tougher receivers in the class. He is excellent in the middle of the field, catches everything he gets his hands on and can create with the ball in his hands. He’s also an ascending route runner with good natural quickness.

Those traits could make him a consistent starting slot receiver at the NFL level. That’s something the Dolphins could use, too. Although Hill and Jaylen Waddle are built like slot receivers, they play outside for the most part.

That projection might be the cleanest any Dolphins pick has to get on the field in 2024. For a sixth-round pick, that’s impressive in its own right.

However, just like with any Day 3 selection, there’s a reason players are on the board that late. For Washington, it’s likely because he’s such a size outlier for the position. He’s not small — he’s tiny (yes, there’s a difference).

To his credit, he’s tougher than his size would suggest, but NFL defenders hit a lot harder, and he took some big shots at the college level. He does a good job masking the weaknesses of being 5-8, but there’s only so much he and the Dolphins can do about it.

Overall, Washington adds a few missing elements to the Dolphins’ receiver room while fitting what the group does best. Don’t be surprised if he’s the team’s most productive rookie in 2024.