Dolphins Saturday Mailbag: Grant, Growth, Rookies, and More

Part 2 of the roster cutdown weekend Miami Dolphins On SI mailbag:

From Keith Kelleher:

Hi Alain, with roster cuts happening Sunday, how many players do you think Miami will pick up on the waiver wire????

Hey Keith, I’m assuming this question refers to how many initially because I suspect the Dolphins will be using the waiver wire throughout the 2026 season. As a point of reference, the Dolphins claimed five players off waivers the day after the cuts in 2019, and since the 2026 team is kind of in the same situation, I’d say that’s a pretty good working number. If we’re talking totality of the year, I’m not sure if the Dolphins are going to match the 20 they made in 2019, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up coming close.

From Pure Pour:

Curious about this for a while. Everyone refers to it as training camp. In days past they stayed at camp, roomed together, and didn’t go home. Do they still do that? Team hotel?

Yes, training camp still involves staying at a local hotel. Training camp officially ended for the Dolphins with the Wednesday practice ahead of the preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons, though my understanding is some players will remain in hotels for a bit.

From Mike:

What are you specifically looking for in terms of growth over the first half of the season? What are the wins?

Hey Mike, the progress needs to come from the ability to produce against better competition, which will come more easily with time. The other obvious indicator of progress is not repeating the same mistake again and then also picking up what veterans are doing and incorporating some of those “tricks of the trade” into their game.

From Dean Rodriguez:

Great finally meeting you last week at practice Alain!!! Who has been biggest disappointment in camp so far? KG has my vote.

Hey Dean, it was great meeting you as well. Always love being able to put the face with the name. Thanks for coming up and saying hi. I think I have to agree with you there with Grant, and it’s not helping now that he’s dealing with an injury that’s got the start of the regular season in jeopardy for him.

From Stuart Pace:

I hear a lot of banter about Arch Manning. I watched enough of his last season to want to avoid drafting him next season if the stars align and we have a top pick. Your thoughts?

Hey Stuart, my thoughts are is major premature evaluation to anoint him as a “must” draft pick if the Dolphins end up with the top pick. And I’d say the same thing about Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. I don’t care how good a prospect he is, I’ll never be on board with drafting a wide receiver in top three because of positional value. And back to Manning, I don’t know why we’re so sure he’ll be the top QB in the draft next year.

From THE CHOP SHOP:

Over/under on how many rookies will start Week 1 against the Raiders. And over/under on how many rookies will start more than six games in 2026.

Hey Dana, my best guess is the Dolphins will open with two tight ends against the Raiders and that will put Will Kacmarek in the starting lineup (assuming he’s OK since head coach Jeff Hafley said Saturday he’s week to week and we’re two weeks away from the Las Vegas game. Then we’ve got Kadyn Proctor, Caleb Douglas or Chris Bell (can’t see both), Chris Johnson and Jacob Rodriguez. So that would be five rookie starters against the Raiders … or four if Kacmarek can’t play. As for number of rookies who’ll start more than six games, take that five and added the either/or at wide receiver. Trey Moore would have made it seven, but I don’t see him starting that many games after undergoing ankle surgery.

From Al Hertz:

It seems like the Drafts of 25 and 26 have much more promise than previous years. Is this more a function of greater numbers? The cupboard is bare and more opportunity? Or do you feel that this year and last year we appear to have drafted better?

Hey Al, no, I refuse to think they simply have done a better job just because … Invariably, every team hits and misses on draft picks and the Dolphins are no different, which is why Ravens GM Eric DeCosta said his philosophy was to accumulate draft picks because having more picks provides for a bigger margin for error. The Dolphins had a whopping 13 picks this year, so it’s a lot easier to hit on several of them than they did in 2022 and 2023 when they only had four. That said, the Dolphins did a very poor job in those two drafts because De’Von Achane is the only one of the four picks they had those two years in the first four rounds that hit (Channing Tindall, Erik Ezukanma and Cam Smith) all flopped. I do think the Dolphins will have a better hit rate in the early rounds with this group, but we can’t assume that only the real games start.

From Jason Kirkland:

Hi Alain, I know the Dolphins are signing young guys to minimum contracts. If there is a young player that becomes available, that they think can be part of the future, but the contract is more than the minimum, do you think they'd sign him? Keep up the GOATwork.

Hey Jason, in your hypothetical, one would have to ask why a player not getting the minimum became available in the first place. The next question is how much about the minimum it would take to sign that player. My bottom line is I never say never, but there would have to be special circumstances or a very strong conviction for the Dolphins to make that kind of move. And they also wouldn’t expose themselves beyond a short-term investment. In other words, don’t necessarily count on it.

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