Examining How Realistic It Is That All 13 Draft Picks Will Make the Team

The Miami Dolphins talked in glowing terms about their 2026 draft class, which only made sense because, well, they did select those players in the first place.

There are hopes and expectations for each and every single one of those 13 selections, from first-round pick Kadyn Proctor all the way to seventh-round and final pick Max Llewellyn. And with a Dolphins roster that was overhauled in the offseason, there will be plenty of opportunities for every one of those players to earn a spot on the 53-man roster and some kind of role for 2026 and beyond, whether it be a starting job like Proctor and fellow first-round selection Chris Johnson should get as rookies or maybe just a special teams contributor.

But is it realistic to think that all 13 could wind up on the 53-man roster next season, a total that would account for almost a fourth of the players?

THE HISTORICAL PRECEDENT

Because they represent the first draft class for new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and new head coach Jeff Hafley and were selected with a new vision, those 13 draft picks will have a built-in advantage of trying to make the roster spot, with historical evidence to back up that notion.

Hafley became the ninth Dolphins head coach in the 2000s, following Dave Wannstedt, Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel. Combining the drafts in the first year of each coach's tenure, the Dolphins made 59 draft picks and 58 of them made the roster, including two who spent their rookie season on IR but never played a game for Miami.

The lone exception was 2012 sixth-round pick B.J. Cunnigham, a wide receiver from Michigan State.

The Dolphins had only four draft picks in Mike McDaniel's first year in 2022, but all four made the team; all six picks made the team in Brian Flores' first year in 2019; it was 8-for-8 in Adam Gase's first year in 2016; and on and on.

But the Dolphins had never had a draft class in the 2000s with this many picks, the highest total being 10 in both 2007 and 2012.

In fact, if the Dolphins can bat 1.000 with their 13 draft picks in 2026, they will set a franchise record for most draft picks making the team. The current mark is 12, but that happened in 1968 when the team had 21 selections over 17 rounds.

The second-highest total of draft picks to make the team at one point or another is 10, which happened in 1969, 1979, 2007 and 2020. In that 2020 draft, the Dolphins had three picks in the first three rounds, two more in the second and 11 overall, and the only player who didn't make the team was fifth-round linebacker Curtis Weaver.

Going over each of the Dolphins' 13 picks of 2026, there's a case to be made for every one of them being on the roster next season, whether it be the lack of guards or edge defenders with size, which sixth- and seventh-round picks Campbell and Llewellyn can help with.

But that still is a difficult feat to pull off.

Think back to 1997 when the Dolphins had 14 picks, their most ever in a seven-round draft, and it turned out that four of them didn't make the team.

So the Dolphins being able to go 13-for-13 would be quite the feat indeed. It also would be one heck of a way to kick off the Sullivan era as GM.

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