Dolphins Rookie Stock Report After Week 15: Who Stood out vs. Steelers?

With the Miami Dolphins officially eliminated from playoff contention, tracking the progress of the team’s rookie class becomes even more important. There’s nothing to play for now besides pride and the future.

We’ve been tracking the rookie’s progress all season, and that continues with the team’s Week 15 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ollie Gordon II and Jason Marshall Jr. did not play enough snaps to qualify for this week’s report.

Here’s how everyone else fared:

Kenneth Grant

Week 14: Slight Stock Up

Week 15: No Movement

Kenneth Grant had a couple of nice plays in this game. He stacked some blocks and reset the line of scrimmage a few times, and he had a nice QB pressure early in the game when he drove the guard into Aaron Rodgers’ lap.

He struggled to anchor against a few double teams, and he got sealed inside on a couple of plays, but Pittsburgh’s interior offensive line is no joke, so I’d expect him to lose some reps.

Grant has shown flashes of the explosive playmaker he was at Michigan, and his play has become more consistent. That’s all great, but he was the 13th overall pick. At some point, the bar needs to be raised.

Jonah Savaiinaea

Week 14: Stock Up

Week 15: Slight Stock Down

I struggled with how to grade Jonah Savaiinaea’s performance. His tape was fine for most of the game. He had a couple of good run seals and held up in pass protection for the most part.

He allowed just one pressure and had like two suboptimal run blocks through the first 55-ish minutes of the game. However, when Miami was forced to go into passing mode, the wheels came off in pass protection.

Savaiinaea allowed four pressures in the final six minutes of action. He got compressed into the pocket a bunch by Cameron Heyward and should have given up a sack to Logan Lee, but Tua Tagovailoa escaped and found De’Von Achane.

This is Savaiinaea’s first stock-down performance after about two months of linear improvement, and it wasn’t heading that way for most of the game. There’s no need to panic, but it’s hard to ignore how much work he needs as a pass protector.

Jordan Phillips

Week 14: No Movement

Week 15: Slight Stock Up

This was another standard Jordan Phillips game. He made some nice plays in the running game and didn’t add much to the passing game. Phillips battled against a tough Steelers interior all night and held his own.

He didn’t win every rep, and he got moved off his spot a couple of times, but that happens when a team with a physical interior runs the ball 32 times — you’ll lose some reps.

Phillips had his fair share of wins, though. He stacked a bunch of his blocks, creating displacement into the backfield, and split a couple of double-teams. He missed a tackle near the line of scrimmage after splitting a double, which is why I’m assuming he got such a poor grade from Pro Football Focus.

Given the context of the opponent, the positives outweighed the negatives in this one.

Dante Trader Jr.

Week 14: No Movement

Week 15: Stock Down

Dante Trader Jr. played only 14 defensive snaps in this game, so it feels a bit harsh to bump his stock down, but his missed tackle on DK Metcalf’s third-quarter touchdown was rough.

He had Metcalf squared up in space and just completely whiffed as Metcalf went by him for the score. His other 13 reps were pretty mundane — he got some looks in the box, as a split-field safety, and as a centerfielder.

Like we’ve been saying for a while, Trader is a useful depth player, but his physical limitations and poor tackling make it hard to trust him as a long-term starter. That said, with Miami eliminated from the playoffs, there’s zero excuse for Ashtyn Davis (an arguably worse player) to out snap him moving forward.

Zeek Biggers

Week 14: No Movement

Week 15: No Movement

Zeek Biggers got a sack in this game, but it was because Aaron Rodgers gave himself up to force Miami to burn a timeout. It’s a good hustle play by the big man, but it's hardly something that should improve his stock.

Overall, Biggers was mostly a non-factor in this game. Miami seems to use him most in passing situations, which is smart because he’s not good at holding the point of attack in the running game.

When the Steelers got big on the final drive, Biggers got driven off the line of scrimmage pretty easily. Right now, he’s a bull in a china shop with a great motor. That’s a perfectly fine outcome for a seventh-round pick.

More Miami Dolphins Coverage