Dolphins Rookie Stock Report After Week 9: An Uneven Showing vs. Ravens

The Miami Dolphins' 2025 NFL draft class is officially the final one in former GM Chris Grier’s tenure. Grier and the team parted ways Friday, roughly 12 hours after his rookie class played a ton of snaps in the team’s loss to Baltimore.

Grier might be gone, but we're not, so we'll continue scouting the Dolphins' rookie class every week. Last week featured a mostly glowing report for the 2025 class. And while there are positives to be had this time, too, it’s more of a mixed bag across the board.

One quick note: Jason Marshall Jr. returned from injured reserve this week and played eight defensive snaps against the Ravens. That doesn't meet our usual qualifier, so he won't be on this list.

Here’s our Dolphins’ rookie Week 9 stock report.

Kenneth Grant

Week 8: Slight Stock Up

Week 9: No Movement

It was tough to grade Grant’s performance against Baltimore. He had several “just misses,” where his process was right, but he just wasn’t quite quick enough to make the actual play.

Still, Grant is trending in the right direction overall, even if he took a slight step back this week. He’s getting more penetration into the backfield with quickness and recorded another two pressures.

Those pressures are nothing to write home about, but using his strength to push the pocket is a good place to start.

Jonah Savaiianaea

Week 8: No Movement

Week 9: Stock Down

It was more of the same for Jonah Savaiinaea against the Ravens. After a small improvement in last week’s game against Atlanta, Savaiinaea was at the scene of too many negative plays against the Ravens.

He continues to struggle in pass protection, allowing two more pressures, and Pro Football Focus charged him with a sack allowed. In the running game, he still struggles to his his landmarks consistently.

He’s got enough strength and athletic ability to create displacement when he does land on time, but it’s becoming harder to fall back on that with how little growth we’ve seen this year.

The Dolphins don’t have much incentive to sit him, so I wouldn’t expect that any time soon, either.

Jordan Phillips

Week 8: No Movement

Week 9: Slight Stock Up

Phillips continues to be a bright spot for the most part. His strength in the running game is obvious on every rep, and even if his numbers aren’t impressive, he’s doing his job.

He clogged up a couple of running plays against the Ravens and had a few nice stack-and-shed reps, too. Phillips is settling into his role nicely as a run defender, which is what he was drafted to do.

He also had the first two-pressure game of his career Thursday night. Neither were overly impressive reps, but Phillips is the type of player who will generate pass-rush production off his teammates winning anyway.

There’s a lot of room for him to become an impact player still, but his consistency has been refreshing at least.

Dante Trader Jr.

Week 8: Stock Up

Week 9: Slight Stock Up

Trader played a career-high 51 defensive snaps Thursday, and he put up a career-high 12 tackles to match. That alone earns him some increased stock, but he made some good plays, too.

Most fans will probably remember two of his lowlights — running into Minkah Fitzpatrick on Mark Andrews’ first touchdown, and being in coverage for Zay Flowers’ long catch down the right sideline.

The former is definitely a mistake; there’s no defending that one. The latter, though, was less Trader's fault and more of a great call by the Ravens. They ran a Cover-3 beater against a Cover-3 look, forcing Trader to carry the Ravens’ best receiver vertical with no help because the cornerback got cleared out.

Trader is limited, and he’s probably not someone who should be playing 51 snaps long-term. Still, he’s clearly versatile and tough enough to carve out a nice role for himself. And the Dolphins need all the cheap contributors they can get.

Ollie Gordon II

Week 8: Stock Up

Week 9: No Movement

Gordon didn’t get much run in this one, but he left the game with an ankle injury and didn’t return, so it’s somewhat understandable.

Mike McDaniel said Gordon could have returned, but given the state of the game, he wasn’t likely to get a ton of carries anyway. He finished with three carries and six yards, while catching one pass for three yards on five routes run.

It’s clear the Dolphins want to lean into more packages with Gordon and Achane on the field. They opened the game with one of those looks and ripped off a 20-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle after a run fake.

We can’t increase Gordon’s stock for that, but he should be getting some more run as the season becomes more and more about evaluating young players.

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