Examining the Dolphins' Most Fascinating Position

The Miami Dolphins roster looks a whole lot different in a lot of places after a busy offseason, but there might not be more intriguing group right now than the cornerbacks.

It's also the position with the most players, though it's likely to be overtaken by the offensive line b between now and the start of training camp in July.

There currently are an even dozen cornerbacks on the roster.

In alphabetical order, they are Alex Austin, Darrell Baker Jr., Miles Battle, Ethan Bonner, JuJu Brents, Storm Duck, A.J. Green III, Isaiah Johnson, Jason Maitre, Jason Marshall Jr., Ethan Robinson and Marco Wilson.

The list includes three offseason acquisitions (Austin, Baker and Wilson), five players who joined the Dolphins as undrafted free agents (Bonner, Duck, Johnson, Maitre and Robinson), and one recent Dolphins draft pick, Marshall.

WHY THE CORNERBACK GROUP IS SO INTRIGUING

What stands out among the group is the untapped potential, and those who stand out in that vein include Brents, Wilson and Duck.

Brents joined the Dolphins last year after his time with the Indianapolis Colts as a second-round pick ended prematurely in large part because he couldn't stay healthy, and sure enough he landed on IR with a season-ending injury just after working his way into a prominent role.

The question with Brents remains whether he'll ever stay healthy long enough to become a productive NFL cornerback, though it seems pretty clear by this point that the ability is there.

A former fourth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals, Wilson had a very good second NFL season (three INTs, opponent passer rating of 77.1 when targeted, per PFR) before things started going south. The possibility of a revival is what intrigued the Dolphins about him.

And with Duck, he'll be looking to build on his strong training camp from 2025 that landed him an opening-day starting job before he was injured first in the season opener against the Indianapolis Colts and again upon his return to the lineup weeks later.

In a lot of ways, the Dolphins cornerback room looks a bit like it did after Kendall Fuller was released last offseason and Jalen Ramsey then was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers and then Kader Kohou went down early in training camp.

The Dolphins wound up signing Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas over the summer and they became the starting cornerbacks for the 2026 season after Duck was injured.

WHAT'S COMING NEXT?

As it stands right now, there are no clear-cut starters in the group, with Duck probably the closest thing considering he started the 2025 opener at Indianapolis.

There should be a lot of competition, however.

And because this group is missing a true No. 1 cornerback, the possibility certainly does exist the Dolphins will spend an early pick in the 2026 NFL draft on that position, and we might even call it a probability rather than a possibility.

If Miami winds up taking, say, Mansoor Delane of LSU with that 11th overall pick, he should be penciled in as one of the starters and the same actually might apply for the second first-round pick or even the second-round selection.

And there's also nothing keeping the Dolphins from signing a veteran at some point later in the offseason, though they're not really in spending mode and it might be a stretch to suggest they'd be able to bring in a clear starter.

What does seem certain is there will be a lot of competition at cornerback throughout the offseason program and training camp and plenty of chances for all the young players to step up and separate themselves from the group.

That alone makes it a fascinating position to watch.