Five Things the Dolphins Must Do at the Scouting Combine

The 2025 NFL combine takes place this week, and it will provide the Miami Dolphins a chance to answer some key questions about prospects in the 2025 draft.

While athletic testing gets most of the coverage, weigh-ins, medical tests, and interviews are just as important. Additionally, since every team is in one place, the combine is usually where talks around blockbuster trades begin.

The Dolphins should have 10 picks in the upcoming draft, including three compensatory picks, and plenty of roster holes to fill this offseason. Here are five questions the team should have answered when it leaves Indianapolis.

5 Questions Dolphins Should Answer at Combine

What’s The Best Way to Improve The Offensive Line?

Perhaps the biggest question of the offseason is how the Dolphins can improve the offensive line. With last year’s starting guards, Liam Eichenberg and Robert Jones, slated for free agency, focusing on guards at the combine makes sense.

However, as we covered already, this year’s guard class is filled with converted tackles. That is especially true if Miami wants to add one with the 13th overall pick. Adding a player better off at tackle becomes complicated because the team already has Austin Jackson and Patrick Paul under contract, along with veteran Terron Armstead, who could return for another season.

Is there an argument a highly drafted tackle could be better than Jackson or Paul? Yes, but given Jackson is playing well on a cheap deal, and they just spent a second-round pick on Paul, it seems unlikely they’ll move off them so quickly.

The key for the Dolphins at the combine will be figuring out which players are actually guards. Those thresholds change for each team, but Miami’s outside zone scheme tends to lean on lighter players who are good movers in space.

Athletic testing and official measurements could help clarify the evaluation of players like Missouri’s Armand Membou, Texas’ Kelvin Banks, and Oregon’s Josh Conerly Jr.

The Dolphins could also decide to draft an offensive lineman, play them at guard for a season, and then move them to tackle when Armstead retires or when Jackson’s contract expires in 2026.

Things get a little easier when talking about the Dolphins making additions to the offensive line later in the draft. Spending a top-15 pick on a player who might have to bounce around between multiple positions is risky. Taking that player at pick 98 in the third round would lower the risk at least a little bit.

Essentially, the Dolphins must decide how to get the best value from their picks while also finding a player that fits among the moving parts on the offensive line. Indianapolis should help them narrow down the options.

Are Any Quarterbacks Worth Developing?

The 2025 NFL draft isn’t known as a strong quarterback class. Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders are expected to go off the board before the Dolphins' first selection, but it’s a crapshoot after that.

Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart and Louisville’s Tyler Shough are starting to generate some first-round hype, but that happens with quarterbacks every year. Malik Willis and Will Levis received similar hype before the 2022 and 2023 drafts, respectively, but both ended up going on Day 2.

The Dolphins won’t find someone better than Tua Tagovailoa in this draft, but the team needs to revamp its quarterback depth chart. Whatever your feelings on Tagovailoa, he’s an incredibly injury-prone player, and the team has not played well without him.

The Dolphins’ QB2 job would be better filled with a veteran free agent, but it’s time for the Dolphins to consider drafting a young player and developing them as a QB3 with the potential to become the primary backup.

They need to do something more than spending a seventh-round pick (where they drafted Skylar Thompson) but less than spending a top-50 selection on a quarterback.

The combine will allow the team to see quarterbacks like Syracuse’s Kyle McCord, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Ohio State’s Will Howard, and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.

Figuring out if any of those players are worth developing with a late Day 2 or early Day 3 selection would be a massive boost to the franchise’s long-term health. Even if that player is never a preferred starter, not having to panic about the QB2 situation every offseason would be a massive improvement.

How Viable Is a Potential Trade Down?

Every team’s general manager makes the trip to Indianapolis, and many of the draft-day trades we see in April begin with conversations at the combine.

The Dolphins should keep an open mind about potentially trading down in the upcoming draft. Most of Miami’s biggest needs (guard, safety, tight end, linebacker, and receiver depth) are lower-value spots.

Using the 13th pick on one of those positions wouldn’t be the end of the world by any means. Still, teams looking to climb up the board for more high-value positions might be willing to offer Miami a deal, allowing it to collect more assets and get the player it wanted anyway.

The Dolphins do have some high-value needs like defensive line and cornerback, so if a player at those spots is on the board at 13, staying put is perfectly fine. Additionally, free agency will likely narrow down Miami’s list of roster holes.

The team could sign two cornerbacks in free agency, meaning if someone like Michigan cornerback Will Johnson falls to them, they could trade back.

The Dolphins should have 10 picks already in this draft, so they don’t need to add more, but taking advantage of a team desperate to move up could improve the team’s long-term and short-term prospects.

During the 2022 NFL draft, the Eagles traded back with the Saints and got major future draft capital in the deal. Through other moves, the Eagles parlayed that capital into A.J. Brown, Jalen Carter and Cooper DeJean — three key contributors to their Super Bowl run.

Re-creating something as lopsided as that is unlikely, but the Dolphins should leave Indianapolis with an idea of which teams might willing to overpay in a trade-up.

Which Prospects Can Diversify Miami’s Offense?

Under head coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins have gone all in on small but fast players. Miami’s best skill players — Tyreek Hill, De’Von Achane, Jaylen Waddle and Jonnu Smith — all have above-average speed and below-average size for their respective positions.

It’s allowed the Dolphins to produce some impressive offensive performances in recent seasons, but it’s also been a big reason they’ve fallen short against better teams. If defenses stop Miami’s speed receivers and finesse running game, there’s zero backup plan.

The combine offers the Dolphins a chance to seriously consider players different from the ones they’ve typically valued in recent seasons.

Instead of drafting another small-speed receiver like Oregon’s Tez Johnson, they could target Stanford’s Elic Ayomanor, who is 6-2, 210 pounds, and a great run blocker.

Achane and Jaylen Wright already give the running game plenty of speed, so the Dolphins could look at a different type of running back prospect like Miami’s Damien Martinez or Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo, both of whom provide power and physicality in the running game.

At tight end, the team could stay away from hybrid receivers like Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin Jr. and focus on players who are better blockers, like Georgia Tech’s Jackson Hawes or Notre Dame’s Mitchell Evans.

Finding a tall, physical receiver or a strong, powerful running back would likely cost the Dolphins Day 3 picks, and those players don’t have to be focal points of the offense. Instead, they would be valuable role players and give the Dolphins’ offense an actual changeup to throw at teams.

What’s The Best Way to Build DL Depth?

Whether it's on the edge or the interior, the Dolphins need to seriously consider spending multiple picks and some free agent dollars on the defensive line.

At edge rusher, Chop Robinson looks like a productive player, but he’s still developing and somewhat unproven. Then, there are Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb, who both have extensive injury histories. Plus, veteran stopgaps like Emmanuel Ogbah and Tyus Bowser are free agents.

Things don’t look much better on the interior. Zach Sieler is a budding star, but Calais Campbell, Benito Jones and Da’Shawn Hand are all free agents.

On the bright side, this year’s class is filled with talented defensive line prospects of all kinds. If Miami wants a bigger edge to pair with Robinson long-term, Shemar Stewart (Texas A&M), Mykel Williams (Georgia) and Landon Jackson (Arkansas) are good options.

If the team wants to find a true nose tackle for the middle of the line, then players like Kenneth Grant (Michigan), Jordan Phillips (Maryland) and Jamaree Caldwell (Oregon) would qualify.

The Dolphins probably need to add at least two edge players and possibly four new defensive tackles. They can’t do all of that in the draft, so figuring out the going rate for mid-level free agents will also be an essential part of the week.

Simply put, the Dolphins must leave Indianapolis with defensive line targets at all levels of the draft and in free agency.