How the Dolphins Track Record With Top 10 Picks Just Keeps Getting Worse

The Miami Dolphins trade involving wide receiver Jaylen Waddle became official Wednesday, marking the end of the five-year Miami run for the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.

Waddle had some nice accomplishments during his time in Miami, much like 2020 fifth overall pick Tua Tagovailoa before he was released after six seasons earlier this month.

The problem is that while both had their moments with the Dolphins, neither made the kind of impact that can be anticipated from a top 10 pick.

And sadly that has been a familiar refrain for the franchise.

THE DOLPHINS' LACK OF SUCCESS WITH TOP 10 PICKS

When he was selected in 2021, Waddle became the Dolphins' 10th top 10 pick since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, following Sammie Smith in 1989, Richmond Webb in 1990, Troy Vincent in 1992, Ronnie Brown in 2005, Ted Ginn Jr. in 2007, Jake Long in 2008, Ryan Tannehill in 2012, Dion Jordan in 2013 and Tua in 2020.

Of those 10, only four managed to earn a Pro Bowl invitation while with the Dolphins, and only Webb and Long did it more than once (the other two were Brown and Tagovailoa).

Among the other six, Vincent and Tannehill became Pro Bowl selections after leaving the Dolphins, though Vincent had become a Pro Bowl-caliber player by his final season with Miami in 1995.

Ginn did go on to have a very long NFL career, playing 14 seasons with six different teams, and was a very good returner, but he never was the kind of impact player once would expect out of a top 10 pick.

Smith and Jordan both flamed out in Miami, though Smith not quite as spectacularly as Smith.

WHERE WADDLE LANDS

That brings us to Waddle, who like Tagovailoa shouldn't be considered a bust because there some impressive stats.

As a reminder, Waddle set an NFL rookie record with 104 catches in 2021, led the NFL in yards per reception in 2022 and then had his third consecutive 1,000-yard season in 2023.

Those hardly are bust credentials.

But the Dolphins paid a big price to get Waddle, and that frankly required more from him.

The Dolphins squandered a 2022 first-round pick to move up from 12th to sixth in the 2021 draft for the chance to take Waddle out of the University of Alabama and reunite him with Tagovailoa.

While it's easy to second-guess the choice of one player over another after the fact, positional value alone screams that the Dolphins flubbed that pick not because Waddle isn't a good player, but because a tackle or cornerback would have been able to make much more of an impact and there happened to be a gem at each position with Penei Sewell and Waddle's former college and now new NFL teammate Patrick Surtain II.

Bottom line: Waddle for the 12th pick in the 2021 draft and the 15th pick in the 2022 draft was just flat-out a bad trade.

And this came after the Dolphins had made the brilliant move of going from 3 to 12 and getting two future first-round pick from the San Francisco 49ers.

As it turned out, the 12th pick in the 2021 draft, where the Dolphins had moved, was linebacker Micah Parsons. The 13th pick was Rashawn Slater. Either of those would have worked just fine for Miami AND they would have kept that 2022 first-round pick, which the Eagles wound up using in emerging star defensive tackle Jordan Davis.

What might have been.

Then again, that's been said too often with the Dolphins and top 10 picks.

Back when they were in the AFL, the Dolphins nailed their two top 10 picks in the common draft that began in 1967, selecting Bob Griese in 1967 and Larry Csonka in 1968.

Since then, it's been a rough ride.