Sunday Dolphins Notebook: Draft Tidbits, the Hill-Grant Connection, Owners Meetings Primer, and More

As we explained in our Sunday mailbag, the draft pick compensation the Miami Dolphins gave up to acquire six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs was pretty light in one way.

Based on Jimmy Johnson's famous draft value chart, the total points the Dolphins gave up to get Hill amounted to the equivalent of the 13th overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft.

The real cost, as every Dolphins fans should know, was five draft picks: in the first, second and fourth rounds in 2022, and in the fourth and sixth rounds in 2023.

As a result, the Dolphins won't be selecting until pick 102 late in the third round using a pick obtained from the San Francisco 49ers as part of the 2021 draft-day trade that saw the 49ers move up from 12th to third overall to take QB Trey Lance.

For those wondering, the most famous players selected 102nd overall in recent years were QB Kirk Cousins by Washington in 2012 and one-time Dolphins tight end Jordan Cameron by Cleveland in 2011.

Barring another transaction to pick up a first- or second-round pick, the Dolphins are on track to not make a selection until the third round for only the second time in team history.

The only time it's happened was in 2002 after the Dolphins made the trade for running back Ricky Williams. The Dolphins gave the New Orleans Saints first- and fourth-round picks in 2002 and a first-round selection in 2003 for Williams and a fourth-round pick.

The Dolphins' second-round pick in 2002 had been traded during the 2001 draft for a third-round selection the team used on linebacker Morlon Greenwood.

Miami ended up with five picks in that 2002 draft, the first being center Seth McKinney out of Texas A&M with the 90th overall selection.

THE TYREEK HILL AND JAKEEM GRANT TRADE CONNECTION

One more thing regarding the Hill trade, and it involves another speedy, undersized wide receiver, Jakeem Grant.

The sixth-round pick from 2023 involved in the transaction actually is the one the Dolphins receive when they traded Grant to the Chicago Bears in October.

Grant made the Pro Bowl last season after recording the only punt return for a touchdown in the NFL and signed this offseason with the Cleveland Browns as an unrestricted free agent.

OWNERS MEETINGS PRIMER

The annual league meeting, or owners meetings, is taking place this week in West Palm Beach, and it will provide an opportunity for South Florida reporters to talk with head coach Mike McDaniel for the first time since the acquisition of Hill and tackle Terron Armstead.

There's a very light agenda in terms of potential rule changes that will be voted on by the owners, and the one that jumps out regards overtime.

There will be two proposals presented, one that would guarantee each team at least one possession in overtime, and the other where a team could win on the opening possession but only with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.

That second option was proposed by the Tennessee Titans.

For the record, we prefer the first option, which was presented by the Eagles and the Colts, though anything (from this vantage point) beats the current system where too much rides on the overtime coin toss.

JONES RESTRUCTURES AND JOKES ABOUT IT

In case you missed this, the Dolphins created additional cap space when they restructured the contracts of cornerback Byron Jones and safety Clayton Fejedelem.

The Dolphins converted $13.255M of CB Byron Jones’ base salary into a signing bonus, creating $10.604M in 2022 cap space, per source.

The team also added $750K in cap space by reworking the contract of S Clayton Fejedelem.

With some major recent adds, Miami needed flexibility.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 25, 2022

Jones later decided to have some fun with it on social media.

Me restructuring my contract just to have Tyreek Hill burn me everyday in practice 🤡🤡
— Byron Jones (@TheByronJones) March 25, 2022

THIS AND THAT

-- Happy 25th birthday to Dolphins wide receiver Preston Williams, who re-signed with the team this offseason after the team declined to extend a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent.

-- It's also the birthday of cornerback Justin Coleman, who played last year for the Dolphins but signed last week with the Seattle Seahawks as a UFA.

-- Quick reminder that because they have a new head coach, the Dolphins are eligible to start their offseason program as early as April 4, one week from Monday. No official word yet whether that indeed will be the starting date.