What the Latest Dolphins Front Office Move Could Mean

As if the Miami Dolphins already didn't have all sorts of connections to Malik Willis, they now are adding the man who drafted the quarterback into the NFL.

The Dolphins are adding former Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson as senior personnel executive, first reported by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport and confirmed by a source.

For Robinson, this marks a return to the NFL after he sat out the past three seasons following his dismissal from the Titans.

Robinson does have a prior connection with new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley from their one season together with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013 when Robinson was the director of player personnel and Hafley was the defensive backs coach.

Following his three-year stint with the Buccaneers, Robinson was hired as general manager of the Titans and after a year he was promoted to executive vice president.

Tennessee went 3-13 the season before Robinson arrived, then went to the playoffs four times in his seven years as GM.

Among his most notable moves as Titans GM was the 2019 trade for Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill where the team swapped draft picks and Miami paid off part of Tannehill's salary.

Tannehill replaced starting quarterback Marcus Mariota early in that 2019 season and helped the Titans reach the AFC Championship Game after upsetting the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in the first round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tennessee then earned the No. 1 seed in 2021 but was upset by the Cincinnati Bengals in its first playoff game.

Things started going south after Robinson traded wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagales in the midst of a contract dispute in exchange for a 2022 first-round pick that he used on fellow wide receiver Treylon Burks, who never came even remotely close to being able to fill the void left by Brown's departure.

With Tennessee's fourth pick that year, Robinson selected Willis out of Liberty as the 86th overall pick. Willis was traded to the Green Bay Packers two years later and now stands as one of the most attractive free agents on the market this year and those Packers connections have many folks thinking he's headed to Miami in 2026.

Robinson was fired by Tennessee in December of that 2022 season, two days after Brown had eight catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-10 Eagles victory against Tennessee.

WHERE ROBINSON FITS IN

Robinson becomes the second high-ranking scouting official the team has hired since new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and Hafley came on board, joining new assistant GM Kyle Smith.

The Dolphins now will have two senior personnel executives on staff, with Robinson joining Champ Kelly, who is back for a second year with the team.

Kelly, who replaced longtime NFL executive Reggie McKenzie last year, ended last season as interim general manager after the firing of Chris Grier and then returned to his former position.

This is a good move on Sullivan's part to surround himself with experienced scouting execs, even with Robinson's tenure in Tennessee not ending on a great note.

Robinson's biggest hits in Tennessee including taking Derrick Henry in Round 2 in 2016 and Jeffery Simmons with the 19th overall pick in 2019.

But Robinson also had misses, like 2020 first-round selection tackle Isaiah Wilson, who was traded to the Dolphins in 2021 but cut a week later.