Dolphins’ Early 2025 Draft Pick Outlook

The Miami Dolphins’ 2024 NFL draft involved a little sacrifice from their 2025 allotment of picks, with their third trade involving that draft.

As a result, the Dolphins are back to their normal allotment of seven picks, though that number will increase because they will be back in the compensatory pick game for the first time since 2020.

The Dolphins’ selection of running back Jaylen Wright in the fourth round, acclaimed in some circles as their best this year, came as the cost of a 2025 third-round pick — an absolute equivalent in terms of round because having to wait a year for a player adds one round to his value.

But the Dolphins will have the Denver Broncos’ fifth-round pick next year as the final piece of the November 2022 trade that brought linebacker Bradley Chubb to Miami, a deal that include that missing fourth-round pick this year.

Additionally, the Dolphins swapped a sixth-round pick for a seventh-round pick with the Chicago Bears as the cost for acquiring wide receiver Chase Claypool.

And then there’s the compensatory picks that the Dolphins are expected to get in 2025 as the result of their free agency net losses this offseason.

Based on the NFL’s very complex comp pick formula, the Dolphins are expected a third-round pick for the loss of Christian Wilkins and another third-round selection for the loss of Robert Hunt, per overthecap.com, along with an additional seventh-round selection for the loss of DeShon Elliott.

The Dolphins lost three other free agents who would have produced a comp pick, but those selections were negated by the signings of UFAs Jordyn Brooks, Kendall Fuller and Aaron Brewer.

One important note regarding the projected compensatory picks is that playing time and postseason honors factor into the formula, which is why those aren’t officially announced until about a month before the draft.

For example, the Dolphins initially were expected to get a third-round compensatory pick in 2020 after tackle Ja’Wuan James signed a lucrative free agent contract with the Denver Broncos, but that pick dropped to the fourth round because James landed on IR very early in the season.

Likewise, a projected fifth-round comp pick for Cameron Wake after he signed with Tennessee became a seventh-round compensatory pick.

So the idea here is for Dolphins fans to hope that Wilkins and Hunt play a full season with the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers, respectively, and even earn postseason honors to secure those two projected third-round compensatory picks.

THE DOLPHINS’ PROJECTED 2025 DRAFT PICKS

Round 1, one pick — Dolphins’ own pick

Round 2, one pick — Dolphins’ own pick

Round 3, two picks — Comp pick for Wilkins loss; comp pick for Hunt loss; own pick traded to Philadelphia

Round 4, one pick — Dolphins’ own pick

Round 5, two picks — Dolphins’ own pick; pick from Denver (as part of Bradley Chubb trade)

Round 6, no pick — Pick traded to Chicago (as part of Chase Claypool trade)

Round 7, 3 picks — Dolphins’ own pick; comp pick (for loss of DeShon Elliott); pick from Chicago (as part of Claypool trade)