Dolphins offseason roster teardown receives lofty grade from ESPN analyst originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Miami Dolphins had one of the more interesting offseasons of any team around the NFL this year, as they completely gutted the roster in an effort to kick-start a rebuild.
They’re taking on well over $100 million in dead cap over the next two years, and most of that is from Tua Tagovailoa’s release. They traded Jaylen Waddle, drafted 13 players, and signed Malik Willis to a three-year contract.
But such a massive roster teardown received an unexpected lofty grade from ESPN’s Seth Walder. In handing out offseason grades for each team, the Dolphins received the second-best letter grade of any team, with an “A-” for their roster teardown.
Dolphins roster reset receives ‘A-‘ grade from ESPN analyst
“Miami Dolphins: A-,” Walder writes. “… But it’s hard to knock them too much considering how intentional they’ve been about their rebuild.”
While Walder’s lone gripe with the Dolphins’ offseason is the lack of roster depth, that’s more a symptom of their efforts to completely reshuffle the roster and make it anew under new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and new head coach Jeff Hafley.
They extended Devon Achane and Aaron Brewer, added some interesting talent in the draft in Kadyn Proctor, Chris Johnson, and Chris Bell. But, most importantly, they signed Willis to a three-year deal to be their new quarterback.
This offseason for the Dolphins was all about looking ahead to the future. Even if the 2026 season isn’t a good one, all the Dolphins care about is getting a good look at their young players.
Walder is a big fan of this offseason plan from the Dolphins, as the full-scale reset, which doesn’t happen too often, was much-needed for this Dolphins roster.
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It’s going to sting a little in 2026, but if the Dolphins can find their QB of the future, whether it’s Willis or someone in the 2027 NFL Draft, they could be set up for success for quite some time if they handle things right.
Part of why this offseason is receiving such rave reviews is that if Willis turns into a franchise QB, the Dolphins got him for very little in free agency.
Add in that the Dolphins now will have a ton of cap space in the future after their plethora of roster moves, and they’ve made some savvy under-the-radar additions, and this Dolphins rebuild is already off to a good start.
While the Dolphins might not be a contender anytime soon, for what the Dolphins needed to do this offseason, Walder believes this was about as good as the Dolphins could do, all things considered.
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