Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images Welcome to the Splash Zone, the quickest way to get your day started off right. We bring you a rundown of Miami Dolphins news from the last 24 hours. For the first time in three years, the Miami Dolphins have a first round selection. Well, as of right now they do. But anything can change on draft night. The team is currently set to pick at #21 and should be able to add a talented player to the roster. The focus should be on either the offensive line or defensive line as the Dolphins have needs on both sides. Troy Fautanu would be a dream pick as he could play guard his rookie year and take over at left tackle when Terron Armstead retires. But it’s very unlikely he’ll be there when Miami selects. You can check out that story here, and the rest of the day’s round-up below. 6 players who should be on the Miami Dolphins' first-round wish list heading into the 2024 NFL DraftThere are a handful of intriguing prospects for Miami on Thursday night Dolphins Wide Receivers Mike McDaniel Was Right To Call Out Tyreek Hill After Miami Dolphins' Latest Playoff LossMike McDaniel didn't pull any punches in front of his team after Tyreek Hill's viral moment in the Miami Dolphins' playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Dolphins Offensive Line Dolphins 2024 mock draft: Ranking top tackle targetsThe Miami Dolphins have six picks in the 2024 NFL draft and guard is a top need. Here are five tackles they could target. Dolphins Linebackers Jaelan Phillips 2.0 to Dolphins? UCLA's Laiatu Latu on comeback path remarkably similar - Yahoo SportsUCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu is on a career path identical to the Dolphins' Jaelan Phillips. He too medically retired and is a projected first-rounder. Phinsider News You May Have Missed It’s draft week - Miami Dolphins News 4/22/24 - The PhinsiderWelcome to the Splash Zone, the quickest way to get your day started off right. We bring you a rundown of Miami Dolphins news from the last 24 hours. Report: Tyreek Hill reveals he was called out by Mike McDaniel following his performance against Chiefs - The Phinsider"You’re supposed to be the best player in the league... we pay you all this money for what?’" Are Dolphins Fans Destined for a Let Down with the first day-one pick of the McDaniel era? - The PhinsiderFans have the tendency to want to fill immediate needs through the NFL Draft. Will Chris Grier oblige this time? NFL Draft 2024: Recent history of the 21st overall pick ahead of Miami Dolphins’ selection - The PhinsiderThe Miami Dolphins hold the 21st overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Who was picked with that selection over the last 10 years? REPORT: Teams circling Dolphins as prime landing spot for Xavier Worthy - The PhinsiderIs Mike McDaniel planning to add more speed to Miami’s offense? Phins Fans Chime In On Reverting To The “Throwback Look” Permanently - The PhinsiderMiami Dolphins fans share their ideas on how to get the logo changed.

Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images Fans have the tendency to want to fill immediate needs through the NFL Draft. Will Chris Grier oblige this time? Now that Miami Dolphins’ GM Chris Grier has to extend some of their young nucleus (most notably Tua Tagovailoa), moves in free agency and the draft will come under additional scrutiny. The team will need young, cost-controlled talent over the next couple of seasons. The days of trading first-round draft picks and absorbing fat contracts are likely behind us. We don’t yet know what that will mean for Grier’s draft strategy. Will he be forced to plug holes with draft picks or will he seek out blue chip players at premium positions to save more cap space down the road? What do fans want? There is a wide range of opinions among the fan base, but the most common one you’ll see is targeting the offensive line with their first pick in the draft. The name that has caught fire among Dolphins’ Twitter (X) is Jackson Powers-Johnson, the Oregon center. This pick would make a ton of sense, for a few reasons. The Dolphins starting center from the last two seasons (Connor Williams) is currently rehabbing an injury and is no longer under contract with the Miami Dolphins. The player who stepped in and took snaps at center in his absence (Liam Eichenberg) struggled. Then again, the Dolphins just added Aaron Brewer in free agency who is likely to pencil in as their day one starter at center. That means you would have to move Powers-Johnson to guard (which he has played earlier in college). You would sure up the interior, but taking a guard at twenty-one doesn’t scream “value.” Grier’s draft history Chris Grier has been with the Dolphins organization since 2000 and has been the general manager since 2016. Of course, he didn’t have ultimate authority over the team until the 2018/2019 offseason when Mike Tannenbaum was demoted and Adam Gase fired. 2019 was the first draft where he had the final say in any personnel decision. Let’s see how he’s drafted in the first two rounds since then. Defensive Tackle (1st & 2nd) Quarterback (1st) Offensive Tackle (1st & 2nd x2) Corner Back (1st & 2nd) Edge (1st) Safety (2nd) Wide Receiver (1st) So his most common selection was an offensive tackle. It is worth noting that two of those tackles (Eichenberg & Hunt) were seen as interior players by many evaluators. Both played tackle during their rookie seasons and eventually moved to the interior. One theory a lot of folks have is that the best offensive linemen tend to get moved to tackle early in their playing careers (high school or early in college). Either way, Grier tends to target tackles with these early selections, not interior college players. He also went after corner and defensive tackle twice with these early picks. As Dolphins fans are aware Interior defensive line is quickly turning into one of the premium positions in the NFL, while corner has long been one of the more important defensive positions. Some notable positions missing here: tight end, running back, guard, center, and linebacker. What pick would outrage fans? The level of outrage will differ from fan to fan, but as far as I can tell, the Dolphins picking a corner in the first round would upset the most folks. Chris Grier commented that they have first-round grades on fewer than 21 players, but they’re confident there will be 1-2 impact guys available at 21. What is serendipitous about this is that one of these top corners is likely to be available at pick 21. If you look at the NFL consensus big board, there are five corners in the top 24 players. Terrion Arnold, Quinyon Mitchel, Cooper DeJean, Nate Wiggins, and Kool-Aid McKinstry. Now there is a very good chance that Mitchel and Arnold will be gone before Miami selects, but there is a high probability that one or two of the remaining three will be sitting there. The most logical choice would be DeJean as he has a little more versatility and could help at safety/big nickel. Will Grier look for value here and take a corner (that could replace Ramsey or Fuller down the road) or trade back and fill holes elsewhere? Final Thoughts One of the biggest mistakes fans can make (myself included) is getting too attached to certain draft selections. When the team inevitably bypasses “your guy,” you feel frustrated, slighted, and like the team is going in the wrong direction. The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which someone who is an amateur in a particular field or topic has an overabundance of confidence in their judgment within that field. Another way to think about it is that you don’t know what you don’t know.... a lack of exposure to a field will leave you clueless about certain processes and make it all the more confusing when certain decisions are made. When this happens, most folks fall back on the idea that (insert executive/GM name), is just clueless and “ if I were in charge,” we would be making the right decisions. Of course, in 99% of situations this is a completely ridiculous notion... but it does feel nice, doesn’t it? This is all to say that a lot of general managers don’t view the draft as a way to plug immediate holes in the roster, they view it as a way to build the foundation of their team going into the future. It’s my opinion that Chris Grier is one of these general managers and that he is going to target the most talented player from a premium position that happens to be available at pick 21. That could mean filling a pressing need by drafting JC Latham, Brian Thomas, or Byron Murphy in the first round... or it could mean drafting Cooper DeJean or Terrion Arnold. The reality is that we won’t know if a pick was good until a year or two after it’s made, so let’s just sit back and enjoy the bumpy ride that is being a Dolphins fan in late April.