Dolphins trade into fourth round, select speedy RB plus another edge rusher to start Day 3 of draft
Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier is known to wheel and deal, and it’s no secret coach Mike McDaniel loves himself some speed.
Those two worlds collided Saturday afternoon as the Dolphins got into the fourth round early in Day 3 of the NFL draft, trading with the Philadelphia Eagles and selecting Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright at pick No. 120.
Miami, which previously wasn’t going to select until pick No. 158 in the fifth round, sent the Eagles a 2025 third-round pick for the fourth-rounder. The team fielded calls and flirted with the idea of a trade each of the first two days before finally making a move Saturday.
The Dolphins are expected to receive compensatory third-round picks in next year’s draft after the departures of defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and right guard Robert Hunt in free agency, so it’s possible the one Philadelphia gets is one of those.
By the time that fifth-rounder at 158 came around, Miami selected edge defender Mohamed Kamara from Colorado State, doubling up on pass rushers taken in the 2024 draft after taking Penn State’s Chop Robinson in the first round Thursday night.
Wright is another speedster for Grier and McDaniel, running a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. As he joins a blazing backfield that returns 2023 third-round pick De’Von Achane and veteran Raheem Mostert, he said Saturday the fastest he has been tracked as running is 23.7 mph.
“It’s really going to be scary,” Wright said. “I’ve got a lot of fire built in me. I want to prove my point, make people who passed on me to feel me, want to make a lot of plays.”
Wright said the Dolphins were the team he wanted to go to in the draft, reiterating a sentiment from the team’s second-round pick, Houston tackle Patrick Paul.
Miami’s running back corps also has power runners Jeff Wilson Jr. and Chris Brooks in the mix, while Salvon Ahmed returns, too.
The Dolphins’ next two selections are in the sixth round and they have one more pick in the seventh.
Miami kicked off the draft Thursday night with by adding touted edge rusher Chop Robinson from Penn State in the first round. The Dolphins followed that up Friday night by picking Paul in the second.
Miami didn’t have a third-round pick in 2024 as part of the penalty handed down in 2022 for tampering with quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton. The franchise’s own fourth-rounder was dealt at the 2022 trade deadline as part of the package for outside linebacker Bradley Chubb.
This story will be updated.