INDIANAPOLIS — When new Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley was asked Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine to assess the edge rushers he inherits on the roster, he didn’t have much to go to.
“There’s not many left on the roster right now, so not many to evaluate,” Hafley said, frankly.
He’s right. As Bradley Chubb has been told he will be released this offseason, Jaelan Phillips was traded last season and Quinton Bell and Cameron Goode are free agents, it’s Chop Robinson and several players to be named later on the edge for the 2026 Dolphins.
“The edge rusher position right now, we need to fill that room up,” Hafley said. “We have to obviously add some depth there.”
Miami will surely find some economical veteran options at the position in free agency, beginning March 9, but the core of the edge defender group will have to come through finds in the draft. This draft appears to be one that could lend itself to allowing the Dolphins to do just that.
If Miami wants to snag one of the draft’s top-tier edge rushers, they may be able to keep one home from the Miami Hurricanes in Rueben Bain.
The Dolphins would be fortunate to see Bain fall to them with the No. 11 pick, however. Many pundits see him as a top-five selection. ESPN’s Mel Kiper this week, though, dropped him to No. 10, to the Cincinnati Bengals. That’s within range for it to realistically happen for Miami, at least.
Bain is up there with Texas Tech’s David Bailey and Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, who also may be an inside linebacker prospect but is versatile to line up on the edge.
Bain made the choice in his recruitment out of Miami Central High to stay home for college, one he called “super important.” Could the Dolphins keep him in Miami in the pros?
“It was the best decision I ever made,” Bain said, looking back at his recruitment Wednesday at the combine and Indiana Convention Center. “I never thought I was going to stay home until coach (Mario) Cristobal got there and he completely changed my mind. Staying home and putting on for the city that I grew up in, putting on for the people that I grew up watching or grew up being around, it was an opportunity second to none.”
Bain, like fellow UM defensive end who could go in the first round Akheem Mesidor, was had Dolphins legend Jason Taylor as his position coach with the Hurricanes.
“Man, JT, that’s like a second dad for me,” he said. “The constant motivation, the constant coaching I got, whether I was in the building, outside the building, staying late at night to 10 o’clock at night with me. If I had to come to his house, then we would chop it up; I’d be in his house putting on his Hall of Fame jacket and rings, just envisioning myself. So for me, it was constant motivation, a father figure away from home and just a wonderful opportunity.”
Bain, though, wasn’t necessarily a Dolphins fan growing up in Miami.
“I was more of a players kind of person,” he added, “but honestly, growing up, I thought I was going to be a basketball player, so I was watching the Heat.”
Bain has met with the Dolphins at the combine, but if he dropped to 11 where he could stay home, he didn’t sound particularly ecstatic about that trade-off.
“If I get drafted, it’s all the same,” he said.
One way Bain could perceivably drop in his stock is if NFL teams don’t like his official measurements. His short arm length has been a point of criticism in the draft process.
“None of the teams mentioned that to me,” Bain said, “so I don’t really give that the time of day. That’s just all stuff on social media.”
What teams will like about Bain is his remarkable motor when they turn on the film and the on-field production, with 9 1/2 sacks last season. He’s also all about the game, which will surely resonate in his interviews at the combine.
“I eat, sleep and breathe football. That’s all I do,” Bain said. “I don’t have no other hobbies, no other real interests outside of football.”
Among the many teams who could snag Bain before the Dolphins are on the clock are the Tennessee Titans at No. 4. They selected UM quarterback Cam Ward with the top selection last year, and Bain said he’s in the organization’s ear to bring him on board.
Bain could be more of a fit with the Dolphins now that they will be based with four down linemen. Bain is used to putting his hand in the ground as a 4-3 defensive end, but Hafley wants versatile edge rushers who could also stand up on occasion.
Assuming Bain, Reese and Bailey are off the board at 11, other first-round edge options include Auburn’s Keldric Faulk, Missouri’s Zion Young and Mesidor.
Faulk, a power rusher who said he could line up all over the defensive line but is best as the 5-technique, lining up on the outside shoulder of a tackle, detailed his meeting with the Dolphins at the combine.
“They were a real chill group,” Faulk said. “When I walked in the room, it was welcoming. We had a good laugh in there, and then they just really wanted to know more about me as a person. They said they knew a lot about me as a ball player.”
Miami could very likely go through the draft making multiple young additions on the edge. Other players at the position who hail from South Florida in this draft include LSU’s Patrick Payton, a Miami Northwestern High grad; UCF’s Nyjalik Kelly, a Dillard High alum; Florida’s Tyreak Sapp, a St. Thomas Aquinas High grad, Oklahoma’s Marvin Jones Jr., out of American Heritage High, and R Mason Thomas of Cardinal Gibbons High.
“I’d love to play for this city again,” Kelly said, of the possibility of the Dolphins drafting him.
Payton said the culture of football in South Florida helped develop him for this moment.
“It was really good because everybody learned to play football,” Payton said,” from elementary to middle school. We don’t really have any basketball players or anything like that. We just have speed and football players.”