You might, or might not, be surprised to learn that the world is not expecting much out of your Fins this season. Vegas and Sports Illustrated put them at roughly 3.5 to 4.5 wins for 2026\u201327, and ESPN\u2019s Mike Clay projects them even lower at 2.5 wins.<\/p>\n
Still, even if the stars don\u2019t align in what purports to be a rebuilding year, there are some Dolphins you should keep on your radar as you head into your draft. Let\u2019s take a spin through ESPN projections in a traditional PPR league.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
QUARTERBACK<\/p>\n
Malik Willis projects between 17th and 23rd in ESPN\u2019s QB rankings, making him a low-end backup in most leagues. I get the projection, but fantasy models often struggle to distinguish between “bad” and “unknown,” and right now Willis is firmly in the unknown bucket. A run-first offense and an unproven receiver group cap his ceiling, but he has a big arm, and he’s likely to be the most dynamic runner the Dolphins have had at the position in years. Don’t draft him when the other QB1s are falling off the board, but if you can grab him late, you might get QB1 upside late in the draft.<\/p>\n
RUNNING BACK<\/p>\n
Last season, De\u2019Von Achane finished as a top\u20115 RB in PPR formats, right behind Jonathan Taylor and his 20 touchdowns. ESPN has Achane between RB4 and RB7 for 2026 \u2014 essentially the same tier. It\u2019s hard to say a top\u20115 back has untapped potential, but if you believe (as I do) that Miami will get more out of its quarterback and offensive line in 2026 than it did in 2025, a top\u20113 finish isn\u2019t unreasonable. Grab him if you can and don\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n
Neither Ollie Gordon nor Jaylen Wright had an especially impressive training camp. If Achane were to miss time, Wright \u2014 whose style more closely mirrors Achane\u2019s \u2014 would likely get the bulk of the carries. He\u2019s a reasonable late\u2011round stash if you draft Achane early.<\/p>\n
TIGHT END<\/p>\n
Greg Dulcich does not appear in ESPN\u2019s top 25 tight ends for 2026, and that\u2019s a shame. If you squint at his second\u2011half production last year and do some extrapolating, you can find a path to top\u201115 TE numbers. But doing so discounts Dulcich’s real injury risk: Recurring hamstring issues are the reason he was available to Miami in the first place, and he was dinged up in camp. He might end up being Willis\u2019 top receiving option, so the upside is there \u2014 but making him your TE1 is a gamble.<\/p>\n
WIDE RECEIVERS<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll cut to the chase: None of Miami\u2019s wideouts appears in ESPN\u2019s top 60 at the position. It\u2019s not that the room lacks talent \u2014 it\u2019s just young, unsettled and without a clear No. 1 option on a team likely to lean heavily on the run.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re determined to draft a Dolphin, ex-Fin Jaylen Waddle is your best bet as a WR2. Beyond that, keep an eye on who develops chemistry with Willis. One of Malik Washington, Caleb Douglas or Chris Bell could emerge as a second\u2011half sleeper.<\/p>\n
KICKERS<\/p>\n
Kickers are notoriously unpredictable in fantasy \u2014 ideally you want someone on an offense that can move the ball but then stalls in the red zone. Will that be Miami? ESPN doesn\u2019t think so \u2013 Riley Patterson does not appear in ESPN\u2019s top 20 kickers. He\u2019s accurate but lacks a booming leg, making him a bye\u2011week fill\u2011in.<\/p>\n
DEFENSE \/ SPECIAL TEAMS<\/p>\n
Once again, the Dolphins are nowhere to be found in ESPN\u2019s top 20. That’s hard to argue against: it\u2019s a young group, and much of the pass rush juice from recent seasons (Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Emmanuel Ogbah) is now elsewhere. The defensive makeover began in 2025, so maybe young players like Chop Robinson or Kenny Grant are ready to take a leap, or maybe Zach Sieler returns to his 2024 form. But that\u2019s not a Draft Day gamble worth taking.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
So is this a “draft all the Dolphins” year? Ehh, probably not. But maybe it’s a “draft one late and look like a genius in Week 10” year. I’d say, keep an eye on the waiver wire, and be ready to strike as the team starts to gel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You might, or might not, be surprised to learn that the world is not expecting much out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,2797,125,124,2557],"class_list":["post-392243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins-news","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-the-splash-zone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}