Which 2024 Miami Dolphins Undrafted Free Agents Have The Best Shot To Make The Team?

the Miami Dolphins have had a pretty significant amount of success with undrafted free agents over the past few years in this year's class who is the best odds to make the team and be the next success story from an undrafted rookie you are locked on dolphins your daily Miami Dolphins podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right Miami welcome to another episode of Locked on dolphins it is your team every day here on the locked on network I'm your host C Krabs a lifelong miy Dolphins fan host of locked on dolphins co-host of locked on NFL scouting you can find our shows on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast tip of the cap to our every dares because it is your team every day we don't just say it we live it today is Tuesday May 28th 2024 and today's episode of Locked on dolphins is brought to you by Game Time download the game Time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply we are looking at the Dolphins roster today now that the dust is settled and they've they've kind of filled out to the max of number of players that you can have on your offseason roster we're looking at the undrafted free agent class and I've kind of taken my time with this I know when the draft first closed and there was the first flurry of signings I aspired to do the content then and I'm glad I waited because it it's really allowed me to um kind of get what I feel is a pretty good handle on this undrafted free agent class in its totality and um Miami has a lot of competition for practice squad spots with a lot of infusion of these guys there's a couple of these guys that I really like uh Pathways to the 53 is a little bit of a different story just because of the nature of Miami collection of talent um and I think some of the better players that Miami actually collected is some of the more competitive spots on the roster too which further complicates that issue of saying and pegging yeah this guy's goingon to make the roster this guy's gonna make the roster but the first thing we need to do is is acknowledge who are the undrafted free agents that are on the off season roster as you get ready for uh training camp here in about two months right the end of July is when they'll open up training camp and then before you know it there'll be public practices that everybody's going to be filming on cellphones then there's G to be joint practices with all three teams that the Dolphins are play in the preseason and then we'll get the cuts in September and I believe Adam shf put out season openers 100 days away from today right it'll it'll thank mercifully be here before we know but want to acknowledge the undrafted free agents that the Dolphins have before we spend a little time on both the off offensive and defensive side of the ball and say yeah I think that this guy's got a shot to be an NFL player and stick quarterback uh Gavin Hardison well known for his powerful arm out of UTEP uh is the lone undrafted free agent in that room there are no undrafted running backs which is good because that's a busy room I think you legit have six guys that have n roster caliber on the running back room plus Alec Engel if you want to qualify him as a running back now at wide receiver that doens do have jaquin Burton at tight end Hayden rusi from Wisconsin the offensive line there's some interesting competition four names here in total Baron Matos from South Florida Matthew Jones from Ohio State Center guard Flex capable player Andrew Meyer also from UTEP Dolphins apparently saw something they liked in that miners offense and then Ireland Brown former defensive lineman now at Center out of Ruckers this past year those are the names on the offensive side of the ball a wide receiver a tight end a quarterback four offensive linemen H well healthy competition never hurts uh we'll get into some of these guys in their specifics here in just a minute um on the defensive side of the ball Leonard Payne from Colorado and Mario Kendricks from Virginia Tech and Kendricks was a recent ad he he was added I think like two weeks ago so that was not somebody who got an initial call um Grayson Murphy from UCLA is an edge rusher uh productive player a little surprised he went undrafted to be honest uh but again the the Dynamics of where the Dolphins do and don't have right now uh complicate that conversation a little bit for for Grayson Murphy uh you have Isaiah Johnson a cornerback from Syracuse Mark Perry at safety Mark Perry is from TCU Jordan Colbert another safety Jordan Colbert is from Rhode Island storm duck one of the best names in college football uh and he's been around the block a few places most recently at Louisville spend some time at North Carolina and App State I think UNC App State via lville I think it's the full Journey that he's had he's bounced around at the college level a little bit and then Jason matry from Wisconsin at corner probably profiling as a nickel Corner based on his stature so those are the in totality undrafted free agents that the Dolphins had I look at this group and just as an overall Collective thought um I'd set the over under for guys that make the roster a little bit lower than most years and last year it was a surprise right you still had Brandon peely that's surprised and made the initial roster for the Dolphins last year you had Julian Hill at tight end who made the initial roster and actually played like 300 snaps for you offensively um I'm not quite sure you're going to have the same intersection of weak spots on the roster with an available talent that would rise to the occasion to fill a very specific kind of role which was Brandon PE is a nose tackle right he's a backup nose tackle and he ended up playing what a hop skip and a jumps worth of snaps for you um and then you had Julian Hill who kind of by the facto became the um the blocking in space or Flex tight end Brandon yeah Brandon pey played it total of 51 snaps and 21 overall special teams but Julian Hill was like you knew tight end was a weak spot for you Durham SMI is a skill specific kind of player Alec ingold more of a backfield move type piece that can complement your tight ends there's some certainly some cracks in this Dolphins roster still here on May 28th and in just a couple days they'll they'll get the June 1st money and we'll see what they do with that I'm not sure how much of wow there's a void that I think that guy can really step into I see from this group now there's players that I like uh quite a bit and we're going to get into the offensive side of that next here on this episode of lockon dolphins so make sure that you stick with us going to the game should not be stressful you love your sporting teams and even if you decide last minute that you want to go to the Marlins game or the Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals or a Dolphins game this fall make sure you get your tickets with game time game time 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that the let's we'll just work from the top and go down right the way that roster rules have changed this off season carrying three quarterbacks ever um is a pretty unlikely outcome for a team so I think that puts Skyler Thompson on the bubble and by extension uh I don't think it matters how well Gavin Hardison plays as a udfa coming in that's a hard Hill to climb out of now Skylar's coming into year three and he's got so he's got two years left on his rookie deal um I think there's maybe an interesting conversation about like could Gavin Hardis end up being the practice Squad caliber quarterback like and if you wanted to to have two on the practice squad and keep Skyler to be your emergency third quarterback who gets elevated every single week um you could do that and I think Gavin harderson certainly has an opportunity to stick with the dolphins but I it turned me as as a practice squad player more so because of the Dynamics of quarterbacks and rostering quarterbacks and how that has changed this offseason for the two skill guys Hayden rusy and jquan Burton I actually like Hayden rusy a good bit just got done watching the Illinois tape for him from last year obviously the receiving profile is not one that really moves the needle for you um but a good blocker I think he's got good strain I think he's got good functional strength he's got good size he plays at an offense that asked him to do a lot of inline stuff he moved around a bit and picked up some blocks in space and some split flow um I I like Hayden rusy and I think you do look at the tight end room in its totality and the the numbers game is going to be a bit of a problem because you've invested in in jonu Smith on a two-year contract you obviously have Durham SMI who's been here for a while Julian Hill was the breakout this year Tanner Connor was the Pet Project the year before and then jod forson is a totally different kind of body type like power forward receiving style player that you you don't have like even Jon Smith he's a different kind of player than Jody forson Jody forsen's a lot of injury stuff that's prevented him from kind of breaking out and realizing his full potential so how much do you really invest there tight end 3 is a little up in the air I guess like I for my money I would say Jody forson is gonna be the third best tight end on the roster I think jonu Smith for what he brings in the passing game and his versatility from an alignment perspective and being able the Block in space yeah I I think that makes a ton of sense Durham SM he is what he is at this point of his career but he's been a long tenure player um has developed into a a really quality depth tight end uh solid tight end two on a death jar unfortunately just last year he had to be the tight end one Julian Hill and I saw a there were a couple YouTube comments about Julian Hill last week and I don't question like Julian Hill did some nice things for you out of Campell and far exceeded expectations but the the question is the developmental curve and the ceiling versus the floor and how long that's going to take um in the midst of a competitive window do you continue to invest a 53 roster spot in that player or do you hope that you can do with Julian Hill which you kind of did with Tanner Conor the year before and say hey we want to continue to develop you but we think there's some better contributions we can get elsewhere in the tight end room on game days so we're gonna put somebody else in the 53 I think Hayden Rus is more of a Durham SMI than he is a Jody forson or Johnny Smith but like Miami also is getting ready to do some bigger contracts Durham smite's kind of an upper middle class contract in general I think that's a potential upgrade opportunity based on the other talent that you brought in so do you want to invest the kind of dollars that you do longterm Beyond 2024 it's just questions right all that to say I think the competition at tight end I I think russy's got a better chance in my mind to make the roster than jaquin Burton does but I think there's a lot lot of complicating variables for me to say hey I think Hayden Rous is going to make the the roster I he just happens to be of all of the offensive players on on tape the guy who I I liked his tape the most personally among the four offensive linemen I think bayron Matos is a slam dunk home run practice squad caliber player uh because he qualifies for the international player portal um 69 3 like 20 pounds like for days kind of guy teams that can get their hands on guys like that and if you can get it to click that that's some really exciting type of stuff and I know we have Patrick Paul as a second round pick in the same rookie class but uh seeing how there was this leap from Keon Smith within this scheme or a perceived leap within this scheme for Keon Smith guy like Baron Matos kind of the same thought process as Patrick Paul look these guys are like freaky athletes betting on those kinds of guys and especially getting a guy who can not cost you a even a practice squad spot right because he qualifies for the international player U portal or International player is it portal it's not the transfer portal he's an international player so he can be he can fill a bonus spot on your practice squad it's the point um Matthew Jones has enough positional versatility that I think he's kind of got the Sid track to be the best of the offensive line undrafted free agents there's just a math problem that you have and I know we're concerned about the top of the offensive line dep chart but if you look at the entirety and the depth of it there's a math problem you all have I'm we're gonna go through it real quick Tron ARB said Isaiah win Aon Brewer Robert Jones Austin Jackson are your current projected starters Kendall lamb Patrick Paul your backup tackle SL swing tackle competition that's going to take place if Jack Driscoll who's getting cross trained everywhere including Center so he can play all five spots Lee mikelberg has proven regardless of how good it is he can play all five spots so that's 1 2 3 four five six seven 8 nine we didn't touch Keon Smith yet that would be 10 we didn't touch Lester cotton played over 600 snaps for you last year that's 11 now I would I would not keep all of these guys personally I'd probably aspire to have nine and I think like leam mikenberg should probably be your ninth offensive lineman but if your ninth offensive lineman is a player with three years of significant playing experience who could play all five spots like you're going to be in a good spot but they have 11 guys that are probably going to be on 53s how does an undrafted free agent not only crack into this 53 but beat out I wouldn't say it's a stretch of imagination I think he beats out Lester cotton but you got a lot of competition just to get into the conversation I I just don't know that I see the the numbers even though we have concerns about the top and obviously with the depth your ninth offensive lineman could very easily become your seventh offensive lineman before you know so that's the offensive side of the ball player I like the most with was Hayden rusy we're going to get into the defens side of the ball next year on lock on dolphins stick with us it is winner take all time in the NBA and NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that's 150 bucks to bet on spreads money lines player props and more visit fanduel.com lockon and make every playoff shot count with FanDuel America's number one Sportsman defensively I think you have some interesting competition to take place uh you added two more names to this schmorgesborg of interior defensive line Talent Dolphins obviously bringing in Davon Nixon and Isaiah ma early and then they sign Neville gallamore and they bring in Bonito Jones and they sign Jonathan Harris and tier tart gets added to the mix it's a lot right and as we covered on the Monday show looking at the Ravens depth chart from last year Baltimore had what seven interior defensive linemen take 280 plus snaps on the season like a lot of these guys are going to play so plan accordingly as far as numbers on the Rost I think this is maybe where you could see somebody with an inside track to kind of crack the rotation because to be the seventh you have to beat out Davon Nixon Isaiah Mack and Brandon peely I don't think that's unheard of I think this is probably the best opportunity out of all the ones that we have for the Dolphins so far this is probably the one where I look at the most and I say yeah like somebody could crack this rotation I lik Leonard Payne more than Mario Kendricks Mario Kendricks I just finished watching his tape last night and um you could see that some of the athleticism that exists and is there I just thought the consistency as far as like being a powerful player versus being a little bit more of a a gap shooter but like the production wasn't super high it's kind of this weird lingo limbo to exist in so I like Leonard Payne more uh than than I ended up liking Mario Kendricks for the interior guys but that is an opportunity spot that I think is probably more ripe than anywhere else on the roster other than maybe maybe safety I look at the safety group and obviously there's an investment and Patrick MCM Morris is a sixth round pick to go with Elijah Campbell and Javon Holland and Jordan puyer and uh San Neil and as we mentioned yesterday three safeties played a lot for Miami but if you're going to qualify jayen Ramsey as a defensive weapon then all of a sudden your third safety now is hypothetically Jordan puyer this one's going to be decided by teams special teams right uh MC Morris as a draft pick obviously is a bit of a roadblock but I don't think the investment with the sixth round pick is so high that you're going to look at it and say well they drafted a guy he's going to block out any of the udfas to to make the roster I think Patrick MC Morris's most appealing cell is all the same things that somebody else in in this group of Jordan Colbert and uh Mark Perry and potentially Jason matry and and storm duck all these undrafted DBS they're going to have to make the impact the same way but I do think Mark Perry The One from TCU is probably the one who I like the most for what he profiles as to kind of latch on and stick um played at Colorado for three years ended up being a long tenured starter starting in 2021 in Colorado he started and then in 2022 he started at TCU all or with 14 starts he was honorable to mention all Big 12 in 12 games productive player nice blend of backfield production getting his hands on balls good tackler played some special teams he ran track for Colorado back in 2020 so there's enough here for me to look at Mark Perry and say uh I could see you make it a bit of a splash he's explosive you know we mentioned the track the track stuff his Pro Day on March 28th that was what two months ago and 213 pounds at safety ran a 442 jumped 37 inches in the vertical jump had a 10 foot 11 standing broad jump and have pretty good agilities so there's enough here with Mark Perry for me to Peg as probably the best intersection of some attractive physical attractive physical ability experience playing special teams um some Splash production that flash es in a position room where there's a rookie draft pick but not a high rookie draft pick and the Special Teams element could end up being the tiebreaker for if somebody ends up break breaking through and actually making the 53 so out of all of the undrafted free agents that you have I like Hayden rusy the most I like Matthew Jones the interior offensive line from Ohio State I like Leonard Payne from Colorado I think Mark Perry is the one with the best total environment an individual resume now whether or not that means you make the 53 that I mean that that's going to start in two months and obviously they um will have their hands on with some of these guys with OTAs and mini camp and all that kind of stuff before training camp but that's kind of my gate uh on the undrafted free agent class those would be the names that I would be watching and I will be watching when training camp rolls around and I'm I'm having the opportunity to watch it which is getting here soon we have some other good stuff coming up this week here unlocked off locked on dolphins Smith so make sure you don't miss it you can find us on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast make it a great rest of your day Fins Up I am out of here hope you guys come back see us again tomorrow