Dolphins land Ja’Marr Chase in post-blockbuster mock draft

Miami Dolphins mock draft — Day 3

The Dolphins have five selections in the first 90 picks of the 2021 NFL Draft. It’s an incredible opportunity to pick high-quality players at positions of need. The downside to having all those picks early is it’s a long time before you come back on the clock on day 3. Miami doesn’t have a fourth-round pick as of today, so they won’t be back on the clock until round 5.

When you’re picking on day 3 of the NFL Draft, you aren’t looking for starters. If you find a guy who can come in and start from the jump, great! But that’s the exception, not the rule. Day 3 of the NFL Draft is for filling out depth. Getting quality guys who may not start right away, but will give you quality guys in the case of injury. Miami may have missed the chance to draft a starting running back, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still quality left at the position.

Round 5, Pick 157: Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State

Chuba Hubbard was widely seen as one of the top running backs in the class coming into the season. His stock has dropped considerably from that point, but there’s still a lot to like about his game. He’s a value pick in the fourth round, and would provide the Dolphins with a nice stable of running backs when paired with Myles Gaskin and free agent acquisition Malcolm Brown.

Round 7, Pick 232: Ihmir Smith-Marsette, WR, Iowa

With their last pick, this Miami Dolphins mock NFL draft ends with the Dolphins going back to the well at wide receiver. There are a few positions of need the Dolphins didn’t get to address with this mock draft, namely interior defensive line and offensive tackle. However, the quality of wide receivers still on the board with their pick in the sixth round is simply too great to pass up.

We have two small-school darlings — North Texas’ Jaelon Darden and South Dakota’s Cade Johnson — still on the board, with Stanford wide receiver Simi Fehoko coming off the board one selection before ours. However, the best option for the Dolphins isn’t either of those two. Instead, Miami opts for Iowa wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette to round out this mock draft.

I have my doubts about Smith-Marsette lasting this long in the 2021 NFL Draft. Especially given the outstanding numbers he was able to put up at his Iowa Pro Day. Smith-Marsette came out of his pro day with an unofficial RAS — a way of comparing athletic testing against players at the position in a historical context, developed by Kent Lee Platte — of 8.06, good enough to slide into the “Elite” category.

Despite not having great size or upper body strength for the position, Smith-Marsette is a dangerous threat. He possesses elite speed, clocking a 4.43 40-yard dash time. He also has a great explosion score, bolstered by a 37” vertical leap and a broad jump of 10’ 4”. For a team who desperately needs more explosion at the position, this pick is a dream this late in the draft.

This mock NFL Draft for the Miami Dolphins doesn’t address every need on the team. But for a team clearly committed to building around their first-round quarterback from last year, Tua Tagovailoa, it provides the tools he needs to take the next step at the position.With the assets the Dolphins have, and the ones they gained from their blockbuster trades Friday, they also have the ability to move on from Tagovailoa should he not take those steps. Either way, whomever the quarterback of the future is will be left with plenty of tools from the 2021 NFL Draft.