Dolphins acquire 2026 third-round pick from Houston (2025)

The Miami Dolphins shipped away the team’s early third day selection to acquire an early draft pick in 2026.

General manager Chris Grier has now traded away two of the team’s fourth round picks in the 2025 draft, shipping the fourth round, selection 116th overall, to the Houston Texans and picked up a 2026 third-round selection in the process.

The trade also featured a late-round selection swap in 2025 as Miami gave up picks 116 and 224 (in the seventh round) for that 2026 third-rounder and the 179th pick, which is an early sixth round selection.

The trade left the Dolphins with eight picks this year, and two of them have already been used on first-round pick Kenneth Graham, a Michigan nose tackle, and Jonah Savaiinaea, an offensive guard from Arizona.

On Friday night the got Savaiinaea after trading up in the second round, moving from 48th overall to 37th by giving up third- and fourth-round selections. The Dolphins also acquired a 2025 fifth-round pick in the trade.

“We feel that there’s some good quality players in the middle rounds of this draft that made us comfortable doing the trade which, again, we felt strongly convicted on the player,” Grier said, explaining the trade made to acquire Savaiinaea, who was the fifth selection made in the second round. “But I think, especially corners and safeties, offensive line, d-line; like you’ve heard all throughout the offseason, it’s some quality players [in the draft]. There’s some good players that are going to go late in this draft.”

Miami has three picks left in the fifth round, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.

Based on the trade compensation chart, the Dolphins came out ahead in terms of value by 45.4 points, which is the equivalent of a mid-level fourth round pick. And that’s a conservative calculation considering draft picks in the future are typically discounted a year in value.

The Texans used the pick Miami sent them to draft USC tailback Woody Marks. But it’s possible that something else might be in play.

The domination in value makes it seem as if something else might be involved, possibly later, like the packaging of All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is on the trade block because of a mutual decision that Ramsey’s no longer a good fit in Miami.

“I would just say we never close any doors on anything, but we’re just going to focus on the Miami Dolphins here right now, and the draft, the players that we’re adding to the team right now,” Grier said on Friday night when asked if there could be a reconciliation with Ramsey, who is clearly the Dolphins’ top defender.

The Dolphins would lose $8.5 million in cap space if they traded Ramsey before June 1. But trading him after June 1st would result in a cap savings of nearly $9 million.

That cap space is the equivalent of signing three to four veteran free agents, and Grier has made it clear Miami plans to be active signing veterans after the NFL draft. The Dolphins gained three compensatory picks from losing free agents last year, and they are seemingly being conservative in signing free agents to boost the compensatory picks they can land in 2026.

On Monday, free agents signed no longer factor into the compensatory pick formula, so the Dolphins can sign players like defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, safety Justin Simmons, and cornerback Rasul Douglas without losing compensatory pick value.

This story was originally published April 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM.