Several Dolphins draft picks, free agents who left are thriving elsewhere. The fallout

It’s difficult enough for the Dolphins to string together a bunch of good draft picks.

But when they hit on picks, and those players leave during their prime and thrive elsewhere, it becomes especially exasperating.

That’s what’s playing out this season at multiple positions.

It was understandable that the salary cap-strapped Dolphins couldn’t re-sign defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (who snagged a four-year, $110 million deal with Las Vegas) and guard Robert Hunt, who received a five-year, $100 million contract from Carolina.

But at multiple other positions, the Dolphins bypassed re-signing their own players to deals that weren’t outrageously expensive and instead added cheaper players who haven’t been as good as the players who exited. And most of the key players who left are flourishing elsewhere.

Consider:

▪ Keeping linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who has been a menace for Minnesota, would have cost only $3.25 million more in guaranteed money than signing Shaq Barrett, who retired three days before the start of training camp.

The Dolphins agreed to pay Barrett $6.75 million guaranteed in a one-year, $7 million contract, while Minnesota is paying Van Ginkel $10 million guaranteed in a two-year, $20 million contract, with another $3 million guaranteed next March.

Here’s another way of looking at it: The Dolphins gave nearly as much guaranteed money to Barrett (who retired) and defensive linemen Neville Gallimore ($1.79 million) and Teair Tart ($567,000) as Minnesota gave to Van Ginkel. The Dolphins released Gallimore and Tart in August.

And yes, Van Ginkel would have stayed if the Dolphins had matched the offer.

How close did the Dolphins come to matching it?

“They wanted to keep him, but I don’t think they were that close,” agent Drew Rosenhaus said on his Sunday night WSVN-Fox segment earlier this month. “If they could do it back over again, they certainly would have matched it.”

Rosenhaus also mentioned that Van Ginkel sustained a Lisfranc foot injury in the Week 18 game against Buffalo “and the Dolphins haven’t had a lot of success with guys coming back from that.”

But after missing the offseason program while recovering, Van Ginkel has been exceptional, with two interception returns for touchdowns and three sacks. Pro Football Focus rates him 29th among 114 edge players.

▪ At safety, the Dolphins didn’t want to match Denver’s three-year, $20 million deal (with $12.5 million guaranteed) for Brandon Jones or DeShon Elliott’s two-year, $6 million contract with Pittsburgh, opting instead to sign Jordan Poyer on a one-year, $2 million deal.

Jones has been outstanding for Denver; PFF ranks him fourth among all 83 qualifying safeties.

Elliott, who signed with Miami as a free agent in 2023, is ranked ninth among 83 safeties.

Conversely, PFF rates Poyer 83rd and last; he has permitted six of seven passes in his coverage area to be caught for 75 yards and a TD, per Pro Football Focus. His 150 passer rating against is seventh worst among all starting safeties.

PFF says Poyer is Miami’s third-worst player on defense this season, ahead of only linebackers David Long Jr. and Anthony Walker Jr. Poyer is expected to miss a second game in a row with a shin injury.

▪ Wilkins had 17 tackles and two sacks in five games with the Raiders before sustaining a Jones fracture in his left foot, an injury that required surgery and will sideline him indefinitely.

Despite Wilkins’ injury, the Dolphins are still expected to receive a 2025 third-round compensatory pick for losing him, according to overthecap.com.

The Dolphins also are expected to receive a 2025 third-round compensatory pick for losing Hunt, who PFF ranks 12th among 75 guards.

Keeping Wilkins and Hunt would have been very difficult with the Dolphins’ cap challenges, but both have been clearly missed.

While Calais Campbell has played well, he’s too old (at 38) to give the Dolphins the volume of snaps that Wilkins did. And Liam Eichenberg has been uneven at right guard — pretty good at times but poor in Miami’s win in New England. PFF ranks Eichenberg 53rd among 75 guards this season.

Incidentally, the Dolphins are expected to receive a third 2025 compensatory pick — a seventh-rounder, as a result of losing Elliott.

▪ At nose tackle, the Dolphins opted for the cheaper Benito Jones (one-year, $1.79 million contract) over Raekwon Davis, who received a two-year, $14 million deal with Indianapolis and will play against his former team when the Dolphins visit the Colts on Sunday (1 p.m., Fox).

Let’s be clear here: The Dolphins didn’t make a mistake by not paying Davis $7 million a year. But they did make a mistake by not finding a replacement better than Jones, who is rated 85th among 120 interior defenders after finishing among the worst defensive tackles in PFF’s run defense metrics last year, when he played for the Detroit Lions.

Davis is ranked even worse — 101st among 120 ranked tackles; he has played 165 snaps but hasn’t started a game.

▪ Then there’s the curious case of tight end Elijah Higgins, a sixth-round pick who was released in August 2023, months after the Dolphins drafted him.

The Arizona Cardinals immediately claimed him and he has developed nicely there, catching 21 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns in 16 games and four starts.

By contrast, the Dolphins have stuck with Julian Hill (a far better blocker) and Tanner Conner and remain the NFL’s only team without a TD catch from a tight end since the start of last season.

Aside from 2023 third-rounder De’Von Achane and 2022 seventh-rounder Skylar Thompson, Higgins has accomplished more so far than anyone drafted by the Dolphins in 2022 (third-rounder Channing Tindall, fourth-rounder Erik Ezukanma, injured seventh-rounder Cameron Goode) or drafted by Miami in 2023 — second-round cornerback Cam Smith (who is eligible to come off injured reserve) and seventh-round offensive lineman Ryan Hayes, who is no longer with the organization.