Omar Kelly: The praise, the problem, and possibilities with Dolphins receivers

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Jan 21, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — A position-by-position series breaking down each of the Miami Dolphins’ units, assessing where the team stands heading into the 2025 offseason, and examining what could possibly be done through free agency and the NFL draft.

Receiver

— The Praise: The Miami Dolphins have one of the NFL’s most expensive duos in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, and for the first two years they were together the pair put up numbers no Dolphins duo have matched. Not even the Marks Brothers, Mark Clayton and Mark Duper. The pair showcased at times they still had what it takes to dominate games, but for a variety of reasons both delivered one of the least productive seasons statistically.

Waddle caught 58 passes for 744 yards (12.8 avg.) in 2024, surpassing 300 receptions and 4,000 receiving yards in his career. His 4,129 career receiving yards are the most by a Dolphins player in his first four NFL seasons, while his 309 receptions rank second, trailing only Jarvis Landry.

If not for an ankle injury he suffered in the season’s final month, missing two and a half games, Waddle might have delivered his fourth straight 1,000 yard season. But it wasn’t meant to be.

Hill, who caught 81 passes and turned them into 959 yards and six touchdowns, had his second least productive NFL season. The only years that rival 2024 for Hill were his rookie season, when he wasn’t a starter, and his 2019 season, where he was limited to 12 regular season games. And even then he scored seven touchdowns.

The Dolphins also received a pleasant surprise from rookie receiver Malik Washington, who delivered an impressive second half of the 2024 season, catching 26 passes and turning them into 223 yards. The former Virginia standout the Dolphins selected in the sixth-round also ran one end-around in for his lone touchdown of the season.

— The Problem: Miami’s offense delivered the most big plays in 2023, and that’s partly because of the speed and deep threat ability of the front line receivers. But this year the offense became a dink and dunk unit, getting the ball out the quarterback’s hand quickly. The evolution of the offense produced more quick throws and lateral passes, and the absence of the run game hindered Miami’s ability to throw the deep ball effectively.

It was a problem that frustrated the Dolphins all season, especially when Tua Tagovailoa was sidelined for six and a half games because of his concussion and hip issues. The issue got so bad Hill stopped just short of demanding a trade out of Miami, telling the media “I’m out,” after Miami’s season-ending loss to the New York Jets, which prevented the Dolphins from producing a winning record.

While the Dolphins claim Hill has backed off those trade demands, until we hear those words coming out his mouth it’s hard to believe this relationship won’t end in a nasty divorce. The Dolphins need to figure out a way to have Hill buy in again, but that’s easier said than done. However, it’s probably easier to do than trade the eight-time Pro Bowler for adequate value (think a second-round pick), and having the cap hit associated with moving him (a loss of $600,000 in cap space) and replacing the five-time All-Pro, make sense.

— The Possibilities: The Dolphins will likely try to ride it out one more season with Hill, who will make $15.1 million in base salary, roster and workout bonuses this season in the second year of a contract extension he signed last summer, which supposedly carries the 30-year-old through the 2026 season. That’s when Hill is due $39.2 million in base salary and bonuses, and all of it comes off the books if he’s a June 1 release in 2026.

It might be easier to move Waddle, who is four years younger, and doesn’t come off as a diva receiver. But it’s hard to imagine another team will give Miami a second-round pick to inherit the four-years and $100 million left on Waddle’s new deal.

Washington has potential as Miami’s future slot receiver, and Grant Dubose, who is an exclusive rights free agent, has some potential as a playmaker. The Dolphins also get rookie Tahj Washington, a 2024 seventh-round pick, back from a knee injury that sidelined him all of 2024.

But the Dolphins still lack size at receiver, and it would be ideal for Miami to address that in free agency or the NFL draft, where four receivers — Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, Missouri’s Luther Burden III, Ohio State’s Emeka Eguka and Utah State’s Jalen Royals —have first round grades. However, the meat of the receiver position will be found early in the third day, where talents like Miami’s Xavier Restrepo, Syracuse’s Orande Gadsden II and TCU’s Savion Washington can be found. Expect that to be the area where the Dolphins target receiver additions because it generally takes receivers a season or two to master Mike McDaniel’s offense.

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