Dolphins Defensive Back Draft History: The Hits, Misses and Trends

As we head into the homestretch to the 2024 NFL draft, it’s a good time to revisit the Miami Dolphins draft history at every position.

In this draft series, we break down each position with number of picks since the start of the “common draft” in 1967, first-round selections, hits and misses, and any trends that might apply.

We continue with the defensive backs (as always, hits and misses are determined by gauging production versus draft position):

DOLPHINS DEFENSIVE BACK DRAFT HISTORYNumber of picks: 100

Number of first-round picks: 8 (CB Don McNeal, 1980; S Louis Oliver, 1989; CB Troy Vincent, 1992; CB Jamar Fletcher, 2001; S/CB Jason Allen, 2006; CB Vontae Davis, 2009; S Minkah Fitzpatrick, 2018; CB Noah Igbinoghene, 2020)

Last five picks: CB Cam Smith, 2023, Round 2; S Jevon Holland, 2021, Round 2; S Brandon Jones, 2020, Round 3; CB Noah Igbinoghene, 2020, Round 1; CB Cornell Armstrong, Round 6, 2018

Hits: S Dick Anderson (Round 3, 1968), S/CB Tim Foley (Round 3, 1970), CB Curtis Johnson (Round 4, 1970), S Jake Scott (Round 7, 1970), S Glenn Blackwood (Round 8, 1979), CB William Judson (Round 8, 1981), CB Troy Vincent (Round 1, 1992), S Shawn Wooden (Round 6, 1996), CB Sam Madison (Round 2, 1997), CB Patrick Surtain (Round 2, 1998), S Yeremiah Bell (Round 6, 2003), S Reshad Jones (Round 5, 2010), S Bobby McCain (Round 5, 2015), CB Xavien Howard (Round 2, 2016)

Misses: CB Jeris White (Round 2, 1974), CB Dorian Brew (Round 3, 1996), CB Ben Kelly (Round 3, 2000), CB Jamar Fletcher (Round 3, 2001), S/CB Jason Allen (Round 1, 2006), CB Jamar Taylor (Round 2, 2013), CB Cordrea Tankersley (Round 3, 2017), CB Noah Igbinoghene (Round 1, 2020)

Trends: While the results haven’t always been there, we certainly can’t complain about the Dolphins neglecting the secondary in the draft in recent years. They have selected seven defensive backs in the first three rounds over the past eight drafts, including Cam Smith last year.

HOW THE DOLPHINS HAVE DONE WITH DEFENSIVE BACKS IN THE DRAFT
While it’s always easier to just look at the misses, it’s pretty clear the Dolphins have done very well when it comes to drafting defensive backs.

Getting the starting secondary for the Super Bowl teams of the 1970s all through the draft in a span of three years (1968-70) is borderline genius work.

Then there was the back-to-back years taking Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain, giving the Dolphins their best cornerback tandem ever.

More recently, the Dolphins got steals in the fifth round with Reshad Jones and Bobby McCain and then landed Howard in Round 2 after moving up four spots to get him.

Of course, we have to mention the first-round flops, none bigger than Jamar Fletcher, whose selection was only made more painful by the incredible NFL career of Drew Brees who was taken six picks later and really should have been the Dolphins’ selection. The selection of Igbinoghene after moving down four spots from 26th to 30th also was painful because the Dolphins passed on all of the running backs from the draft, starting with Jonathan Taylor.

We also should point out we did not include Minkah Fitzpatrick in either the “hit” or “miss” category because he clearly is a very good player but just didn’t play long enough for the Dolphins, and the jury is still out on Cam Smith after his very forgettable rookie season.