Dolphins Wide Receiver 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 wide receiver position:

DOLPHINS WIDE RECEIVER DRAFT HISTORY
Number of picks: 67

Number of first-round picks: 6 (Randal Hill, 1991; O.J. McDuffie, 1993; Yatil Green, 1997; Ted Ginn Jr., 2009; DeVante Parker, 2015; Jaylen Waddle, 2021)

Last five picks: Erik Ezukanma, 2022, Round 4; Waddle, 2021, Round 1; Malcolm Perry, 2020, Round 7; Isaiah Ford, 2017, Round 7; Jakeem Grant, 2016, Round 6

Hits: Nat Moore (Round 3, 1974), Duriel Harris (Round 3, 1976), Mark Duper (Round 2, 1982), Mark Clayton (Round 8, 1983), McDuffie, Chris Chambers (Round 2, 2001), Brian Hartline (Round 4, 2009), Jarvis Landry (Round 2, 2014), Jaylen Waddle

Misses: Hill, Green*, Larry Shannon (Round 3, 1998), Derek Hagan (Round 3, 2006), Patrick Turner (Round 3, 2009), Leonte Carroo (Round 3, 2016)

Trends: The Dolphins have not used premium picks on wide receivers very often in recent years, with Waddle being the only one taken in the first two rounds in the past eight drafts. only four selected in either Round 1 or Round 2, though the success rate during that time was pretty solid. Of the last 12 wide receivers drafted by the Dolphins, including college QB Malcolm Perry in 2020, seven were taken in the fifth round or later.

HOW THE DOLPHINS HAVE DONE
What really stands out when assessing the Dolphins’ work in the draft with wide receivers in the lack of success in the third round. It truly is astonishing, and not in a good way.

The last four wide receivers the Dolphins took in that round were part of our “misses” list.

Speaking on that list, we put an asterisk next to Yatil Green’s name because we never got the chance to find out what kind of NFL player he could have become, the result of nasty injuries each of his two training camps with Miami.

We put Waddle on the “hits” list because he’s been very productive (three 1,000-yard seasons in three years), though the argument could be made that he actually hasn’t done quite enough to justify the Dolphins surrendering an extra first-round pick to move up from 12 to 6 in the 2021 first round after they had gotten two extra No. 1s from San Francisco to go from 3 to 12.

Considering he was still in the NFL at one point last season, Ginn carved himself a nice career after all, though he clearly was overdrafted at ninth overall. Then there’s DeVante Parker, who probably would have to be classified as a “miss” more than a “hit.”

One thing really missing from the Dolphins’ wide receiver draft resume are late-round hits because, outside of Clayton, there really isn’t much here.