2025 Team Previews: Miami Dolphins

All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.

** = target in drafts at this ADP

Relevant Players

De’Von Achane, RB (ADP: 14, RB7): After a rookie season that was dual parts hyper efficiency and injury worry, Achane proved in his sophomore campaign that his efficiency was no joke. I was higher on Achane than consensus when he was drafted in 2023 because I felt that he couldn’t have possibly landed in a more favorable offensive environment than Mike McDaniel’s Miami. That was true then, and it was even more true in 2024, when injuries completely derailed their optimal gameplan and McDaniel leaned on Achane at times as a workhorse, and in other games ran the passing attack through him.

We all knew his 7.8 yards per carry as a rookie was comical, and his efficiency did fall off. That happens when you get 100 more carries, and he was still at a healthy 4.5 yard per carry clip. QB Tua Tagovailoa suffered some more scary head injuries, and when he was out, as well as when he returned, the focus of the offense shifted toward keeping Tua upright. Achane saw his targets increase from 37 to 87, and he caught a whopping 78 of those passes for 592 yards and six touchdowns. Nobody besides Breece Hall was more prolific through the air, and while that should dip a little in 2025, its unequivocally a major part of this offense and Achane’s value. He’s tiny, so goal line rushes aren’t going to be his bag, but he’s hit double digit TDs in back to back seasons and scores from distance with ease. Nearly half of Achane’s 23 career touchdowns are from 10 or more yards out, and three of them were 50 yards or longer.

Achane is not a traditional RB1, and he may not be quite as devastating away from McDaniel, but he is with McDaniel and the Dolphins didn’t make it a point to add anyone significant to the RB room that threatens to soak up major snap share. He’s being drafted very high, so I don’t necessarily see value, but this is a fine spot to draft a guy who will undoubtedly win weeks by himself.

Tyreek Hill, WR (ADP: 29, WR12): Hill had a very down year in 2024, and being that he’s in his age 31 season, it’s fair to wonder if Hill’s days as a surefire WR1 are finished. He played in 17 games, and after showing nary a hint of decline before this year, he dropped from 119 receptions in back to back seasons to 81 last year. His yardage free fell from 1,799 to 959. I’m not a mathematician, but subtracting is a thing I can do, and he lost 840 yards of production. His yards per catch dipped by about four and his yards per target fell off a cliff despite an increase in his average depth of target (ADOT).

It has to be noted that the Dolphins were a mess. Not only did Tua get hurt multiple times and return as a shell of himself, Hill battled a wrist injury all year. Hill was still a zone beating maven, posting an 81.8% win rate (78th percentile), but his man rates fell off hard. Hill also struggled on slant routes, putting up a 73.1% success rate there, and he dipped on his dig success too (72.7%). Hill is still a very good receiver, but he’s not a spring chicken, and when players who dominate so much because of their speed begin to age, it can go quickly. I would bank on Hill being a strong fantasy contributor, because McDaniel is a brilliant offensive mind, but this is an offense that can pivot to honing in on other players as engines to drive the car. It wouldn’t shock me to see Achane take center stage on a full time basis, or Jaylen Waddle begin to get the Hill treatment with more manufactured touches and if that occurs, it’s hard to see Hill justifying this ADP. I like Hill, but the downside is pretty clear to me, and so I’d like to see this ADP slide by Draft Day before I take him.

**Jaylen Waddle, WR (ADP: 73, WR32): Waddle is a much more interesting option in the Miami offense for me. He beings a lot of the same skills to the table as Hill, including Sonic the Hedgehog level speed, and he can put up WR1 production if given the chance. Last season was disastrous, but he was affected by Miami’s injury-poisoned environment more than anyone. Waddle is on the outside more than Hill and per Reception Perception he’s almost always on the line of scrimmage. It's essentially a higher degree of difficulty role for this offense, and while he excels – more on that in a minute – he wasn’t seeing opportunities because Tua was spamming so many short throws to Jonnu Smith and Achane. None of that spoke to Waddle’s ability to get open though, which remains stellar.

Hill was a better zone beater, albeit not by much, and Waddle was superior to Hill vs. man and press. His nine and curl rates were 66.7% and 83.3%, respectively, which are absolutely nasty in combination with his speed and capability after the catch. Waddle’s a beast on dig routes, where Hill faded last year, as well as outs. He can burn defenses on posts too, and really only struggled with flats and corners, which he ran very few of anyway. Waddle wasn’t perfect last season, and some of his rates were actually just down from a season ago, but he’s entering his prime now and seems ripe to become the focal point of what can be the NFL’s most explosive passing game. Before last season’s year from hell, Waddle had never failed to hit 1,000 yards or 70 receptions with high efficiency. I guess last season is his floor, because it happened, but with better injury luck for both him and his QB, Waddle is a pretty safe WR2 bet at worst, and his ceiling is Top 12. At this price, you can’t say no.

Interesting Sleeper(s)

**Darren Waller, TE (ADP: 198, TE26): I’ll be up front and say I’m crazy, but I don’t mind drafting Waller. It’s been a looong time since he was good. That 2020 campaign when he put up 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns hit different but since then he has not even hit 700 yards, and he didn’t play at all in 2024. You cannot draft him late and think you’ve gotten a steal as a locked-in season long starter. But…we know that he’s super talented, he’s had ample time to train and heal his body from previous wear and tear, and we have seen Miami pepper athletic TEs to the point of TE1 relevancy.

Is it really impossible for Waller to have a version of the season Jonnu Smith just gave us? Are they not similar type players, and is Waller not a tall, hyper athletic prototype red zone option? Does anyone else on Miami fit that bill? Throughout the season as I highlight potential waiver adds, I will inevitably name a lot of TEs who are touchdown or bust. Waller can easily be that, and he has potential to be more if they just decide to consistently give him short stuff. Take a flier, and if he’s barely on the field or drawing looks you can cut him with no skin off your back.

Notable Players

Tua Tagovailoa, QB (ADP: 151, QB20): Tua is a QB I’ve always believed in, but it’s time to let go of the QB1 dream. He’s very capable of supporting several high-end pass catchers in this offense, but his injury concerns are too massive, and even when he’s fully cooking over the course of a full season with a full cache of arms he has failed to hit the 30-touchdown mark. At his best, Tua can pile up big yardage and in spot starts he can be a nuclear bomb, but he should not be relied upon as a season long QB in single-QB formats.

Malik Washington, WR (ADP: N/A): Washington, a speedster out of Virginia, had a little hype entering last season as yet another super fast weapon who could thrive in McDaniel’s scheme. Unfortunately, he didn’t get much opportunity to showcase his skills, and it’s unclear what his path to playing time is in 2025 with the addition of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine in free agency. If Washington got some playing time, I still believe he can go. He put up 110 catches for 1,426 yards and nine touchdowns at Virginia his final season, an absolutely ridiculous campaign. I have not given up hope he can be a fantasy relevant player, he’s simply not draftable at this time.

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, WR (ADP: N/A): Westbrook-Ikhine had such a weird 2024. He scored nine touchdowns, completely blowing away his career high of four set in 2021, but he did this on 32 receptions across 17 games. That’s total tomfoolery, and it’s beyond unsustainable, but it’s also hard to see how he even gets these chances down the field with Hill and Waddle right there. This seems like a pure backup deep threat option in case of emergency, and even if that time comes we can’t be sure Tua will even let him finish his routes before dumping it off on a checkdown. I’m not interested here, despite the gaudy scoring last year, and I am much more inclined to gamble on Malik Washington.

Handcuffs

Jaylen Wright, RB (ADP: 168, RB57): Wright had buzz last season, but there were chances for him to step up and the Dolphins chose to turn Achane and his miniature frame into a workhorse rather than give Wright a bigger workload. It’s hard to judge him on only 68 attempts, but him getting 68 attempts is telling. His 3.7 yards per carry was not encouraging, and he’s not a big thumper for goal line work, so I see him as just a depth back and not a real handcuff option.

Ollie Gordon III, RB (ADP: 280, RB80): The names in this RB room reinforce Achane’s status atop the depth chart, but Gordon does interest me as a potential goal line hammer and early down option. His junior campaign was not as impressive as his sophomore season, when he piled up over 2,000 yards from scrimmage and scored 22 touchdowns. He still surpassed 1,000 scrimmage yards in 2024 though and accounted for 14 touchdowns, which may be his role with the ‘Fins. Achane was tough to watch at times on straight runs in short yardage, because the line isn’t superb and he flat out doesn’t have the size or power to budge a pile. In space he’s a demon, but if you’re just trying to punch it in the end zone, or get a first down, Gordon at 6’2, 225 lbs. is built for the job. Gordon also proved he can catch the ball a little too, so there’s potential for role expansion if Achane goes down, which we’ve seen happen too often.

Alexander Mattison, RB (ADP: 289, RB82): Yeah, Mattison is here too to potentially take the excitement of Ollie Gordon down a peg. Mattison in theory can do all that stuff we said about Gordon, but Mattison is older and has proven that when given expanded duties he’s not very good. At the end of the day, handcuffing Achane seems like a fool’s errand because it’s too crowded here, but if you’re intent on handcuffing your RBs and you have Achane, I’d throw the dart at Ollie Gordon.