Dolphins GM Chris Grier pursued trading back into first round; Possible Day 2 trade looming?

Would the Buffalo Bills have still traded back if the deal involved the Miami Dolphins?

The NFL Draft began with 14 straight offensive players — including six quarterbacks — coming off the board. Despite twists and turns, Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier landed one of his top-graded prospects in Penn State edge rusher Chop Robinson at No. 21.

While Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel were thrilled to improve the pass rush, Miami hoped to make more noise in the second half of the first round.

“We were active on the phones; I’ll just say that,” Grier said when the first round ended Thursday night. “So I don’t know how close we got, but we were active probably through the backend of the draft.”

Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton was linked to the Dolphins, he went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at No. 26. Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton went to the Dallas Cowboys at No. 29. Wide receivers Ricky Pearsall and Xavier Legette were the final two players picked in the first round.

“There were a couple players at the end we were excited for, so we were active even trying to get back in to get another one here in the late first,” Grier said.

More than 20 players will come off the board before the Dolphins are on the clock at pick No. 55, and it’s possible that some of the players Grier highlighted late in the first slipped into the second round.

NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah listed Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean, defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Netwon, and interior offensive linemen Jackson Powers-Johnson and Zach Frazier as some of the best players still on the board when the second round begins at 7 p.m.

The Dolphins are without picks in the third and fourth rounds but could leverage next year’s compensatory picks if hoping to land a Day-1 starter on Friday night. In 2021, Miami traded a 2022 third-round pick and No. 50 overall to the Giants in 2021 to draft Liam Eichenberg at No. 38.

“As the board falls and the players – you never want to get desperate in doing things and moving around,” Grier said. “But if opportunities arise, we’ll take a shot and move around.”