Peter Schrager’s final mock for 2024 NFL Draft; Miami Dolphins make a trade!

Miami Dolphins trade back and land promising defender.

After many months of excitement and anticipation, the 2024 NFL Draft has finally arrived and fans of the Miami Dolphins couldn’t be happier. Tonight, the first round kicks off, and if Chris Grier and company have prepared for this moment properly, the player selected by the Dolphins could have an impact on the future of the franchise for many years to come.

One of the media members most closely connected to Miami’s head coach Mike McDaniel is Peter Schrager of Good Morning Football and the NFL Network. The two men have had a positive relationship for years, so when Schrager says something of interest about the Dolphins, it is worth taking notes.

On Thursday morning, Schrager dropped his final mock draft of the season, and he once again has Miami selecting an EDGE defender (he selected Jared Verse out of Florida State in his first mock) — this time after a trade down with the Detroit Lions.

In this exercise, the Dolphins traded back from #21 to #29 with the Lions — acquiring a third round pick (#73 overall) to do so.

With pick #29, the Dolphins selected EDGE defender from Penn State, Chop Robinson.

Here’s what Schrager had to say about the selection:

“Yes, they’re already paying Bradley Chubb and soon will have to pay Jaelan Phillips. As we learned last year, though, you can never have too many pass rushers. And there’s a drop-off in talent at the position after Chop.”

Robinson’s talent is still very raw, as his college production would indicate. Through three years in college — one with the University of Maryland and two with Penn State University — Chop only totaled 43 tackles and 11.5 sacks. However, once developed, his athleticism could allow him to develop into one of the most explosive pass rushers in the NFL.

Schrager has now selected an EDGE defender for the Dolphins in both of his mock drafts, so fans of the squad clad in aqua and orange should probably take that as an indication that Miami is looking at that position hard and a new pass rusher could be headed to South Florida tonight.

One thing that stood out to me when going over the final mock from the GMFB figurehead is the players who were selected between picks #21 and #29 — the players who Miami could have selected by forgoing the trade back scenario.

#22 — Troy Fautanu (G/T from Washington)

#25 — Cooper DeJean (DB from Iowa)

#26 — Graham Barton (G/C from Duke)

#28 — Laiatu Latu (EDGE from UCLA)

Personally, I’d prefer either of these four over Chop Robinson plus a third round pick, but I’d understand the Dolphins wanting to acquire more ammunition in what is being called a very deep class.

For Peter Schrager’s full mock with explanations for each selection, click here.

Soon, very soon, all of the speculation will come to an end and we will find out what Miami’s plan was all along when the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).