The Miami Dolphins will be back at it Friday night in the 2025 NFL draft, looking to add to their first-round selection of Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant.
The Dolphins ended Day 1 scheduled to have the 48th overall pick in the second round, and they could go for a prospect at a lot of different positions.
Here’s a quick roundup of what some national draft analysts are projecting them to do with that 48th overall selection:
CBS Sports (Chris Trapasso): G Tate Ratledge, Georgia
More trench reinforcement for the Dolphins, this time on the offensive side with the tall but athletic blocker from Georgia.
The Athletic (Nick Baumgartner): S Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina
This would be a total steal — Emmanwori is one of the best athletes in this draft. No one rolled the dice on him in Round 1, and safety is a tough position to peg, but it’s certainly possible Emmanwori falls this far Friday. He also could be a trade-up target for a number of teams.
ESPN (Matt Miller): S Xavier Watts, Notre Dame
Miami’s top needs were at cornerback and safety heading into the draft. It went defensive tackle in Round 1 instead, which means it should fill a hole here. Watts is a ball hawking safety who had 13 interceptions over the past two seasons.
Pro Football Focus: T Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota
Ersery brings alluring size and length to the tackle position for the NFL. He has good hands, an explosive first step forward and quick footwork to be an impactful zone run blocker, but his naturally high-waisted build impacts his leverage and may inhibit him from keeping NFL rushers in front of him.
USA Today (Ayrston Ostly): CB Azareye’h Thomas, Florida State
Miami’s defense needs more help even after selecting nose tackle Kenneth Grant in Round 1. In Thomas, they get a long cornerback with traits and great tape in press coverage.
FOX Sports (Carmen Vitali): S Xavier Watts, Notre Dame
The value for offensive linemen at this point isn’t there, which is why it was so surprising seeing Miami pass on one in the first round. Here, the Dolphins try to make up for the loss of Jevon Holland.
Newsweek (Bryce Lazenby): S Xavier Watts, Notre Dame
The Dolphins added to the defensive interior in the first round, and they go to the secondary in the second. Xavier Watts is an elite prospect who played his best ball in the biggest games.
As you can see, three of the seven analysts projected the Dolphins to select Watts, who would join Ashtyn Davis and Ifeatu Melifonwu as new safeties on the roster.
We profiled Watts in a story before the 2025 combine on five safeties the Dolphins might want to consider to replace Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer.
Although Watts has a lot of coverage versatility, he’s less alignment versatile than someone like Starks. Watts played 306 snaps in the box at Notre Dame last season, but his lackluster size (6 feet, 203 pounds) doesn’t project well to the NFL level.
He plays bigger than his size suggests, so he’s not a total non-factor near the line of scrimmage and against the run; it’s just not somewhere he should be counted on consistently.NFL.com overview
This was the draft overview of Watts from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein: “Safety with the versatility and ball skills to make plays from a variety of alignments. Watts plays with rare feel and instincts on the back-end, allowing him to range over the top in single-high or read and drive on throws as a split safety. Watts lined up over the slot at times in college, but he might not have the man-cover talent to do that as a pro. His ball skills and production are intoxicating, but his run support and tackling are quite sobering. Watts lacks pursuit discipline and fails to break down in space, leading to open-field misses and back-breaking mistakes. The tackling lowers his floor some, but I expect him to drift toward his ceiling because he’s so good on the back-end.”
More Miami Dolphins Coverage:
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
