Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan broke down the reasoning behind the team leading the league with seven waiver claims.
The Miami Dolphins overhauled their roster again during the waiver claim day on Monday. Teams had until 1 PM EST to make their claims from players across the league who did not make their respective teams' 53-man roster.
There was a big assumption that the Dolphins were set to be active, but they led the league with seven waiver claims, and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan broke down the reasoning behind those moves.
"I think we got incrementally better, which is always the goal," Sullivan said of the moves.
To put the moves into a bigger perspective, the Miami front office may have placed even more waiver claims in, but were only awarded seven. Simply put, depth has been and continues to be an issue for the team, and Sullivan was there to continue addressing the issue.
One of the bigger areas that was addressed with the waiver claims is the cornerback room, which saw the Dolphins pick up three players on the waiver wire. Cornerbacks Marcellas Dial Jr and Reese Taylor, and safety Julius Wood were among the names claimed by the team.
With Storm Duck and Darrell Baker Jr. on the reserve/PUP list to start the year, and no clear window on their return, something had to be done.
Juju Brents, Chris Johnson, and Jason Marshall Jr. were among the only health corners, leading to the multiple waiver claims for the previously listed players.
Additionally, the Dolphins addressed their backup quarterback positions in a significant way by picking up quarterback Kyle McCord via a trade and signing former New York Jets quarterback Brady Cook, following Quinn Ewers being sent to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cam Miller being cut.
For Sullivan, the idea is to consistently improve the roster.
"If you deem something not good enough, then you have to address it. It's my job to make sure that we are as competitive as we can be in the moment, given the circumstances. And if we sit on our hands so that it's comfortable, then I'm not doing my job as a general manager," Sullivan said.
Sullivan has a point in that not addressing a weak position is something that good teams often do, but doing it so many times could come at the Dolphins' peril.
With a ton of new faces consistently cycling in and having to learn offensive and defensive systems, the team may be setting itself up by having a roster that is never quite set. That is not to say that is what is going on currently, but the overhaul could lead to some even tougher growing pains.
Still, Sullivan has been nothing short of tenacious in his messaging on how the roster construction will operate moving forward.
"You guys know, I've said it time and time again, we're going to be a draft and develop team ... We will always be a young team. I've said it before, we will be very, very selective in who we bring in here in free agency and we'll pay our core players. We just did that, you know with J. Brooks and Achane and Brew, but that's how we'll move," Sullivan said.
One of the bigger issues in past regimes, mainly the one led by general manager Chris Grier, is that the Dolphins would often pay high prices for free agents, which never quite worked out. Whether that was the coaching staff at the time or many other factors, the constant overspending led to the current state of the Miami cap situation.
Sullivan had to cut quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Tyree Hill, and made many more moves that led to a huge dead cap money situation. All of those moves have already carved a path to a predicted top three cap situation in 2027.
Additionally, it does appear that the draft class who has come in are already making strong impressions, as rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez beat out Tyrel Dodson for the starting linebacker spot opposite Jordyn Brooks.
The Dolphins may make some tough decisions under Sullivan, but the idea is to build a sustained winner through drafting and awarding players, which is an ideaology that has not been present in a long time for Miami.
Whether or not that works remains to be seen, but Sullivan continues to practice what he has been preaching.
