NFL Draft Mailbag: Late round QBs, the new Dolphins GM, and more
By Jack Brentnall
With January upon us and all-star games just a couple of weeks away, we are well and truly in draft season.
It’s been a while since my last mailbag, and plenty has changed in that time. We now have a clearer picture of which prospects will be in this class, as well as who the true standout talents are shaping up to be.
A big thank you to everyone who submitted a question this week. We had so many that I’ll be doing another mailbag next week to get to the ones I couldn’t fit in here.
As a Packers connoisseur, how will the Dolphins' hiring of Jon-Eric Sullivan as GM affect the front office philosophy in Miami, and what should be his first priority in terms of roster reconstruction?
I think the biggest shift will be a move away from aggressive free-agent spending and toward building through the draft. Sullivan has cited Packers GM Brian Gutekunst as his biggest influence, and Green Bay has long embraced that philosophy. Sullivan himself has described the NFL Draft as the “lifeblood” of a franchise, with free agency used to supplement rather than form the core.
If you look at the top 10 salaries on the Dolphins’ books for 2026, Miami drafted only four of those players: Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle, Austin Jackson, and Minkah Fitzpatrick. Depending on who you ask, there is a very real chance that at least one of those players will not be on the roster next season.
In the short term, I would expect Sullivan to be focused on getting the cap under control, shedding older veterans on big contracts, and beginning to plan for the team’s next quarterback. Given what we know about this draft class, that solution is unlikely to come this year, but positioning the roster to pursue a quarterback in 2027 feels like a logical early objective.
The major variable, as always in Miami, is ownership. Whether Stephen Ross is willing to take a step back and allow Sullivan to fully shape the roster will matter a great deal. That kind of ownership interference was never an issue in Green Bay, but it has been a recurring concern with the Dolphins.
If I were a Miami fan, I’d feel cautiously optimistic about the hire. A lot, however, will hinge on the direction they choose at head coach.
Jacob Rodriguez is a sleeper. He’s not one of the top five linebackers according to many experts…Why?
Rodriguez was a big riser for me in 2025. He wasn’t on my radar over the summer, but his tape this season was excellent. He shows strong instincts as a run defender (the Arizona State game is a great example), and his ball production is genuinely impressive, with 13 career forced fumbles and six interceptions.
That said, there are limitations to his game that will be more pronounced at the pro level, and those explain why he sits outside the top five linebackers for many evaluators, myself included.
Athletically, Rodriguez is limited. His football IQ helps compensate, but he lacks the true sideline-to-sideline range teams covet in modern linebackers. He is also on the smaller side. Listed at 6’1” and 234 pounds, I would not be surprised if he measures in slightly shorter and lighter, with shorter arms than ideal. That lack of length shows up when he tries to stack and shed, and it will only become more of an issue against bigger, longer NFL linemen.
Even so, I still really like Rodriguez as a prospect. He is the kind of instinctive playmaker I would want on my defense, and his core-four special teams value from day one will matter to NFL coaching staffs.
Do you believe Rueben Bain Jr can play primarily as an edge in the NFL?
I do, and this is one of those evaluations where I’m going to trust the tape. Do the reported sub-31-inch arms concern me? Absolutely. There is a reason you struggle to find successful NFL edge rushers with that kind of length.
That said, Bain has consistently produced at the college level and has been outstanding in the playoffs. While he lacks ideal measurables, he brings real play strength and a diverse pass rush plan that forces opponents to account for him.
Some teams will want to kick him inside, and I do think he can play there, particularly as a 4i in an odd front. Given what he has shown off the edge, though, I would be inclined to keep him there initially and see if it translates, especially given the positional value gap between edge and defensive tackle.
In the last mailbag I asked about how the Bengals might address defense in the draft. You mentioned taking one of the top edge rushers. For a team picking 10th, are those still obtainable guys, or are there other defenders they should consider?
It’s always difficult to project the board this far out, but my sense is that both Rueben Bain and David Bailey could be off the board by the time Cincinnati picks. For a franchise that is famously reluctant to trade up in the first round, that may force them to pivot.
The good news is that given the current state of the Bengals’ defense, it is hard to go too far wrong. They need an infusion of talent at almost every level.
If those edge rushers are gone, the dream scenario would be landing Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. Cincinnati arguably has the weakest linebacker room in the league, and Styles would be an immediate upgrade. If he is unavailable, either Arvell Reese or Caleb Downs would also make a lot of sense.
If Miami were to upset Indiana and Carson Beck had one of the better games we‘ve seen against this Indiana defense, how high could some NFL teams talk themselves into him? Could he be QB5 behind Mendoza, Moore, Simpson and Nussmeier?
Playoff performances do matter to NFL evaluators, and that is especially true at quarterback. Producing when the lights are brightest, against elite competition, naturally carries weight in draft rooms.
For Beck, though, I think the ceiling is capped by arm strength. After undergoing elbow surgery last offseason, he has clearly lost some of the velocity he showed earlier in his Georgia career. Arm strength may often be overrated by fans, but there is a baseline NFL teams look for, and I am not convinced Beck consistently hits it.
What I will be watching closely is how he handles pressure. He is generally reliable from a clean pocket, but he can unravel when forced off his spot. The ability to navigate pressure, find answers, and avoid negative plays is often the separator between college quarterbacks and NFL starters.
Is there any opportunity in the NFL for a couple of college character QBs, namely Haynes King and Diego Pavia?
Both players have been a lot of fun to watch at the college level, so I would love the answer to be an emphatic yes. Realistically, though, it is more complicated.
Between the two, King has the clearer path. That mostly comes down to measurables. At a verified 6’2” and 209 pounds, he meets baseline NFL size thresholds. He is also a good athlete, with an expected sub-4.6 40-yard dash, solid accuracy, and a strong ability to avoid sacks. His 8% pressure-to-sack rate in 2025 ranked fourth among Power Four quarterbacks.
Pavia, by contrast, would be a major outlier. While Vanderbilt lists him at 6’0”, verified measurements suggest he is under 5’10”, making him the second-shortest quarterback prospect in more than two decades.
Both players have accepted all-star invitations (King to the Shrine Bowl, Pavia to the Senior Bowl). How they perform there, and just as importantly how they interview, will go a long way toward determining whether either hears their name called late on draft weekend.
JACK BRENTNALL
HEAD OF NFL DRAFT CONTENT
Previously the founder of The Jet Sweep, Jack joined The Touchdown as head of Draft Content in 2024. A Scouting Academy alumnus, Jack has been Covering the NFL Draft since 2020. Follow him on Twitter @Jack_Brentnall.