Dolphins owner Stephen Ross wasn’t initially on board with his team taking Minkah Fitzpatrick with the 11th overall pick, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports.
Instead, Ross wanted the Dolphins to trade back in order to acquire more picks and to save money on the first-rounder, per Volin.
The Dolphins’ football people talked Ross out of giving up the spot.
As Greg Cote of the Miami Herald noted Monday, the pressure isn’t on Fitzpatrick. It is on the Dolphins to have made the right choice. Fitzpatrick is the 15th player the team has selected 11th overall or higher, and the previous 14 produced a mix bag.
Fitzpatrick, a first-team All-American, was not expected to remain on the board as long as he did. He had nine interceptions and 171 tackles in his career.
The Dolphins might have drafted a quarterback if any of the top-four prospects remained on the board, but of course, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen were snapped up in the top-10 picks.
Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier admitted after the first round that the team had talks with “a couple of teams” about moving up or down, which is not unusual for any team.
“Really, the way it all played out, we didn’t think any of the quarterbacks would make it to us,” Grier said. “For us, we talked to a couple of teams about maybe moving up or down but nothing real serious. For us, at the end of the day, if one of those [top quarterbacks] was there, we would have talked about it; but we just didn’t think anybody would be there.”