Dolphins Staff

Read the full transcript from GM Jon Eric Sullivan's media availability on April 15, 2026.

(Opening Statement)"The first thing before I even get get going, I think the appropriate thing to do and the right thing to do is just thank all the people that have been involved in this process. Obviously our scouts, our coaches, but it goes so much deeper than that. You've got the medical team; you've got the video [team] that supplies all the tape. We have our analytics department and so on and so forth. Our security team that does all the security checks and the background checks. So many people involved that work so hard to get us to a place where we can make a responsible decision on a player, I'd be remiss if I didn't publicly thank everybody for that. So with that, I'll open it up."

(Do you have any more visits left or has that wrapped up?)"That's wrapped up today. We got guys in today, but then today's the last day."

(What does a successful draft look like to you and a successful draft pick?)"Obviously a player that comes in and impacts your team in a positive manner, both on the field and in the locker room. I think the expectations of that, it's all dependent upon where you take them, right? And you never know, I mean this isn't an exact science. Obviously the higher you pick a player, those premium picks, you expect them to come in and perform and play at a level that impacts your team. How fast that happens? Who's to say. In my time in this business, I think to impact and to improve, you have to play. We're in a situation here where these draft picks are going to come in and they're going to play early. The truth of the matter is and we like our players, don't misconstrue what I'm saying but we do not have a ton of established players on this team. That's not to say we don't like our players. I think we've got a lot of guys here that are going to help us, that are going to surprise some people, if you will, that will play above what maybe the expectations are. But the truth of the matter is we have very few established players on this roster, so this draft class will have an opportunity to come in here and play soon, play quick."

(Is there a limit on how many rookie starters you can have? Can you start eight rookies in a season, five rookies, ten rookies?)"We're going to play the best players. That's the beautiful part about the culture, the competition that's going to be at the forefront of everything we do. It doesn't matter if you're a second-round pick or you're an undrafted free agent, if you're an eight-year vet or a second-year player, if you give us the best chance to win on Sunday, you're going to be one of the 11 on the field, or one of the 22 on the field, I should say. We're just not in a situation where we have the flexibility and the luxury to be choosy like that that's just the truth of it. Again, I can't say enough about the energy this last week. Having the players in the building, the energy and the excitement, the work ethic, those guys have been here getting after it. We had 20-plus guys here on Saturday on their own accord with Malik (Willis) throwing. We've got a lot of really good things going on here. I think if you're in the building every day, you can feel it. I'm excited about what we have going. I'm excited about taking these 11 draft picks and throwing them in the equation with what we already have."

(How active do you expect to be talking to other GMs around the league to move up and down?)"No different than when you guys asked me about trading players, I'm always going to pick up the phone. I think it probably is fair to say more likely to move back than move up. I mean, I think we need all 11 picks, but you never say never. I'm always, whether you're talking about going up or down, I'm going to pick up the phone and listen to what's being said on the other side of it. I don't love playing on the phone the week of the draft. Like if it's a real conversation, let's talk. But a lot of people over the next ten days just like to call and conversations aren't really of much substance. 'Hey, you want to go up? You want to go down?' Sure. Let's talk on draft day. (laughter)"

(How are RB De'Von Achane contract talks going, and is he not available for trade at this time?)"He is not available for trade. Things are going good. We've had some positive conversations over the last couple of days, trending in the right direction. He's obviously very important to what we're doing, and it's all part of it. It's part of professional sports. We'll get where we need to be one way or the other, but yeah, things are trending in the right direction."

(You said more likely to trade down. So are you saying that there isn't a prospect in this draft that you would potentially be enticed to move up for?)"No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that I think we need all 11 picks. I'm saying that you don't know how this thing is going to unfold. None of us have a crystal ball; it's more likely that we would move back and pick up picks than give up picks to go forward. If you walk in there Day 2 and all of a sudden there's some players that you covet at the top, and you're like, 'Hey, maybe it makes sense to go burn a pick,' to get - if something unlikely happened and a player that you didn't expect to be there, those are conversations we'll have. I'm not saying that I won't do anything. Everything is on the table. I just think when you look at our roster and what we need, it's more likely we would go back and pick up picks. We're in this thing to draft good football players. That's what wins games, good football players. It's great to have a lot of picks, but I'm not going to fall into that trap of trying to be smarter than the process and pass on good players to acquire picks. We've got to get good football players into the equation. If the board is sitting right, it becomes a numbers game, right? Somebody offers something and you look up there and you go, 'Hey, I know I can get there's five players left up there of equal value and I've only got to go back three spots, it's a conversation.' I'll think about doing it, but I'm not going to pass on players and take a significant dip on value of the player to get a pick if that makes sense to you."

(Having four picks in the third round, does that ever become enticing to possibly use one since you have a lot in that same proximity? Or do you evaluate a lot of players that are going to go in that range because of that?)"Sure, it's enticing. That's why you keep good people around you to help you stay disciplined. I've got really good people around me. That situation could present itself. I think there's strength in numbers, so unless it was a very special player, I would rather have two good players than maybe one special player with where we are as a roster right now."

(Sometimes a head coach, a coordinator, or even a position coach will "bang the table" for a guy or against a guy. How do you process how much to listen to that?)"That's a great question. The coaches are incredibly important to what we do, make no mistake about it, and they've put a ton of work into it. I think anytime they have a vision for a player, it gives me clarity, sometimes more so than others. I appreciate their feedback, I appreciate their vision, and it's important to me, but by the same token, I have a responsibility to do what I feel is best for the Miami Dolphins. I'm not going to ever go out of my way to shove a player down the throat of a coach that he doesn't want, but there will be times when maybe we see things differently. Ultimately, the final decision comes down to me, and I'm going to do what's best for this place."

(You've talked about doing things the right way, but you've also talked about wanting to win as many games as you can this season. Do you think you'll be aggressive with the money you have after the draft, processing June 1 to fill in needs with good free agents that fall through the cracks in June and July?)"I don't think we have any tricks up our sleeve, to be honest with you. I think we're going to stay disciplined and try to get back to a healthy cap situation, and we'll probably sit tight with that. We need the money to sign our draft class, and then as I said many times over again to you guys, we need to be disciplined with the finances and get back to a healthy spot. So I do not foresee that happening."

(There are always going to be players out there in the draft pool who have things in their past that they would rather not have and you would rather not see. How do you judge character versus production? How much luck have you had looking into a player and projecting whether he just made one mistake and that's not really who he is versus a guy who's a knucklehead?)"That's a great question. I mean, there's so many layers that go into where you end up putting a player on the draft board. Obviously, the character piece is a huge part of that. I think it's the boots on the ground, that's where it starts. It's the scouts that are in the school, and we always talk about it you cannot overstate the importance of developing relationships in the school, so that when you go into a particular school, you're talking to not just one, not two, but oftentimes three, four, five different people who see this player in a different light, whether it's academics, it's medical, obviously the coaches, now you're talking to people that deal with NIL, to see the kind of person that you're investing in. To answer your question, look, young people make mistakes. I know I did, I'm sure you all did. But it's like anything in life, you start to look for patterns. Most of us that are smart enough to understand when I make a mistake, I'm going to learn from it and I'm not going to go down that path again. The ones that scare you are the ones that keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and I would say it's probably best for all of us in this league to avoid those kinds of guys. I think the best prediction of the future is the history when you're talking about players and their behavior."

(When you go through the draft evaluation process, I'm wondering what you place the most value on. I've got a couple of categories, I think I've got the things right with the film, you get to see how the player plays in game action, the Combine, doctors put their hands on the players, Pro day, I guess the players comfortable, 30 visit conversations, Senior Bowl, you get to see actual football. Which of those elements do you value most and why? And are those the right traits to associate?)"All of that comes into play, it's all certainly part of the equation. I mean, if you just want me to nail it down to one, it's the film. They've got to be able to play. The film will talk to you and the film doesn't lie. Typically if guys show up week-in and week-out, certainly against the better competition and they play well, that's a telltale of what you're buying. But then to your point, the other layers come in. How do they compete? How do they carry themselves in at a Combine, at an All-Star event? What are their metrics? I mean, this game is played by men with certain traits height, weight, speed, all that comes into play. Sometimes you run into where guys are really good football players at the college level, but they don't have the traits, the physical traits to do the same to play at the same level here. So you have to take all that into the equation and make a responsible educated decision based on the information that you have."

(I'm curious just how you view that 11th pick, not only is it your first pick as GM but I feel like it's kind of a guy that you can kind of point to and say, "This is what we want the character of our organization to be kind of going forward within this culture shift." Am I right on that? How do you view that 11th pick?)"I worked in Green Bay with a guy that used to always say, 'Be careful about trying to hit the home run and make sure you just hit the double off the wall.' In other words, I think you take everything into consideration, but what you can't do is swing and miss, so the character is a huge piece of the pie. You want guys that are wired right, guys that are chasing it, guys that want to be the best football players that they can be, good teammates, they want to win, they prioritize the right kind of things, and we'll do that. That will be a big piece of the pie with that 11th pick and quite frankly, with all our picks, but obviously at 11, we've got to make sure that we're bringing a good football player into the equation that is a right fit for this place."

(You've hosted a lot of prospects on 30 visits. Take me inside, what does it look like when you have a prospect over for you and your staff?)"It's just getting to know the player. We bring guys in for a variety of reasons. Everybody kind of comes through for a different reason or another, but it's just another touchpoint. It's another opportunity to see how they carry themselves to talk Xs and Os, see how they learn, see how they recall. Obviously, the medical portion is a piece of it and then just have conversations. It's instinctual to some degree. It's no different than when you have conversations with people that's like, 'Hey, I like this guy,' or 'I don't know about this one.' But there's so many pieces of the puzzle when they come through the door, it's a great opportunity to kind of dot i's and cross t's."

(Head Coach Jeff Hafley mentioned that now being a head coach, he gets to sit in on all the scouting stuff for the draft, for the offensive ball side of the ball now too. How has, I guess, your working relationship changed with him now that you guys are looking at all players together, not just defense in his case in Green Bay?)"The relationship hasn't changed. I mean, we're tight as ever, thick as thieves. We're in lockstep. The cool part for me is if we're watching offensive guys and he's a defensive guy, I'll ask him or sometimes he just offers it up like, 'Hey, this guy wouldn't scare me. If I'm game planning against this guy, I'm not worried about taking him out,' and that's valuable for me to hear. Obviously, we talk at a deeper level than that, but it's been really good watching offensive tape with him because of his defensive expertise if that makes sense. But yeah, our relationship is great. Obviously, we haven't gone through anything together yet. We haven't played one game, but I can't say enough good things about him as a person, as a coach, watching him with the players. I think you guys have had your own conversations with these players, it's easy to see. He's really good at what he does. He's a good human being. We'll be good together."

(Along the same lines of the character concerns, do you have a philosophy when it comes to players who had a lot of injuries in college who don't necessarily have like a major red flag over their head as far as their status now, but have had a lot of injuries in college. Do you have a philosophy on trying to avoid those guys maybe?) "Every situation is different; there's not like a blanket philosophy. You certainly look at the injury history and the frequency and the significance of the injuries. It plays a part, but we have a medical team that's second to none and they give us great direction with that stuff. Every situation, every player is different with that. Yes, we take it into the equation, but it doesn't always weigh the same, if that makes sense to you."

(There are a couple positions where you don't have a guy on the roster who started a lot of games recently, safety is one. S Lonnie Johnson Jr. obviously started several years ago. Do you look at that position or any others and say, we absolutely must emerge with someone in our first seven, first two days picks with the player at that position?)"Yeah, do it every day. (laughter) No you look at the roster and where you have holes, it's obvious, right? But we're always going to be a best player available approach, because you really have no idea what your needs are going to be. I've lived that that lie before where you feel like you have an embarrassment of riches in a room and then all of a sudden you're a hamstring and an ankle away from stealing guys off the emergency board. Yes, to answer your question. Sure, I look at the holes and I say, 'Man, I've got to fill this, and I've got to fill that,' but it's also a stark reminder to just take good football players and everything will work itself out."

(Regarding Troy Aikman, we know that he's an advisor. He said on a podcast he'll be in the facility during the draft. He didn't say he would be in the draft room. Will he be in the draft room? Will he be consulted for picks?)"He will not be consulted for picks, he may be in the draft room. I can't say enough good things about Troy (Aikman) and quite frankly, Dan (Marino), for that matter as well. Dan has been here. Dan has been in the room. Dan has been a tremendous sounding board for us. We've had a lot of fun together. He's fun, I love Dan. He's been especially helpful for me with quarterbacks and receivers. I don't need to expound upon that, you guys can understand why there. And Troy has been a wonderful sounding board in his own right from afar. Troy will be part of the equation moving forward. What that looks like, we'll see, but he's been a great sounding board and I'm glad he's going to be part of the equation. I assume he'll be, I know he'll be here, but he's certainly welcome in the draft room."

(Are you comfortable telling us how many prospects you have with the top 11 grade?)"No. (laughter)"

(Are there any players that are extreme red flags that are literally "Do not draft due to injury or character," or in reality, no one actually is a complete red flag?)"No, I mean I think every team does it differently, but we'll take guys and we just flip them upside down everybody does it differently. I'll put a player where I think his value, his talent should be on the board, but we have tags, injury tags, and if a guy is just dead to us, we'll just flip the card upside down so they don't draft"

(Have you ever seen an upside-down guy drafted?)"Oh yeah, for sure. It happens."

(Your situation right now in terms of roster, the age of your roster, your cap situation, is there a league comp in recent memory that you're sort of like, "Well this franchise is where we are and look after a couple of years, they got")"Yeah, it's a good question. I'll be honest with you; I have not delved into it. Maybe I don't want to know the answer to that. (laughter) But I will say this in all seriousness, I have no doubts we will get where we want to go. Rome wasn't built in a day. I don't have a crystal ball; I'm not up here going to make predictions on how fast. I have tremendous faith in our process and the people that carry out the process, and we'll get there."

(I know it's been a couple of months since you've been appointed General Manager here for the Dolphins, but is there a level of excitement for you of like, wow, we're getting ready for what could be big changes for this franchise moving forward?)"Absolutely. I mean to be perfectly honest with you, the last two nights in a row, I've woken up in the middle of the night, literally with my hand, like dreaming that I'm taking a tag off the board. (laughter) I'll keep the names to myself and I'm not even trying to be corny, like that happened. And then you lay there for like an hour and a half, it's three o'clock in the morning and I'm just laying there thinking about, 'What if this pops up? I'm going to do this,' so yeah, I'm excited. I'm fired up. We've got 11 picks, seven in the top 100. If we do our job right, and we will, it's an awesome opportunity to lay the foundation for what we're building."

(I know mock drafts are big for everybody on this side of the podium, but do y'all ever run through simulations of if X happens, then we'll do Y, and this and that?)"Yeah, we do. Especially, you always want to make sure your numbers are right, at 11, and then when you get to 30 and 43, it becomes a numbers game. So you've got to do that just to make sure your whole and you're not pulling from a certain spot on the board at a value where you should have more players there at that value, if that makes sense."

(If I can follow up, what is that process like? Because I know you run it online, it's just kind of like a little simulation and I don't know how accurate it is. So what basis do you guys go off of?)"It's really more just conversational with us and our scouts. We kind of sit there and stare at the board. It's not quite as exciting as maybe you'd imagine. (laughter) We stare at the board and we have conversations. When you're picking at 11, you have a pretty good idea of the pool of guys that will be there. Obviously, the farther back you move, it becomes less predictable. But yeah, it's just conversational. We'll go through some exercises. 'OK, we feel like this is the bucket of players we're choosing from. Now rank them,' and all kinds of things come into play. Sometimes even with you may have the same value of the player, but then that's when the needs are subconsciously baked into your process or positional value. Again, there's so many layers to it, but yeah, we do some of those exercises for sure."

(You mentioned positional value. What's your view on how important that is, especially in a draft like this? And if you could, where do you see the strengths of this draft?)"Yeah, every draft is different. I appreciate the question, you've got a job to do, I get that. I'm going to be coy on the strengths of the draft. I'm super paranoid when we get this close that I don't want to tip my hat to anything. Having said that, I think if you're talking about league wide value when you're talking about positional value, I think it obviously starts with the quarterback. I think that's universal, then I would say probably the ability to affect the quarterback and the ability to protect the quarterback, specifically to offensive tackle. Then I would think it probably is your playmakers and the guys that can take the playmakers out of the game. That's how you would look at it, but it starts with the quarterback and then probably the ability to affect and or protect the quarterback is how I would think across the league most guys or most teams would rank the positional values like that."

(You talked about the draft, like some teams may say, "I wouldn't take a running back in the top five or a tight end or a safety." Are there positions you have hard locks on positional value on how high they're worth in a certain pick?)"No, I don't, because I think if you value a player as a difference maker the way our grading scale works, you've got a generational Hall of Fame, you've got difference makers that tilt the field and you've got starters that you can win with. If you deem somebody a generational or a difference maker, if they tilt the field for you in your favor when you walk out on the field, you can never go wrong with that. I get it. Whether it's guard, inside linebacker, running back, they'll say, 'Hey, go ask New Orleans how valuable Kamara has been to them over the years.' We've got one here, (De'Von) Achane you guys know how valuable he is to this place. I personally don't buy into that; I just think really good players are really good players and when you have them, you're thrilled that you have them and off you go."

(When you look at drafting quarterbacks, is there a line of delineation where you say like, "If I take a quarterback in the first through third rounds, I expect him to be a starter in say two years. Fourth through seventh, I expect him to be a backup, but maybe he surprises us." Do you look at it like that?)"Sure, I think where you take a player, there are certain expectations for him. Again, there's so many factors that go into how fast they get there. I think playing time is a big part of that equation. I think you have to play, kind of get thrown into the fire to improve and to reach your potential. Some teams with deep rosters, maybe those young players don't play as much. We lived some of that in Green Bay because we had a good team and we were really deep in some rooms and so guys hit in their third year versus Year 1. But yeah, obviously the higher that you take a player, I would say in the first three rounds, you're expecting that guy to be a valuable starter for you. I think you can hit, we did it in Green Bay many times over again. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good but the David Bakhtiaris in the fourth round, the Josh Sittons in the fourth round, Corey Linsley was a Pro Bowl center, he was a fifth-round pick. I think if you do your job and your process is right, you can find really good value in the middle to late rounds that they don't necessarily have to be depth players. They can come in and play good football for you as starters."

(How do you value versatility along the offensive line? Like do you prefer to draft tackles and convert them to guards? Just how do you handle that?)"I think it's like life, the more you can do, the more value you bring to the table. We would prefer not to draft players that are one position players only. Sometimes it happens, and if you deem the player to be good enough at that particular position, that's OK, but you would like them to have either guard tackle flex or guard center flex, because injuries inevitably are going to happen and you kind of pigeonhole yourself from a roster number standpoint when you've got guys that can only do one thing."

(I've heard you say good football players for many regimes, many organizations, draft good football players. What is that definition for you? What is "we want to draft good football players," what does a good football player look like?)"I think when you say good football players, guys that make a difference for you on the field. Guys that that can play winning football. Guys that if you had to go play 17 games with them as a starter, and there's levels to it again, there's Hall of Fame caliber guys and there's not many of them, there's difference makers, guys that walk out on the field and they tilt the field in their favor when they walk out there. You know we've got a game plan for this guy or he's going to kill us. And there's guys that are just really good starters, maybe not difference makers, but you're not looking to replace them and you can roll 17 games with them and win. Those are the definitions of good football players and quite frankly, you could take it a step farther there's guys that are really good football players that are core teamers, really good on teams and they're great depth guys because you know if I get an injury, I can go play with this guy for two, three, four weeks, and we're not holding on to our (expletive), we can go still win football games. So there's levels to it but it's guys that you can throw out there on the field and feel like you can win with, that's how I'd sum that up."

(You kind of answered this a little bit in the past but I'm just asking for clarity, in terms of stockpiling picks in this year's draft instead of maybe opting for adding more in 2027, is the specific reason why because this team needs an influx of players and talent now? Or is there a deeper philosophical reason of taking the bird in hand instead of two draft picks in 2027?)"You've heard me say a thousand times over again, probably to the point ad nauseam at this point, we're going to be a draft and develop team. I think any time you can accumulate as many picks as you like we walked into this thing, we had 30-plus UFAs. It was a unique situation, and we won't be like that every year, but we had to go sign a bunch of guys on one-year deals, minimum contracts. The great thing is, to answer your question, like the cool thing for me is we've got a lot of guys, veterans, that feel like they're better than the deal they signed, which is good. They're chasing something, they're chasing the carrot and I'm good with that. Then we're going to dump these 11 rookies in here and an undrafted free agency class and they've got something to prove. You've got a first year GM who hasn't done anything in this league and a head coach is the same. We're all chasing this thing together, and I think that can be dangerous in a good way."

(Would you like to get something done with C Aaron Brewer or ILB Jordyn Brooks before the draft or is that really not an important timeline?)"Yeah, that'll work itself out. They know where they stand, we've had conversations. They know how important they are to this team and where we are with them. The timing of that, that'll work itself out. There's nothing pressing for us to get something done in the next couple of days."

(You were at University of Miami's Pro Day with Head Coach Jeff Hafley, obviously there's presence from every other team in the NFL there. What impressed you about the Canes' Pro Day, and does it make it easier to evaluate a lot of talent right in your backyard?)"Well it's good that we have relationships with some of those guys over there. Obviously, the conversation flows freely when you're in the same city and you have some knowledge of each other. What was impressive was the players on the field, those guys all did a great job. I thought they all handled themselves well. They showed what they needed to show on the field. I think it's a testament to the coaching staff over there. Obviously, Mario (Cristobal) has done a great job of getting players in there and the success has shown itself on the field. They've got a really good thing going over there. It was really good to go over there and watch those guys work. All the guys that would be in consideration for us did a really nice job."

(I'm curious from your standpoint now this era, there's a lot of players who decide that, "OK, I'm not going to participate in the Combine and I'm also not going to do Combine drills during these workouts." How do you view that as an executive when you're trying to stack up apples to apples and you don't have a strength number or you don't have a 40-time, things of that nature?)"The good news is technology is starting to take care of a lot of that for us, because you've got the tracking numbers that you get for whether it's Zelus. You've got different companies that do it, but you can see their in-game speeds, in-game change of direction, in-game acceleration, so some of that you can get. From our standpoint, you always want to see guys go compete when they have the opportunity to compete. By the same token, and I get it it sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth here but by the same token, I think sometimes when a guy has played 13, 14 games in a college season, he has gone to an all-star game, he's done everything at the Combine and now we're asking him as a scouting community, go do it again and put himself at risk for injury, we can be our own worst enemy there too. So I say all that to say I think you want to see these guys compete and answer the bell and certainly give you the information you need but when we're redundant over and over, asking them to do it over and over, I understand from their standpoint too where it becomes a little bit of a risk-reward deal. Like if you don't know by now, you're screwed up. You know what I mean? Like your process is wrong. That's how I feel about it."

(How will the draft process work as far as who has the final word? Is it you or is it Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross? Do you have to run the first-round picks by Stephen Ross? Every pick by Stephen Ross, how is that going to work?)"(Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner) Stephen (Ross) is as supportive of an owner as you can be. Obviously, he's the owner of the team and that speaks for itself. It's my call."