On Sunday in Pittsburgh, the Miami Dolphins’ season ended, courtesy of a 30-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wild Card weekend. Because of that loss, we now have a slightly clearer idea of where the draft picks that the Minnesota Vikings will be receiving from them this April are in the selection process.
With their loss, the Dolphins will select at #22 overall in the first round of the draft. Because there is nobody right next to them with the same 10-6 record that they finished with during the season, they will have the 22nd pick in every round of the draft and not have to rotate with anyone.
Based on that, we know that the third-round pick that the Vikings will receive from the Dolphins courtesy of the trade made in last year’s draft is going to be #86 overall. That pick is locked in and will not changed based on the distribution of compensatory draft picks.
The fourth-round pick the Vikings will be receiving from Miami is still subject to a little bit of shifting. As it stands now, it will be pick #118 overall. That will get pushed further down the order based on a couple of things. First off, there will be a number of compensatory picks in the third round, and those picks at the end of the third will push down all of the picks behind it. The folks from Over the Cap are projecting there to be nine third-round compensatory picks doled out, and if that’s the case the Vikings’ pick from Miami would be slotted at #127 overall.
The other factor is whether or not Miami ends up receiving a compensatory pick in the fourth round after all. The article from Over the Cap above is not projecting Miami to receive a compensatory pick in the fourth round, though it is projecting them to get picks in the third and fifth rounds. If their calculations are off and the Dolphins do get a fourth-round compensatory pick, that’s the selection that would wind up going to Minnesota. That was a condition of the trade that was made in last year’s draft. The third round pick is not subject to those same conditions, so that selection is locked in.
Once the compensatory selections are handed out, we’ll have a better idea of where all of the Vikings’ eight selections in the 2017 NFL Draft will be slotted. For now, however, we’ve gotten a little clarification on the matter.