The Miami Dolphins said goodbye to Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis in the 2024 offseason, but chose not to draft a single defensive lineman to replace them. A year later, that bill has come due. The Dolphins may have no choice but to address the deficiency with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

Last year, Miami’s solution was to bring in a slew of linemen to fill the void.

The Dolphins signed Calais Campbell, Benito Jones, Teair Tart, Jonathan Harris, Neville Gallimore, and Isaiah Mack to one-year deals and re-signed Da’Shawn Hand. By the end of training camp, Campbell, Jones, and Hand were the ones still on the roster.

One member of that trio is back on the roster after the Dolphins re-signed Jones last week. But Hand joined the Los Angeles Chargers as a free agent and Miami is still waiting to find out if Campbell will play an 18th season in the NFL. Even if the latter decides to play in 2025 at age 39, it’s no guarantee that the free agent will stay in South Florida.

For now, the Dolphins have four defensive linemen under contract. Jones, Zach Sieler, Matt Dickerson, and Neil Farrell.

While Sieler is one of the NFL’s most underrated and productive interior defensive linemen, Jones was far from a stellar nose tackle in 2024, and both Dickerson and Farrell spent much of the year on the Dolphins’ practice squad.

With or without Campbell, the unit needs a lot of work and there simply aren’t many enticing veteran free agents to pursue. Among the best available on the market are Folorunso Fatukasi and Johnathan Hankins, two of the most ineffective defensive linemen in the NFL last season, as well as John Cominsky, who missed all of 2024 with a knee injury.

The Dolphins probably won’t be able to pick Michigan’s Mason Graham, as the two-time All-American is largely projected to be a top five draft pick. Other options include Graham’s collegiate teammate Kenneth Grant and Walter Nolen of Ole Miss. There’s also Georgia’s Mykel Williams, although he may not be a fit in Miami’s 3-4 defense.

One way or another, Miami simply has to find a rookie capable of playing significant snaps on the defensive line in 2025. And that’ll mean addressing the position sooner rather than later on draft night.