The Miami Dolphins’ odds of having the steal of the 2026 NFL Draft just went WAY up
The Miami Dolphins’ updated depth chart boasts rookie wide receiver Chris Bell as a starter. His return to full action comes with no restrictions, as Jeff Hafley clarified on Wednesday.
The Miami Dolphins‘ updated depth chart may or may not tell the whole story about Jeff Hafley’s plans for Week 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders. But we do know one listing on the depth chart that is no fluff: rookie wide receiver Chris Bell is starting.
But Hafley’s latest update on Chris Bell finalizes what has been a borderline superhuman recovery. Bell is not only listed as a starter, he’s got no restrictions against Las Vegas at all. No snap limit or ‘pitch count’, no personnel restrictions. Nothing.
Miami Dolphins rookie wide receiver Chris Bell has no restrictions for Week 1 — and may become one of the steals of the 2026 NFL Draft as a result
You can wind the clocks back to last fall and the buzz was plentiful on Bell. He was drawing some lofty comparisons, including AJ Brown. When Bell went down with his knee injury last season, he was projected as a top-30 player. Fast forward to January — and he had a consensus ranking that sat in the mid-30s. By the time the NFL Combine had wrapped, Bell’s medical prognosis was still in the air and he’d fallen out of the top-50 in consensus rankings.
When Jon-Eric Sullivan spoke recently about Bell, he mentioned that the team initially expected to see him back sometime after the team’s Week 6 bye this season. “Chris has worked his behind off to get himself ready. Our expectation was probably getting him back after the bye,” said Sullivan. Now? Bell is a starter. And, as Jeff Hafley clarified on Wednesday, there’s no restrictions.
“We’re gonna play him, see how he feels. But there’s no pitch count on Chris,” said Hafley.
It’s been a steady flow of good news on the Chris Bell front for Miami in recent weeks. But this makes it official. Bell is fully ready to roll. And given how much of his 2026 NFL Draft drop was a byproduct of his recovery from knee surgery, he’s now officially positioned to go down as one of the best steals of this year’s draft.
The possibility was always there, but Bell needs to be on the field to gather reps and establish his NFL footing. He’ll now do that for the first time alongside the rest of his teammates this Sunday in Las Vegas.
With no restrictions.
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