The three biggest surprises from the Miami Dolphins’ first unofficial depth chart ahead of preseason Week 1 vs. Washington Commanders
The Miami Dolphins’ first unofficial depth chart of the season is here. There are a few surprises.
We have officially departed the age of offseason lists and player rankings. Welcome to depth chart season, everyone! The Miami Dolphins unleashed their first unofficial depth chart of the 2026 preseason on Tuesday afternoon.
There are plenty of predictable storylines throughout the pecking order. But there are also some surprises along the way as well. With a joint practice and a preseason date looming with the Washington Commanders, here are the three biggest surprises of the Miami Dolphins’ first unofficial depth chart of the summer.
The three biggest surprises from the Miami Dolphins’ first unofficial depth chart
Rookie Trey Moore: Already starting SAM linebacker?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Moore is getting a strong look at SAM linebacker. He said so himself recently during a player availability — and there have been flashes of video clips put out by the team that have Moore on the field with other presumed starters. But you usually don’t see this kind of fast-track for a fourth-round rookie.
Does this say more about Moore? Or the performance of Willie Gay Jr., the veteran who he is battling for that on/off-ball linebacker position? Head coach Jeff Hafley has spoke about wanting to be able to switch between 3-4 and 4-3 spacing seamlessly. And Moore appears to be giving it a good run. We’ll see if he can keep stacking days.
Newly acquired Caedan Wallace already positioned to lap Charlie Heck at right tackle
Boy, what a great endorsement for veteran Charlie Heck! (This is sarcasm, by the way.)
The Miami Dolphins got a peek at life without Austin Jackson for a few days late last week and the reported product was, well, not good. And so here we are, with Miami trading for Wallace out of New England just hours before he was ultimately released. The hope, of course, is that Wallace will become a reliable insurance policy. Based on how the team slotted him with Heck, one would have to assume Wallace will need to perform very poorly to not get the backup right tackle gig.
Fullback Ben Sims?
This was a big question for me. The only fullback on the roster is an undrafted rookie linebacker out of San Diego State, DJ Herman. Would the Miami Dolphins really keep a player with that background on the 53-man roster? Not if Ben Sims is going to be capable of filling the role.
That makes Herman a perfect practice squad stash. And it gives Miami a lot of ambiguity between 21-personnel (with a fullback) and 12-personnel (with two tight ends). Sims is working his way back from a minor ding of some sort in camp — so hopefully we’ll get a look at the fullback reps in Miami’s preseason schedule. Consider me intrigued.
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