The Miami Dolphins made seven picks on Day 3 of the 2026 NFL draft and started the final five rounds with three straight defensive players for head coach Jeff Hafley to mold and mentor. The third of that trio could be a sneaky option to see significant snaps as a rookie in Texas safety Michael Taaffe.
A versatile, cerebral defensive back with outstanding leadership skills, Taaffe is also a sensational story. A two-time Texas 6A high school state champion, he was awarded defensive MVP honors in both title games. He even intercepted future Longhorn and Dolphins’ teammate, quarterback Quinn Ewers, twice in the 2020 championship.
Taaffe could have played for several small schools with offers. Instead, he decided to stick with his five generations of family members attending the University of Texas and successfully walked on to the football program. He became a full-time starter, honorable mention All-Big 12 in 2023 and eventually a first-team All-SEC and second-team All-American selection. He was even a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, given to the nation’s best player to begin a football career as a walk-on.
Taaffe is gritty, has good speed and plays with anticipatory awareness and displays quality ball skills to make up for being slightly undersized. At just under 6-foot-0 and 190 pounds, he isn’t the longest safety, but his football IQ and processing ability could make him a key member of Hafley’s secondary and potentially even a starter and an extension of his coach on the field.
Throughout his time at Texas, Taaffe would direct his teammates pre-snap and diagnose what the offense was about to do while getting the defense situated properly. Adding value as a two-phase player, he played over 500 snaps on special teams and could be an instant gunner.
Taaffe’s positional flexibility can range from playing up in the box, in the slot and at free safety, which should be his consistent home in the NFL. He can handle several schemes from a coverage standpoint, and his tackling ability has improved throughout his four seasons in college. In 2024, he had a missed-tackle rate of 21%, but he cut that by more than half, bringing it to 9.3% in 2025.
After a redshirt year, he finished his four seasons on the field with 222 total tackles, 9.5 for loss, three sacks, 14 passes defensed, seven interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
In a Miami safety room that is extremely thin at the moment, Taaffe doesn’t have too many competitors to earn playing time. There’s a chance that he even tops the Dolphins’ depth chart this summer at free safety.
Second-year defensive back Dante Trader Jr. could lock up the strong safety spot, while Taaffe can surpass veteran free agents Lonnie Johnson Jr., who has just 22 starts in his seven-year pro career, and Zayne Anderson, who is mainly a special teams player with limited defensive snaps in his five seasons in the league.
Additionally, 2025 undrafted free agent Jordan Colbert has seen only a few special teams snaps in his five professional games played, and 2026 rookie Louis Moore wasn’t selected in the draft but agreed to a deal with the Dolphins after the selection process.
The Dolphins could still bring in a veteran at the position, but general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said they won’t be adding any “big-ticket” names across the board this summer.
As Taaffe has proven over the last five years, if you give him a shot, he’ll certainly make the most of it. An opportunity is all he needs, and the door is open for him to see the field plenty in his rookie season and be a key member of this defense in a rebuilding year.
Miami senior personnel executive Jon Robinson even told South Florida media this week that Taaffee “embodies everything coach Hafley and Jon-Eric want to build here.”
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This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Rookie S Michael Taaffe could see significant snaps for Miami Dolphins
Reporting by Jason Sarney, Dolphins Wire / Dolphins Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
