Would you risk a first-round pick on a player with no obvious position and just eight career starts?
If you’re the Miami Dolphins, you might if the player is as naturally gifted as Amarius Mims, the Georgia right tackle who could be available when Chris Grier is on the clock at pick No. 21.
Miami Dolphins Draft Preview: Get To Know Georgia OT Amarius Mims
The Basics
- Age: 21
- Height: 6’7″
- Weight: 340 pounds
- Position: Offensive Tackle
- School: Georgia
- Current Year: Junior
- PFN Big Board Ranking: No. 22 overall, No. 5 offensive tackle
Why Amarius Mims Is a First-Round Talent
Mims is a top-30 prospect more on his pedigree than his body of work. Mims’ ability is not debatable. If that ability can translate into consistent, dependable production is.
The former five-star recruit languished on Georgia’s deep bench his first two seasons before getting his shot in 2023.
But nothing really went to play in Mims’ college experience, and his final year was the same. He needed surgery to fix an ankle injury that limited him to just seven games.
As a result, he lacks the accolades of many of his peers. But if his luck improves at the next level, there’s reason to believe greatness lies within.
“Physically, Mims has one of the highest ceilings in the 2024 NFL Draft’s OT crop,” PFN Draft Analyst Ian Cummings writes in Mims’ draft profile. “At 6’7″, 340 pounds, he’s a dominating specimen with high-end athleticism both in space and in short areas, and he has suffocating strength and deadly power capacity.
“As one might expect, Mims is still relatively raw, but there are a few soft skills at tackle that he already performs well. For his size, he’s already fairly natural at acquiring and maintaining leverage, getting depth on his kick and properly aligning his base.”
How Mims Would Fit
Finding a home for Mims might be a bigger concern for the Dolphins than his inexperience and injury history. If Miami isn’t convinced he can handle at least one year at right guard, there’s no rationale for drafting him.
The Dolphins are good for now at tackle with Terron Armstead, Austin Jackson, and Kendall Lamm as their top three options. Where they need immediate help is at guard.
Mims has the build of a mauling right tackle. Can he play in tighter spaces?
But that’s only one issue. The other big one: What’s his long-term position?
Jackson plays right tackle and is under contract through 2026. So for the Mims pick to make sense, the Dolphins would either need to play him on the left side in 2025 or move Jackson (who struggled at left tackle early in his career) there.
“I’m going to be honest with you, as you play right tackle or left tackle in college, you are a tackle,” Mims said. “I feel like you have to be ready to play both, because you don’t know what might happen. You can get drafted, play all your snaps at right, and the next thing you know, in the league you’ll be a left tackle. So you’ve got to be ready to play both, honestly.”
A Commonality With Tua Tagovailoa
Mims and Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa both suffered high ankle sprains during their college careers. Both returned to action sooner than they otherwise would have by electing to undergo tightrope surgery.
Mims ultimately reinjured the ankle in Georgia’s SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama, which would be his final collegiate game. He made a full recovery over the next three months and participated in drills at the NFL Scouting Combine.
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“I know I don’t have the amount of starts and snaps as many of the guys here, but I feel like I’m just as prepared and just as good here as everybody else here in the entire class,” Mims said in Indianapolis.
Kirby Smart’s Case
While Mims doesn’t have the body of work you’d want out of a premium pick, he’s not exactly inexperienced against the nation’s best.
He went against some of college football‘s top defensive linemen in practice for three years.
“What does that matter if you’ve blocked Travon Walker, Nolan Smith, Robert Beal your whole career,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said recently, per Dawg Nation. “What does eight starts matter? Would you rather have someone who started 27 games and played against nobody, or somebody who played against first-round draft picks every day in practice? I know which one I’m picking.”