Several members of the Miami Dolphins player personnel staff, including Assistant General Manager Kyle Smith, Director of College Scouting Matt Winston, Senior National Scout Ron Brockington, and others, sat down to chat with Travis Wingfield at the Baptist Health Training Complex ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.
They discussed their daily duties, their career paths, the process behind preparing for the draft and building a team and much more.
Collaboration
The shared vision of the staff is evident across each interview, particularly when it comes to collaboration.
Director of College Scouting Matt Winston on the big picture – "You always want to be thinking four or five years down the road. Even though we're only drafting 11 guys this year, our reports will be used this August when we're in preseason scouting, because then we'll be monitoring the waiver wire there and trying to improve the team however we can from players on other rosters. And we'll use the backgrounds that we've acquired through this process. And even going forward every year in free agency, we're always referencing the college backgrounds as a starting point."
Player Personnel Scout Devon Smith on the non-negotiables – "Everyone's trying to find the best talent possible, but when it comes to non-negotiables, I think things I've learned since I've been here is just the character piece – finding the right people for the building. Sully says it all the time to us; we want smart, tough, competitive and guys that love football. That's sort of the guys that we want to build our team around."
National Scout Nathan Trott on working environment - "I think, at the end of the day, it's about respect. We all respect each other. We all respect the work that we've all put in. And I think Sully and Kyle (Smith) have just created a great environment for us to feel like we can be open and express our opinions."
College Scout Grant Wallace on the importance of area scouts - "You've really got to dig in and really watch the film and spend a lot of time at it. That's coupled with being at the schools and seeing guys in person… In my role as kind of the baseline area scout for a specific area, we really want to dig in and watch all the film and not use any kind of cutups or highlights. We're trying to watch pure, unadulterated film."
Origin stories
The Dolphins scouting staff is full of diverse characters and backgrounds. High school, college, arena league and the NFL; there isn't a level of football that's gone untouched by this personnel department. It's all part of the process of making it to the league.
Senior National Scout Ron Brockington - "Once I was done playing ball, I was still competitive and wanting to find a different avenue that I still can be involved, in the NFL in some aspect. Coaching was really not my thing. I started my career at the Jets where Dick Haley was one of my mentors. He really kind of got me involved in the business and what to look for. So, just a good group of higher ups to kind of show me and lead me the way of personnel evaluation. "
Director of Scouting Operations Minh Luu – "I applied for [an internship with the Orlando Predators of the Arena League]. Initially, that was actually supposed to be on game day operations; helping in the front office, setting up the field on game day, throwing t-shirts and stands, all that type of stuff. But my passion has always been football. So, through meeting people in the front office, I asked them if there's any opportunities on the football side of things. They told me there could be, but they never really had interns do that. I told them I'd be willing to do whatever they needed to help."
Senior Scout Chase Leshin - "When I got to the Dolphins, I got here to do equipment and working with Joe (Cimino) and Charlie (Thiele) and just some of the details that they instilled on me in terms of being in the locker room and preparing and practice. It gave me the experience to see how a locker room was built and see those different personalities and the leadership. But it also gave me the opportunity to be on the practice field."
Working with GM Jon-Eric Sullivan
A myriad of those unique backgrounds come together under one umbrella, under the direction of new Dolphins General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan.
Assistant General Manager Kyle Smith – "He obviously was with the Packers [and] I was with Washington at first, and you work with other scouts more than you work with your own scouts because you're out on the road with them. So, we developed the relationship back then. We went to and from Southwest to Southeast but kept in contact. You always kind of surround yourself with guys that think the same [and] work the same. We've always shared the same vision. We've always talked about these moments. If one were to get a GM job and the other one's coming with you, and it just so happened to line up for us. So, he's a tremendous person, obviously a really good scout and an evaluator, and couldn't be happier to be here with him."
College Scout Ricky Seale – "He's really good about hearing us out. We all understand at the end of the day he is the GM. This is his team. He gives us the opportunity to speak, though. He's going to hear you out… At the end of the day, I think we've all bought into the fact that we just want to win."
College Scout Matt Leitch - "It's been really cool, from the ground level of an area scout, to see how they had done things in Green Bay and kind of marry that with some of the stuff we do. He's got his own twists and flavor on things. He's a good leader, he's a good evaluator and he speaks his mind. You know exactly what he wants from you, which is huge for us because we do a lot of different things away from the building... so, it's good to see what he wants from us and achieve that."
To watch the full interviews see below:
Assistant General Manager Kyle Smith
Director of College Scouting Matt Winston and Senior National Scout Ron Brockington
Director of Scouting Operations Minh Luu
Senior Scout Chase Leshin, College Scout Grant Wallace and National Scout Nathan Trott
College Scout Ricky Seale, Player Personnel Scout Devon Smith and College Scout Matt Leitch
For more, visit the Miami Dolphins YouTube channel.
