USC's Makai Lemon visited the Dolphins on Monday, per Ian Rapoport. He's the latest in a string of receiver visits that now includes KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, and the timing couldn't be more obvious. Miami's current top wideouts are Tutu Atwell, Jalen Tolbert, and Malik Washington. None of them has ever been a team's number one option.

Lemon won the Biletnikoff Award last season as the best receiver in college football. He caught 79 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns at USC. He's been making the rounds with the Chiefs, Jets, Giants, and Commanders, but the Dolphins are the team with two first-round picks and the biggest hole at the position. If Carnell Tate comes off the board before pick 11, could Lemon be the guy Sullivan targets next?

Lemon is ranked 11th on PFSN’s big board, while NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Lemon 12th.

The Sun-Sentinel laid out just how dire the situation is. After dealing Jaylen Waddle to Denver and releasing Tyreek Hill, Miami doesn't have a single receiver on the roster who topped 50 targets last year outside of Washington, who caught 46 passes for 317 yards. That's not a wide receiver room. That's a practice squad with benefits. Malik Willis signed a three-year, $67.5 million deal to come to Miami, and right now his best downfield option is a former career backup who ran a 4.5 at the combine.

The Dolphins have been linked to receivers at every level of this draft. Tate, Lemon, Concepcion, Boston, and Omar Cooper Jr., to name a few. Sullivan clearly wants options and doesn't want to be forced into a pick at 11 if the board breaks wrong. This is a deep WR class, which is great news for Sully and the Dolphins.

Bottom line: Sullivan can talk about building through the lines all he wants, but Malik Willis can't throw to a guard. Receiver has to happen in the first two days, possibly the first two rounds, and Lemon's visit on Monday suggests the Dolphins know it.

ESPN's Jordan Reid went on the Phinside The NFL podcast this week and threw out a name that's going to get some Dolphins fans worked up: Auburn edge defender Keldric Faulk. Not just as a late first-round option, either. Reid floated the idea of Miami trading up from 30 to grab him if he slips into the high teens.

Reid's argument is all about timeline. Faulk is an NFL-ready run defender right now, and the pass-rushing upside is there if you trust the tools and the athleticism. By the time this rebuild is ready to compete in two or three years, Faulk would still only be 25 and theoretically hitting his prime. Reid thinks Miami fans aren't talking about him enough.

The counterpoint is pretty straightforward: Faulk isn't a great pass rusher yet, and projecting what a player could become two years from now is a dangerous game to play with a first-round pick. Faulk is currently ranked 26th on the PFSN draft board, which is actually better than where Daniel Jeremiah has him (31st). Taking Faulk at 11 would be a massive reach. Trading up from 30 to get him, giving up additional draft capital, would be worse.

The Dolphins can afford to be patient with developmental guys more than most teams right now. They've got 11 picks and a roster that isn't competing for a playoff spot this season. But there's a difference between drafting for the future and burning premium capital on a player who might not become what you're hoping he becomes.

Bottom line: Faulk could be a solid Day 2 target if he's there at 43. Spending first-round picks on projection when you have this many holes feels like a luxury Miami can't afford, even with all the draft capital in the world.

Here's a question that isn't getting asked enough in Miami: when was the last time the Dolphins had a real quarterback competition? The answer is 2008, when Chad Henne, Josh McCown, and John Beck battled it out in camp before Chad Pennington showed up and made it all irrelevant. That was 18 years ago. The franchise hasn't won a playoff game in 25 years. Maybe those two things are connected.

Malik Willis is the starter. Nobody's arguing that. But he's an inexperienced scrambler with 11 career starts, and the only other quarterbacks on the roster are Quinn Ewers, a seventh-rounder who started three games last season, and not much else.

The Green Bay pipeline actually supports drafting one. The Packers slow-cooked Jordan Love behind Aaron Rodgers for three years before he ever took a meaningful snap. Jon-Eric Sullivan comes from that system. Jeff Hafley has said he prefers athletic quarterbacks. This draft class isn't great by any means, but there are developmental arms worth grabbing on Day 2 or early Day 3. Ty Simpson could slip out of the first round due to late-season inconsistency and relative inexperience. Drew Allar has the size and arm, but needs to sit and learn. Cole Payton out of North Dakota State is raw but has real tools.

With 11 picks, the Dolphins have more draft capital than they know what to do with. Spending a third or fourth-round pick on a quarterback who can develop behind Willis for two years isn't a luxury. It's insurance.

Bottom line: Nobody is saying Willis can't be the guy. But building a franchise around a quarterback who has never proven he's a full-time starter, with zero contingency plan behind him, is how you end up right back where you started. Competition makes everyone better. Miami's been allergic to it at the position for way too long.