MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley articulated their goal weeks ago: They wanted to rebuild the franchise around toughness and physicality.
They walked away from their first draft in Miami with the players they wanted.
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Miami Dolphins first-round draft pick Chris Johnson holds a jersey during an NFL football news conference, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Miami Dolphins with the 12th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Miami Dolphins first-round draft pick Chris Johnson listens to questions from media during an NFL football news conference, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
Jon-Eric Sullivan, Miami Dolphins General Manager, speaks following the first round of the NFL draft Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Kadyn Proctor, the 12th overall pick in the NFL Draft, shows his 1972 tattoo in honor of his stepfather while being introduced to local media during a press conference, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
“I would say it was collaborative, cohesive,” Sullivan said. “I felt like we executed. I felt like we helped the Miami Dolphins. I speak for both of us when we talk about the excitement of the players we drafted and the culture we're trying to build.”
The Dolphins had 13 picks, and they used the first two on Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor (12th overall) and San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson (27th) — players who fit the mold of toughness and are expected to be tone-setters.
Proctor was the biggest offensive lineman in the draft at 6-foot-7, 352 pounds. He will be tasked with protecting new quarterback Malik Willis and making things easier in the run game for De'Von Achane. Johnson, known for his physicality and versatility, will have a chance to start right away because of the holes in Miami's secondary.
“I believe this is a physical game,” Hafley said, “and you need tough guys to play this game and guys who want to be physical. If you look at this (draft) list and watch how hard these guys play, I think it’s impressive.”
The Dolphins needed offensive line help, but given Sullivan's stated approach of taking the best player available, it was somewhat surprising when they used their first pick on Proctor when projected difference-makers like Miami Hurricanes edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs were available.
Sullivan said the Dolphins targeted Proctor specifically. They had no desire to deviate from their plan, regardless of how the draft board unfolded.
“His height, weight, speed, production, the things that he can do on the football field for a man his size, he’s an outlier,” Sullivan said. “There’s not many like him. That’s no shot at Caleb Downs, a phenomenal, phenomenal football player, and he’ll have a great career ... but we had a lot of conviction on Proctor being a very unique player in this draft and one that we can build around for years. We invested in Malik, and it was important for us to protect him.”
Proctor has a “1972” tattoo on the knuckles of his right hand, honoring the year his stepfather was born.
That also happens to be the year that the Dolphins completed the NFL's only perfect season en route to their first Super Bowl win.
“I suppose it was meant to be,” Proctor said at his introductory news conference.
Miami drafted linebacker Jacob Rodriguez out of Texas Tech to possibly follow in the footsteps of Red Raiders alum and Dolphins Hall of Famer Zach Thomas. Miami also selected Texas Tech wide receiver Caleb Douglas in the third round and took linebacker Trey Moore, safety Michael Taaffe and guard DJ Campbell out of Texas.
That's five players from Texas schools.
At least one Dolphins veteran was thrilled about the Texas ties. Former Red Raider Jordyn Brooks was so excited the team drafted Rodriguez and Douglas that the veteran linebacker came to the Dolphins' practice facility shortly after the picks were made on Friday night.
“It was cool to have him in the draft room,” Sullivan said. “He was gassed up, and he got us fired up.”
After releasing veteran Tyreek Hill and trading away star Jaylen Waddle, Miami drafted three receivers, including Douglas and Louisville's Chris Bell.
Both fit what Miami was looking for in size. Douglas — 6-4, 205 pounds — was praised for his length. Bell — 6-2, 220 pounds — is strong and explosive.
The Dolphins used a third-round pick on Bell, who Sullivan estimated would not have fallen that far if he wasn't recovering from an ACL injury suffered in November.
Sullivan said the Dolphins expect Bell to be available to play at some point next season, but the draft pick was about a “long-term investment” in the type of player Bell can become. He was Louisville's leading receiver and had nine receptions, 136 yards and two TDs when the Cardinals played the Hurricanes at the Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium in October.
“Just seeing me drop down the board, it hurt,” said Bell, who had ACL surgery four months ago. “But I know I pla“ better with a chip on my shoulder, so God did that for a reason.”
Sullivan has said he plans to bring as much competition as possible into the quarterback room, including potentially drafting a quarterback every year.
Nonetheless, the Dolphins decided against using one of their picks on a QB. Sullivan said he still plans to bring in competition, but he was comfortable enough with Willis, Quinn Ewers and Cam Miller to use those picks on other positions.
“It came up a couple times throughout the course of the weekend,” Sullivan said. “We just felt like the better option was the other pick. Just a chance for a guy to get on the field and help us this year with where we are as a roster. Certainly not backing off what I said initially. We will take a quarterback every, or every other year when we have the opportunity. ... We like our room. We're in good shape.”
Miami also selected Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek (third round), Pittsburgh linebacker Kyle Louis (fourth), Missouri wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. (fifth), Mississippi State tight end Seydou Traore (fifth) and Iowa edge rusher Max Llewellyn (seventh).
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Miami Dolphins first-round draft pick Chris Johnson holds a jersey during an NFL football news conference, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being chosen by the Miami Dolphins with the 12th overall pick during the first round of the NFL football draft, Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Miami Dolphins first-round draft pick Chris Johnson listens to questions from media during an NFL football news conference, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
Jon-Eric Sullivan, Miami Dolphins General Manager, speaks following the first round of the NFL draft Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Kadyn Proctor, the 12th overall pick in the NFL Draft, shows his 1972 tattoo in honor of his stepfather while being introduced to local media during a press conference, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries, and one law-enforcement official said a shooter had opened fire.
Authorities said the incident occurred outside the ballroom where Trump and other guests were seated. It was not immediately clear what happened. The event was scrapped and will be rescheduled.
“We will do this again,” said Weijia Jiang, president of the White House correspondents' association. Shortly afterward, staff began breaking down table settings and the presidential lectern.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests dining on spring pea and burrata salad ducked under tables by the hundreds. Audible gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realized something was happening. Hundreds of journalists got on phones to call in information.
“Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as Trump was escorted off stage. He fell briefly — he apparently tripped — and was helped up by Secret Service agents.
A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter but no further details were immediately available. All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated.
A law enforcement officer was shot in the bullet-resistant vest but is expected to be OK, one law-enforcement officer told The Associated Press.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
President Donald Trump was uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries, and one law-enforcement official said a shooter had opened fire.
Authorities said the incident occurred outside the ballroom where Trump and other guests were seated. It was not immediately clear what happened.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests dining on burrata salad ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as Trump was escorted off stage. He fell briefly — he apparently tripped — and was helped up by Secret Service agents.
A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter but no further details were immediately available. All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated. Organizers were attempting to resume the dinner.
Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five to eight shots fired. The banquet hall — where hundreds of prominent journalists, celebrities and national leaders were awaiting Trump’s remarks — was immediately evacuated. Members of the National Guard took up position inside the building as people were allowed to leave but not immediately re-enter. Security outside was also extremely tight.
Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and many other leaders of the Trump administration.
The event appeared set to resume after the disorder. Servers refolded napkins and refilled water glasses in preparation for Trump’s return. Another worker prepared the president’s teleprompter for the remarks he was scheduled to make. Guest evacuating the ballroom had to step over many broken plates and glasses.
Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
Generally, the Hilton hotel, where the dinner has taken place for years, remains open to regular guests during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and security has typically been focused on the ballroom and rather than the hotel at large, with little screening for people not entering the dinner itself. In past years, that has created openings for disruptions in the lobby and other public spaces, including protests in which security moved to remove guests who unfurled banners or staged demonstrations.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro posted a short video from the hotel after the incident, saying, “I have been taken out of the ballroom after the sound of the shots fired. The Secret Service is now in charge of this building, this hotel. I just spoke to Mayor Murial Bowser. She is on her way and (Police) Chief Jeffery Carroll is on his way. He will be in charge as soon as he gets here.”
Trump’s attendance at Saturday’s annual dinner in Washington for his first time as president is putting his administration’s often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.
Trump arrived to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities, journalists and even a puppet — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socializing together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.
Trump was being watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.
The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.
Trump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.
Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.
Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump’s second term.
On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association “to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
The WHCA president, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, said the organization was fighting for all different forms of the press that have a line in to the American people. “I don’t think people realize how closely we are working with the White House,” she said on CSPAN before the dinner convened. “The relationship is important. It can be complicated. It can be intense. But it is robust.”
Welcoming guests, Jiang alluded to the contentious relationship in thanking Leavitt “for everything your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”
Veteran reporter Manu Raju of CNN, as he entered the Washington Hilton for the dinner, said it was not his role to express his opinion on Trump’s relationship with the press. “I’m not an activist,” he said. “My job is not to protest.”
A few dozen protesters stood across the hotel in the runup to the event. One was dressed in a prison uniform, wearing a Pete Hegseth mask and red gloves. Another carried a sign saying “Journalism is dead.”
Journalists often invite sources as guests at the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was invited by the New York Post; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were NBC guests.
The Associated Press invited a former Trump official that it sued last year. Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who crafted communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump’s lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public’s interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.
The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.
AP journalists Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Balsamo, Zeke Miller and Anna Johnson contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
Members of law enforcement respond during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Guests leave the White House Correspondents Dinner following an incident Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
The National Guard respond to an incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Cheryl Hines pose for photographers at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives to the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin speaks to the media after being removed from the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
People are seen outside of the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
A woman is escorted from the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach Fla., Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
