Second-Year Safety Dante Trader Jr. a Captain Candidate in 2026

The Miami Dolphins will be one of, if not the youngest team in the NFL, when the regular season begins. With a new coaching regime led by first year head coach Jeff Hafley, one of the more intriguing things to look for in training camp will be which players are named team captains. Last season for the Dolphins there were six captains, with half returning in 2026. Center Aaron Brewer, linebacker Jordyn Brooks and defensive tackle Zach Sieler will more than likely wear the “C” on their uniform this season. Hafley, his staff, and perhaps player input via voting could decide the others.

In this Fins Faithful series, there are several contenders who could join this trio in the leadership committee for a team looking to create a new culture and identity in South Florida.

The first candidate is a player who was drafted in the fifth-round of last year’s draft, and immediately caught the eye of Hafley following his signing to coach the Dolphins. Upon Hafley entering the fray, he spoke highly of the Maryland Terrapin product, safety Dante Trader Jr., to reporters in early press conferences during his first few months in Miami.

He told media back in May, “Dante loves football. He’s always here. He’s always in the building. He’s always asking questions. He practices so hard. He’s so intentional. He’s a smart football player who loves the game, and he’s been a lot of fun to coach.”

He continued the praise early in the organized team activity stage, detailing, “When it comes to taking what he’s learning in the classroom and applying it on the field and being in the right spot and communicating and grasping the scheme and showing good leadership back there and being a great teammate and giving great effort and having a great attitude, I can go on about him.”

Hafley’s comments about leadership are echoes of what Trader’s collegiate coach, Mike Locksley, at Maryland preached last year when discussing his potential with Dolphins’ team writer, Travis Wingfield, on his DriveTime podcast last summer.

“There’s no doubt about Dante and his aptitude and his football intelligence,” Locksley told Wingfield. “He was a guy that, if you can teach it, then you can execute it. And he’s one of those guys that I see all the time grabbing the young safeties, the young corners and imparting the wisdom that he gained from not just his successes but failures as well as a young player.”

Last month, Hafley was asked about which young players have shown good leadership and to no surprise, Trader was in that mix. Hafley said, “I spend a lot of time in the DB room. Trader has done a really good job, really kind of helping out those rookies. And even talking to him, through his experience, him having a little bit of help; he feels now like he can help the rookie guys out.”

Trader showed potential to be a starter in his rookie season during three games and appeared in all 17. A two-phase player, he contributed on special teams coverage units for 60% of the snaps in that area of the game. In his 39% of the defensive snaps, Trader tallied 55 combined tackles, a pass defensed, with a forced fumble and a recovery.

It takes one to know one, and the longest tenured Dolphins player and two-time captain Zach Sieler was impressed with Trader’s development, telling media back in May, “Seeing the guys from last year, Trader over there just kind of keep growing up and learning ball and just wanting to just get better every single day has been incredible.”

With the safety room being perhaps the thinnest room on the team, Trader could easily be called the sure-fire starter and leader of the group. His potential is sky-high, while also having ringing endorsements from coaches as well as his teammates, he is without a doubt a candidate to be named a team captain in 2026.