Miami Dolphins Trade Deadline Reaction

Miami Dolphins Trade Deadline Reaction

Okay, it’s time for the Miami Dolphins trade deadline reaction. They did nothing. That’s it. We’re done. Oh, okay. No, all seriousness, yeah, the Miami Dolphins did not make a move at the trade deadline on Tuesday, going against the popular belief that they would be very active in trading away players in the midst of their highly disappointing 2025 season, which has them at 2 and seven, practically, if not mathematically out of playoff contention with some uh older bigname veterans who may or may not figure into the plans for 2026. We heard names mentioned before Tuesday and before even the week, the last couple of days, last couple of weeks, such as Bradley Chub, even Minka, Fitzpatrick, possibly Rasul Douglas, even Jaylen Wadd mentioned this trade possibilities. All of those players remain on the Dolphins roster uh after the trade deadline passed on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. The only trade the Dolphins did wind up making during the trade period was Jaylen Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles for a third round pick in 2026. It’s the lower of the two third round picks the Eagles currently have. The other one came via the New York Jets in a trade involving Hassan Reic. For those wondering what it means from now on, now that the trade deadline has passed, any veteran who gets released has to clear waiverss as opposed to simply being able to sign immediately with the team of their choice, which is the case up until this point. Um whether whether the Dolphins are going to be releasing any of their veterans between now and the end of the regular season, who knows? This is not what it’s about. This is about the Dolphins standing pat with the roster they have. Now, all reports indicate the Dolphins did get offers for both Bradley Chub and Jaylen Wadd. Obviously, not enough to move them to make the deal. And this is where we’ll tell you the best guess is that um any offer for Bradley Chub probably would have had to to probably would have had to be really really low for the Dolphins and not make a move because it’s really difficult to envision a scenario where he’s back with the team in 2026 given his high cap number. He took a pretty hefty pay cut to remain with the team in 2025, was named a team captain. He’s one of the leaders and a logical guess from here and there’s been no reporting and don’t know exactly what was offered to the Dolphins, but there is probably value here in terms of keeping Chub for his leadership ability down the stretch. And there’s another important factor involved here that I’m going to get to at one point. As for Jaylen Wadd, amid all the scuttlebutt speculation, reports from other teams, writers or media members, mainly New York Giants, saw Denver at one time mentioned as a possibility, saw Buffalo one time as at a as a possibility. I maintained all along and wrote about it on Miami Dolphins on SI.com. It never made sense for the Dolphins to just dismiss him because again, you’re looking at a guy whose birthday’s coming up later this month. He’s going to turn 27. So, he’s still very, very young. He’s highly productive. Whether you want to classify him as a pure legit number one wide receiver or a very high-end number two, um he’s still very productive. And then third, his cap number for next year is 11.7 million, which is very, very low for a number one r, which he figures to be next year um when the Dolphins more than likely will not have Tyreek Hill on the roster um a because of contract status or b if he’s able to come back from the nasty knee injury he sustained in the Monday night game against the New York Jets. And the lack of activity here, I think, provides another little hint that the Dolphins are not going to be in as big of a rebuild mode as a lot of fans or maybe some media members might have suggested. Otherwise, and it could be that maybe the Dolphins have another conversation with Bradley Chub next off season to bring him back again. Um, who knows if the Dolphins got offers for Rasul Douglas, which would have made sense. He’s sign he’s signed a one-year contract. He’s going to be a free agent at at the end of the season. Uh based on the way he’s played so far this season, which has been actually pretty good, one would think he’s going to get some offers and what’s the likelihood he’s going to want to return to the Dolphins as opposed to going back to going to another team that he may view as more competitive. Uh and there are other players like that. The Dolphins have Ma Fitzpatrick on the hook for 15 million in base salary last year. He doesn’t have any guaranteed money. Uh are the Dolphins going to want to move forward with him in 2026? Who knows? Um but this has the look again of a team that maybe is not going to have the massive overhaul that a lot of people are expecting. The other factor in this also is the status of head coach Mike McDaniel. all the reports again, McDaniel is going to be the coach through the end of the 2025 season, at which point Steven Ross is going to do an evaluation and decide whether he wants to bring him back for 2026. It’s not a secret that Steven Ross, all things being equal, very much would like to stick with Mike McDaniel as his head coach and see this thing through, particularly with Tua Tango as a quarterback. And Mike McDaniel um clearly needs to win games or to have the Dolphins at least be very competitive, which is part of the reason if the Dolphins were going to hang on to him when they part of the ways with Chris Greer, the focus is going to be on winning games because Mike McDaniel wouldn’t sign up for Yeah, you know, I’ll still be the coach, but we’re focusing on evaluating players for 2026. So, the fact that the Dolphins didn’t make any moves, it’s another suggestion that they want to see it through. They want to see if they can make some type of run. And by run, I don’t mean a run to the playoff spot. That’s not like really realistic. But let’s say they have eight games left. If they can go five and three at the end of the regular season, they have a couple of soft games coming up, including New Orleans after the buy. Washington all of a sudden doesn’t have Jaden Daniels at quarterback. They have the Jets who have uh a depleted roster after trading away Sgardner and Quinn and Williams on Tuesday. That’s logically three games that Dolphins should win if they can go two and three in the other in the other five and they play the Bengals who can’t play any defense. You know, you squeeze out another win somewhere else and Dolphins go five and three down the stretch. Certainly could see a scenario that would give them to what seven and 10 on the season. If you think that would make it impossible for Mike McDaniel to be back as head coach in 2026, yeah, not sure about that one. Okay. And the other point to be made for those looking at the Jets and wondering why wouldn’t the Dolphins have done the same thing. Um, first of all is Dolphins didn’t have players who could fetch as much as Gardner and Williams. and the returns for those not aware for S Gardner. The Jets got two first round picks is from the Indianapolis Colts along with wide receiver AD Mitchell who became famous or infamous I should say this year for dropping the ball before reaching the end zone in that game against the Rams which was the Colts only loss before Sunday at Pittsburgh. And then for Quinnon Williams, the Jets got from the Dallas Cowboys a second round pick next year, a first round pick in 2027. there is nobody on the Dolphin roster who’s going to get that kind of return and we saw that if the Dolphins request for Jaylen Wadd was the first round pick plus he’s still on the roster which means nobody was going to give you that um is it a statement on the value of the players possibly but it also a statement on the value of the position cornerback and DTackle a lot more valuable in today’s NFL than wide receiver who generally are easier to find or a running back for those who maybe would have suggested said Devon Achan be traded. Um, and again, not that it would make sense for the Dolphins considering he’s their best player, although one could make the argument that he’s going to want a new contract at the end of the 2025 season be when he’s going to become eligible. He’s going to want a big raise and generally speaking, teams have been reluctant to give big contracts to running backs. um the other part of that equation and for those who are automatically saying I know a lot of fans on social media especially Dolphin fans are like oh no the Jets now are going to surpass the Dolphins um because of the moves they made because now they have five first round picks over the next two years. Well the Dolphins had five first round picks in the two-year span uh of 2020 and 2021 and four years later here we are they’re two and seven facing another rebuild. So, it’s not just about having the picks, it’s about nailing the picks. Um, so this is where we are. Dolphins again did not make a trade. I had said all along I did not believe in the idea of a fire sale. Mainly because the Dolphins again have a situation where their their head coaches job security is a little bit shaky, especially heading into for next season. And then number two, because that’s not been their mo. And I understand there’s a new uh interim GM in charge and Champ Kelly as opposed to Chris Greer, but that’s not what they’ve done. Dolphins have never had that kind of fire sale in at the trade deadline in season. So, they wind up making only one deal this year before the trade deadline. Again, that’s Jaylen Phillips to the Eagles for a three. And no problem with that one either. Again, who knows how much Jon Phillips is going to get as an unrestricted free agent next off season. the best that offense could have done as a comp pick was a third and they wouldn’t get that until 2027 and there’s no guarantee would have been a third. So no issue with that trade. Uh for a good not great player, somebody who has a long injury history, not sure and where how much how many assets or how much money the Dolphins would want to to allocate to Phillips as a free agent next year. even if they wanted to revisit that, they still could because they are allowed to resign him as a free agent next off season. So that’s it. Um again, very disappointing for a lot of fans I know who would wanted to see a lot of action. It’s a lot more fun. Trades are fun. Uh Tuesday wasn’t fun in that vein for the Dolphins in terms of what they did. Doesn’t necessarily mean it was the wrong decision, though. That we shall find out.

Miami Dolphins On SI Publisher Alain Poupart shares his thoughts on the team’s lack of activity on NFL trade deadline day. For more on the topic, make sure to go to miamidolphinsonsi.com for free stories. And make sure to follow Alain on Twitter at @PoupartNFL and Blusky at @alainpoupart.bsky.social.