![\"Miami](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2263326780-5-1-e1774982841820.jpg\")
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Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan shared his thoughts on trading Jaylen Waddle<\/p>\n
The Miami Dolphins<\/a> offseason plan has been all about improving their salary cap situation and focusing on long-term stability for the franchise. As a result, the Dolphins cut ties with most of their aging players, who carried large cap hits. Miami was willing to do those moves despite the amount of dead money they would take on. As things currently stand, the majority of Miami\u2019s salary cap is mostly being used on players who are no longer on the roster.<\/p>\n Individually, most of Miami\u2019s moves made sense on paper. The team\u2019s roster does not seem like it\u2019s on the verge of contention, meaning dedicating large amounts of the team\u2019s salary cap to veterans was not a viable solution to the team\u2019s issues. However, Miami then showed that the team was not taking any half-measures, and that they were fully dedicated to their rebuild as the team traded away 27-year-old star receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n Waddle, who did not carry a massive salary cap hit in the 2026 season, was not expected to be moved this offseason. Many seemed to believe he was a part of Miami\u2019s long-term plans as he had already been signed through the 2028 season. Despite this, new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan believed the team could be better by trading away the receiver. Now, Sullivan has spoken publicly on the reason Miami moved Waddle.<\/p>\n Miami Dolphins General Manager Shares True Feelings on Waddle Trade<\/p>\n Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan spoke with Mike FLorio and Chris Sims of Pro Football Talk, where he discussed the Jaylen Waddle trade. Regarding the reason for the trade, Sullivan said,<\/a> \u201cWe have to get younger and cheaper. Jaylen is a really good player. Jaylen\u2019s 27 years old, he\u2019s going to want a new contract, and the wide receiver market is going up. By the time we hit our stride, I didn\u2019t know that made a lot of sense for us. We get to put two players on rookie contracts.I felt like it was a win for both teams.\u201d<\/p>\n EstablishTheRun\u2019s Adam Levitan seemed to agree with Sullivan\u2019s reasons as he posted on X, <\/a>\u201cThis should be a no-brainer for any GM working with an owner who actually wants to win a Super Bowl. And is willing to eat some really bad years to optimize for that goal.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t try to middle a rebuild. Understand Jaylen Waddle will be in decline by the time you\u2019re competitive. Get valuable assets now, stomach the pain of winning 3-5 games, so hopefully you can win 13-15 later.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaylen Waddle\u2019s Dolphins Tenure<\/p>\n Waddle\u2019s tenure with Miami is somewhat murky as he had undeniable success with the Dolphins, but after the team acquired All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill prior to Waddle\u2019s second season, the former sixth-overall pick never had a chance of cementing himself as a true No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n With the Dolphins, he became the fastest player in franchise history to reach 5,000 receiving yards. He also has the fourth-best season by a Miami wide receiver as he totaled 1,356 receiving yards during the 2022 season, despite being behind Hill on the team\u2019s depth chart.<\/p>\n After Hill suffered a dislocated knee injury, Waddle surpassed 85 receiving yards in five of the next six games. However, Waddle\u2019s role would once again be diminished down the stretch as Miami prioritized the run game amid quarterback Tua Tagovailoa\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJose Esquer<\/a> Jose Esquer is a Mexican-American sportswriter and communications student based in San Diego, CA. His work spans football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. He has written for platforms like RotoWire and DolphinsTalk. You can find him on Twitter\/X @JEsquer8, usually talking Dolphins, world football, or both. More about Jose Esquer<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Dolphins\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan shared his thoughts on trading Jaylen Waddle The Miami Dolphins offseason plan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-845444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116325327416429485","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}