Well, he did it! I didn’t think he would be able to, but the new Dolphins front office tactician managed to pull off a trade that shipped Ryan Tannehill out to the Tennessee Titans. As a result of this lost bet, I had to write a glowing piece on Chris Grier who may or may not be a football aficionado after this transaction.
On March 15, 2019, the Dolphins traded their 2019 6th round pick and Tannehill with some cap considerations included to the Titans for their 2019 7th round pick and a 2020 4th round pick. The Dolphins were not ever going to be able to get 100% compensation back on what they gave up on Tannehill but do not think that the Dolphins got ripped off either. This was a good trade. Would have been better if we didn’t have to sacrifice our sixth-round pick to them but I will take it. Dolphins still hold seven picks in the 2019 draft.
I haven’t been too impressed with a lot of moves the Dolphins have made this offseason. It’s more of what they haven’t done that pleases me. For example, there were rumors circulating that the Dolphins were the front-runners to sign DE Trey Flowers. It didn’t happen as he would sign with the Lions. I was thrilled because he may have been younger than Wake or Quinn, but I didn’t consider him an elite player by no means. Whereas Wake and Quinn have multiple double-digit sack seasons on their resumes. So, I was happy they didn’t fork over a lot of dough to get him.
Then, I had to deal with rumors that the Dolphins were interested in retaining Ja’Wuan James. Losing him would create a huge gaping hole on the offensive line but James gets way too many penalties that kills drives and you should never pay for an offensive lineman anyway. They get ripped to shreds. Some Dolphin fans are clamoring for an extension of Laremy Tunsil. Seriously, it wasn’t that long ago when we extended Jake Long and Mike Pouncey. Do you guys remember what happened? Surely, you can remember when they signed Josh Sitton last year. So, I’m not disappointed to see James go. Just build around Tunsil for now.
Finally, another rumor broke just after the Tannehill trade that the Cardinals were interested in trading Josh Rosen because they were going to draft Kyler Murray #1 overall in this coming draft. Dolphins were reported in the trade talk mix. Thankfully, the Dolphins quickly shot down that rumor and said they weren’t interested in Rosen. This was music to my ears. I like Rosen but I count four potential elite quarterbacks in last year’s class and Rosen wasn’t among them. So, giving up quality picks this year did not seem like a smart move.
This regime has a long way to go to win me over. Grier is being conservative right now. Is he too conservative? Time will tell.
