Friday afternoon my phone went off, and it was the news that the Miami Dolphins traded the number 3 overall pick in next month’s NFL Draft. Of course, I immediately clicked on the app to see who the Dolphins traded with and what they got in return. I was stunned to hear they swapped places with the San Francisco 49ers, who owed the 12th pick. The reason being is because, like I wrote the other day, I thought the Dolphins should be careful not to trade too far back unless they got an offer they couldn’t refuse. To my surprise, the Dolphins got an offer they couldn’t refuse. The Dolphins swapped picks and got a 3rd round pick in next year’s draft, and two future 1st round picks.

All I could think about was the trade Dolphins general manager Chris Grier made two years ago when he traded Laremy Tunsil to the Houston Texans for two 1st round picks and a second-round pick. I thought of that deal because the Dolphins all along have wanted to trade down from the number 3 pick. The thing is, Grier wasn’t going to trade down for the sake of trading down. He was looking for value and a team desperately looking to trade to get a quarterback and would be desperate to make a move.

That’s where the 49ers came into play because they have an excellent football team, but they don’t trust their current starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. They were looking for a potential replacement to be their franchise quarterback and to trade from 12 to 3; it would have to include multiple 1st round picks. Grier probably wasn’t going to find another team to offer more than two 1st round picks, so he jumped on the deal.

The thing that went through my mind, though, was that the Dolphins were going to lose out on one of the top playmakers in the top of the draft in Ja’Marr Chase, Devonta Smith, Kyle Pitts, and Jaylen Waddle, so who are they going to take? Sure, enough my phone goes off again, and the Dolphins made another trade.

This time they traded up from the 12 pick they just received from the 49ers to the 6th pick with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Dolphins traded a 1st round pick next year, and swapped mid-round picks to get to number 6. At first, I thought it was a little steep to trade up to 6, but then I thought about it more, and while it was steep, it was necessary. The reason being that the Dolphins now can choose from either Chase, Smith, Pitts, and Waddle at 6.

The first 3 picks in the draft will likely be quarterbacks, and the Atlanta Falcons at pick 4 aren’t going to take a receiver. If anything, they might take Pitts. Then the Cincinnati Bengals pick 5. If they were smart, that would take offensive tackle Penni Sewell because they need blockers to keep their franchise quarterback Joe Burrow upright and from taking more hits that eventually led to him tearing his ACL last year.

So, the Dolphins are sitting in a prime position to take an offensive playmaker to help Tua Tagovailoa and improve the offense.

The Dolphins trade back 3 spots and get an extra 3rd round pick and a future 1st round pick. It’s hard to criticize these trades by the Dolphins today. If you want to be picky and say they gave up too much in the Eagles deal, fine, it might have been too much, but Grier put the Dolphins in a great spot to add a playmaker on offense; he got creative in doing so. It’s the type of creativity, and outside-the-box thinking, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has been looking for in his front office because what the Dolphins were doing since he has been the owner wasn’t working.

The Dolphins position themselves for this year’s draft and in the future. Grier deserves a lot of credit for putting the Dolphins in this position. He’s found a way to get the most value in the Tunsil deal and trade the number 3 pick. Sure, there is a lot more work to do starting with the upcoming draft, but unlike previous regimes from the past two decades, he has positioned for a good future with the draft capital; what’s not to like about the two moves made today.