With the NFL trade deadline in 2 weeks, Miami Dolphins’ Twitter has put in their request for players they want to see on this team. Some have mentioned the likes of Derrick Henry, Patrick Surtain, Jerry Jeudy, and Justin Simmons.
Dolphins fans have become infatuated with big-name acquisitions, and who could blame them? Miami Dolphins General Manager has pulled off two of the biggest off-season trade acquisitions in team history when he acquired Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey in back-to-back seasons. Not to mention that the Miami Dolphins always seem to have their hands in the cookie jar when a superstar becomes available or what many like to call “Chris Grier doing his due diligence.”
Last season, Miami traded for edge rusher Bradley Chubb in the middle of the season, so many fans expect that same type of splash this season, too. They’ve already acquired Chase Claypool for a small price, and now many are waiting for a move to be made on the defensive side of the ball.
Let’s talk about what we need and what’s realistic for this Miami Dolphins football team.
The two most obvious needs on the defensive side of the ball have been at Linebacker and Nose tackle. Many are not happy with the production of Jerome Baker and Raekwon Davis. The likelihood of Baker being traded is zero to none with his contract. Unless a team loses their starting Linebacker due to injury or some other unforeseen circumstance and becomes desperate, there’s no way to get out of Baker’s contract, on top of the fact that he is the “Mike” linebacker for this defense and wears the green dot. I highly doubt that Vic Fangio or Mike McDaniel wants the rotation to be disrupted, with the players just getting acclimated to the new scheme and building chemistry. I could see a scenario where Miami brings in more Linebacker help, and Baker loses his spot.
Miami recently restructured Kicker Jason Sanders’s contract, which only gave Miami around three million dollars in cap space. Unless there’s a significant move made to free up money in the next two weeks, I wouldn’t expect a huge splash at linebacker, but there could be impactful moves at the position. The move would have to make sense as far as the scheme being that the acquisition would have to learn the position, and it would have to make sense financially. The player that makes the most sense would be Denver Broncos linebacker Josey Jewell.
Josey Jewell played linebacker under Vic Fangio during Fangio’s stint with the Broncos from 2019-2021, so he knows Fangio’s system very well. He’s a former teammate of Bradley Chubb; they were actually drafted in the same year by the Broncos. So, there is familiarity with both the coaching staff and personnel. The biggest reason this move would make the most sense is, for one the Broncos have publicly announced that they’re shopping multiple players on their defense, and Jewell probably wouldn’t cost much. His current cap hit is less than one million, and he’d probably only cost a 5th or 6th-round pick. Jewell wouldn’t give Miami’s linebacker unit a huge boost and could be the answer once Baker is gone next season. He’s an instinctual linebacker with great tackling ability, which is something Miami has been missing.
To address the Nose Tackle position, it would make more sense for Miami to outright trade away Raekwon Davis since his cap hit is just over one million. It might require Miami to take on a slightly bigger contract. Unlike at the Linebacker position, the nose tackle doesn’t just need help. It needs a total upgrade. And the Dolphins should afford to do so. Trading away Raekwon Davis, who is widely known by fans to be off of the roster next season, would make more room financially.
A move that could help this defense is for Carolina Panthers Nose Tackle Shy Tuttle. Carolina is another team that has publicly shopped a few of their players and would be looking for draft picks in return. Tuttle might warrant a decent return from Miami in regards to draft picks. Tuttle could add some size in the middle to assist with run-stuffing. His cap hit is just above four million, so Miami would have to shed a few contracts to make his fit, but with all the players going on IR, there may have to be some moves made to lighten the roster anyway.
I always say we’ll see what Chris Grier cooks up in the next couple of weeks, but you have to think that a move or two will be made with the restructuring of Jason Sanders’ contract. It’s not everything that GMs are restructuring their kicker’s contract unless something else is going to follow. By now, fans have to know that Grier is just going to make a move that looks shiny; it has to make sense, and it has to be reasonable, but he’ll never shy away from improving this team through trade. Let’s just all grab our popcorn and see what happens at the trade deadline.
