This past week, I was on vacation, but I would check in and read stuff about the Miami Dolphins as I do every day or when there is a new article. I found it very laughable that former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum came up with a potential trade proposal for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dolphins. He thought a good deal for both teams straight up is the Chiefs send defensive back Trent McDuffie to the Dolphins for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. I did understand part of the logic: the Chiefs would get a dynamic receiver, and the Dolphins would get a young, up-and-coming defensive back to replace outgoing defensive back Xavien Howard. However, the deal was stupid, and of course, trader Mike came up with this since he likes to deal. 

First, why would the Chiefs trade one of their best young defensive players at a premium position when they have another player in Jadarious Snead, about to become a free agent? Do you trade one player and risk losing the other player? Plus, why would the Chiefs trade a key defensive player for a dynamic receiver when they won the last two Super Bowls without a dynamic receiver after trading Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins, ironically? Chiefs coach Andy Reid has won in the past without top-flight receivers. 

Secondly, why would the Dolphins trade one of their dynamic receivers, who had three straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and they don’t have anyone on the roster after Hill, to replace him? I know receivers aren’t hard to find, but the Dolphins need to keep their best ones and develop someone behind Hill and Waddle because they weren’t 100% at the end of the year, and nobody stepped up. Now, if you let teams double-team Hill? You better have a good backup plan. 

Lastly, the Chiefs aren’t making that trade straight up. The Dolphins would have to give up more to trade for a young player at a premium position, and the Dolphins can’t give up more draft capital in their cap situation. Plus, the Chiefs have won three of the last four Super Bowls and are going to be contenders for three in a row, but they won’t make a foolish deal like that. 

The stuff they put on talk radio and shows like Get Up overanalyze everything, and I chose not to watch it anymore. During the season, they dissect every game to the T, and they overhype or get too critical. Now, with it being the off-season, they must guess what every team is going to do and try to get creative with trade. I get why some players, like Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, and others don’t like hearing their names in trade rumors, but this is the time of year you will hear things.  

With teams trying to get their salary cap in order for the new league year. The franchise tag is going to be used on players. Most importantly, the NFL draft combine is coming up. Teams are going to be watching draft prospects and interviewing them.

Still, they are also going to do some back-channel communication on potential trades for players on other teams or at least gauge the interest in players that could be on the block. If the Dolphins are going to use the franchise tag on Christian Wilkins, for example, they might get a feel for what the market will be for him. The Dolphins could use the franchise tag and keep Wilkins around for at least one more year, sign him to a long-term contract, or it’s possible that the Dolphins could use the tag to possibly trade him to a team and get something in return. I’m not saying that trading him will happen, but it’s entirely possible when NFL executives get together at the combine. 

Teams will also investigate what it might take to move up in the draft. Remember in 2016, when Tannenbaum was the Dolphins executive, he orchestrated a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to move back a few spots in the first round from pick eight to 13. He got players Byron Maxwell and Kiko Alonso in return. The Dolphins ended up getting offensive tackle Larmey Tunsil at 13, who many considered to be the number 1 pick going into the draft until his stock fell when a video showing him smoking pot with a gas mask bong scared teams away.

Tunsil was a good offensive lineman, and the Dolphins ended up trading him a few years later for a bunch of 1st and 2nd round picks that helped the Dolphins get young talent in 2020 and 2021. The trade didn’t work out otherwise, but the point is the NFL combine is where some of these trade conversations start, and it’s hard to keep things a secret nowadays. 

The other thing is teams could use some of these conversations as smoke screens to get teams to think certain ways, so if you’re a player like Waddle, whose contract is about to come up, you might hear possible trade talk. It’s a reminder that the NFL is a business, so teams are going to be doing their due diligence in the coming days and weeks leading up to free agency and the draft so when you have talk radio and NFL shows that have a lot of air time to kill, they are going to find anything to talk about to get ratings up and people’s attention, like the speculated trade proposal Tannenbaum made. He’s not the only one, and there will be many more, so get ready for the NFL rumor mill to start as they head into a new league year.Â