Exploring Dolphins’ potential trade opportunities. And how ESPN’s Miami mistake happened
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Monday:
▪ At least a handful of NFL people say the Dolphins need to at least consider using the third overall pick on a quarterback.
Additions to that group, in recent days, include ESPN analyst and former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum, NFL Network draft analyst/former NFL scout Bucky Brooks and prominent local agents Drew Rosenhaus (on his WSVN-Fox 7 segment on Sunday) and David Canter (on his Twitter account on Sunday).
“They have to compare Tua to Justin Fields and Zach Wilson,” Brooks tweeted of the well-regarded Ohio State and BYU quarterback prospects. “They must be convinced that he’s a better QB prospect than those guys to proceed with him. If not, they should take a QB and let them compete. Cowboys did it in ‘89 and ‘90 with Troy Aikman and Steve Walsh.”
Walsh was selected in the supplemental draft.
The preference here would be to stick with Tagovailoa and instead augment the offense around him because it’s far too soon to judge Tagovailoa with such a limited supporting cast.
But the Dolphins also need to do their due diligence on Fields and Wilson (options with the Jets’ pick at No. 2 and Miami’s pick at No. 3) and Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance (possible options with Miami’s pick at 18) because it would be delinquent not to fully study them.
While the notion of drafting a quarterback and having him compete with Tagovailoa has some sensible reasoning behind it, here’s one problem with that:
If that’s your plan, it would be irresponsible from a cap standpoint to give Ryan Fitzpatrick $7 million a year to be your backup when free agency starts in March if there’s any real chance of drafting a top quarterback to compete with Tagovailoa.
And if you don’t sign a backup before the draft in late April, then the cupboard of skilled backup QBs likely would be mostly bare if you don’t draft a quarterback.
Another option would be signing Fitzpatrick, drafting one of the top four quarterbacks, taking both rookies to camp, judging both through August and trading one in early September.
But the value obtained for one of those quarterbacks in early September might not be the same as it would be in April.
And do you really want to make a decision on your long-term quarterback based on seven weeks of summer evaluation? That seems premature.
▪ Unless the Dolphins are absolutely convinced that Fields or Wilson are much better than Tagovailoa, the more appealing option would be trading down slightly from No. 3 — but ideally no lower than No. 6 — to assure an opportunity to draft one of three elite non-quarterback offensive players in this draft: receivers DeVonta Smith (Alabama) or Ja’Marr Chase (LSU) or Oregon left tackle Penei Sewell.
There’s a chance one of those (more likely Smith or Chase) could be available at 7 or even 8 if Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, Lance or Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr. jumps into the top six. But it would be risky to move to 7 or 8 and expect to definitely land one of those three players.
So would any of the teams in the No. 4 to No. 7 range be motivated to give the Dolphins meaningful assets to jump to Miami’s pick at No. 3 in a slight trade down?
The Atlanta Falcons, at No. 4, seemingly wouldn’t because Matt Ryan is still a top-15 quarterback, they have a capable left tackle in Jake Matthews (though Sewell is the better prospect) and are very good at wide receiver with Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley.
Cincinnati at No. 5 would be a possibility if the Bengals are willing to give the Dolphins two second-rounders or some real incentive to jump to No. 3 to take Sewell, who could protect Joe Burrow for a decade.
Philadelphia at No. 6, Detroit at No. 7, Carolina at No. 8 and Denver at No. 9 are possibilities if any falls in love with Fields or Wilson (whichever is available at No. 3) and decides either of those two is appreciably better than Jalen Hurts/Matt Stafford/Teddy Bridgewater/Drew Lock.
The Dolphins likely could net a future first-rounder — as well as that team’s 2020 first-rounder — by trading down with any of those four teams.
There are teams that need a quarterback picking later — New England at 15, Washington at 19 — but dipping that low would likely eliminate any chance of Miami drafting a player perceived as an elite prospect.
▪ ESPN’s website posted a story Monday afternoon reporting that the Dolphins and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey had parted ways. ESPN attributed the information to Adam Schefter, the network’s lead NFL insider.
Turns out, Schefter reported no such thing and ESPN removed the story and apologized for it.
According to a source, an employee on ESPN’s news desk saw a fake Schefter account report that the Dolphins and Gailey had parted ways and crafted a story out of it and placed it on the ESPN website without telling Schefter.
ESPN said in a statement: “ESPN published an incorrect story on Monday involving Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. The story has been removed from ESPN.com, and replaced with this correction. The story was also mentioned on the 1 p.m. edition of “SportsCenter.” No ESPN reporters reported on Gailey or the Dolphins, or were involved in the error, which was made internally. The story was on ESPN.com for about 20 minutes. ESPN regrets the error.”
▪ Dolphins rookie Raekwon Davis finished with 40 tackles, which were the second most by any NFL rookie defensive lineman and behind only Washington defensive end Chase Young, who was the No. 2 overall pick of the draft.
Davis ranked 37th among 100 qualifying interior defensive linemen, per Pro Football Focus.
How close is Davis to being as good as he believes he can be as an NFL player?
“Not even close yet,” he said. “Not even close.”
▪ From the glass-half-full-Tagovailoa file: He finished the season with five interceptions on 290 attempts, giving him an interception rate of 1.72, which is the second lowest in a season in team history, behind only Chad Pennington’s 1.47.
Also, Tagovailoa’s 186 completions this season are second most in Dolphins history by a rookie (282, Ryan Tannehill, 2012) and his 64.1 completion percentage is a rookie franchise record.
▪ The Dolphins linebackers unit set a franchise first for having three different players record at least five sacks in a season.
Jerome Baker had seven, Kyle Van Noy had six and Andrew Van Ginkel had 5.5.
Baker finished 12th among NFL linebackers in sacks, Van Noy 14th and Van Ginkel 15th.
Baker and Van Ginkel took big steps this season.
“My pass rush got better,” Baker said. “I had more opportunities to blitz, more opportunities to pass rush,” he said. “It’s a credit to the defensive line. I have a lot of things to improve on, being more explosive, faster and bigger.”
Baker, who is eligible for unrestricted free agency in March 2022, could get an extension before then.
“I want to be a Dolphin for a long time,” he said Monday.
Here’s my Monday primer on the Dolphins’ offseason.
Here’s my Monday Miami Hurricanes 6-pack.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 3:49 PM.
