Kelly: Trading Jaylen Waddle was the right thing for a rebuilding Dolphins franchise | Opinion
The truth is always more useful than a comforting falsehood.
So here’s the truth (and nothing but the truth) about the 2026 Miami Dolphins:
The roster is being rebuilt, not renovated, by new management.
This franchise is being torn down to the studs by newly hired general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, and newly head coach Jeff Hafley.
Call this Green Bay South, and buckle up for the uncomfortable ride of purging the roster for draft picks because everything of value will likely be sold off, shipped away if the right offer is made.
That’s why Miami traded Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos on Tuesday for the 30th pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, a third-round selection and a swap of fourth-round picks.
As talented/promising as Waddle has been the past five seasons, that’s phenomenal value for a player who has never proven he can carry an offense.
At his best, Waddle, who produced three 1,000-yard receiving seasons in his first five years, is a complementary piece. He’s a talent who shined playing next to a Tyreek Hill, an All-Pro talent, a player who made plays when the attention of the defense went elsewhere.
Unfortunately, Miami paid Waddle like he was an alpha receiver, making yet another bad investment during the Chris Grier and Mike McDaniel era, and now the Broncos are picking up the remainder of the guaranteed money on that contract.
Think of it like Denver’s taking over the overpriced lease on a luxury car so you can trim some expenses.
The trade guts an already bad receiver unit, removing one of the two proven NFL playmakers on the offense (De’Von Achane is the other), and will eventually provide Miami the cap space they need to fix the franchise’s troubling books. The Dolphins now get two draft picks in the draft’s first two days for Waddle.
Hopefully Sullivan and Hafley do more with those selections than Grier managed to achieve during his decade as Miami’s top executive, architect of the franchise, which ironically began with a similar purge of talent since Miami traded away offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, linebackers Raekwon McMillan and Kiko Alonso, receiver Kenny Stills, tailback Kenyan Drake, quarterback Ryan Tannehill, and eventually safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (early into 2020).
All of those players Miami banished/traded away that 2019 Tanking for Tua season were proven NFL starters, players who had the ability to continue their careers as impactful contributors to the Dolphins.
Hell, Tannehill of all people led the Tennessee Titans to two AFC Championship games, and was the highest-rated quarterback in the NFL in that 2019 season, which he coincidentally began the year as a backup after Miami paid the Titans $7 million to acquire his contract.
Tannehill just wasn’t right for the Dolphins, and where they were at that moment as a franchise. And neither was Stills, who was too opinionated for then-head coach Brian Flores, and Drake, who was a challenge to manage, and Fitzpatrick, who disliked the Dolphins culture, and probably still does since he was recently traded to the New York Jets for a bag of chips (a 2026 seventh-round pick).
The truth is, we don’t know what category Waddle falls into on this particular Tuesday. He’s easygoing, so it’s doubtful he demanded a trade.
But few people who have a choice willingly sign up to be part of a gutted rebuild. The usual group of folks embracing the challenge of a rebuild are minimum-salary journeymen looking for a fair opportunity, and draftees the team selects.
And we don’t know what Sullivan and Hafley truly believe about Waddle, aside from all the nice things they each said when hypothetically traded him was brought up multiple times by the South Florida media since their hiring.
Waddle’s a commodity with appeal, so there were going to be offers made.
What we do know is that Miami got a respectable one for the 27-year-old receiver, an offer that makes the trade make sense. So there should be no shame about pulling the trigger on it, even though it might send South Florida’s sports community an unfavorable message about where their NFL franchise resides, and opens the door for questions about where the Dolphins are headed.
The truth is, Sullivan and Hafley have every right to build this team in their vision, putting their imprint on the franchise. Waddle was Grier’s pick, and Tua Tagovailoa’s receiver. Now it’s time for that chapter to close.
Where the Dolphins fan base needs to get comfortable is understanding that Waddle might not be the last upper-echelon player voted off the island since Achane’s seeking a new, lucrative deal, which Miami might respectfully request he wait on.
But what if Achane doesn’t want to?
Truth is, interested teams will likely make pitches to the Dolphins to take the speedy, but small, talented tailback off Miami’s hands.
The truth is that trading away talented players for draft picks is what comes with a rebuild, and at this point, after moving Waddle to Denver, nobody should be in denial about what we’re seeing take place.
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 1:41 PM.
