Another Trade Deadline Gone By, Another Whiff for the Dolphins

Let’s start from the beginning. This year has been a disaster for the Dolphins. Already from Week 1’s uninspiring showing, the Fins showed the NFL that this year was going to be a continuation of the downward spiral from the wonderful highs of 2022–2023. They quickly went from “hey, maybe they have a shot at a wild card again” to “let’s see how they can respond to adversity” to where they are now: at the bottom of the pack, with playoff dreams a long-lost memory.

Thursday night’s game against the Ravens actually offered fans some hope — the GM was fired- er… “mutually decided to part ways” from the organization. Although it seemed like they picked on the wrong guy — as anyone who watched them was able to see the lack of organized, fundamental football on all sides of the ball — Chris Grier’s exit at least offered fans something to look forward to. Maybe, just maybe, new interim GM Champ Kelly would recognize the failure of the season and of this core and pull the trigger on a fire sale, injecting fans with hopes for a new future full of shiny draft picks. The Dolphins sure had some pieces that were attractive in the eyes of other teams. From speedy Jaylen Waddle to leader Bradley Chubb and even to recently re-acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick, there is plenty of individual talent on this team for teams to bolster their roster and compete for a deep playoff run. The big question was: Would Champ Kelly actually do it?

The answer was no.

Monday’s Jaelen Phillips trade to the Eagles for a third-rounder seemed to be a message to teams that the Dolphins were open for business. And sure, they fielded a bunch of phone calls and negotiated and whatnot. But the trade with the Eagles turned out to be the only one the Dolphins would make. Monday’s message proved false.

I’m in the camp of “if you have absolutely nothing to play for this season and don’t have a legitimate shot at a future by running the current team back, there is absolutely no reason to hang onto any player who isn’t going to be in your long-term future plans (2–4 years [because with the NFL, anything over 4 years other than a lock franchise QB is too far away to even plan for]).” What is the reason to do so? Why hang onto them only to let them walk into free agency in that-or-the-following offseason? There’s no purpose whatsoever. "But lets give the fans something to watch" is not a good argument for me, because a team which has failed to live up to its expectations will lose the fan base even if their individual stars are on the team. When a fan base is frustrated and doesn’t see any fire in their team on the field, they will slow down their intensity of fandom. Either they won’t watch the games at all, or they will pop in and out just to check up on them. Keeping some individual stars isn’t going to get them to stay.

So why keep them? Maybe you won’t get exactly what you wanted for the player. Maybe you will be feeling like you got ripped off by getting a second-rounder instead of a first. But where does that leave you? Even if you’re right, you came out the loser. Because option A was to lose the player for some draft capital [even if not an equal-value trade] and option B was to keep the player for no reason and to lose that draft capital. Option A sounds like a better deal to me — no matter how unfair or unequal the deal is.

We’ve begun to hear the rumors already — Miami wanted a first-rounder [plus?] for Jaylen Waddle and teams weren’t willing to bite. If a team called up and offered a second-rounder, what do you lose by taking that deal? Of course, you play the negotiating game and say it’s not worth it, hoping they up the ante sooner or later. That’s what a good GM does. And you shop around, listen for other offers, and see what you can get. But at 3:59, when no better offer comes, why wouldn’t you call them back and say, “you know what? We tried to play that game with you and we lost. Here’s Waddle. Give us your second and let’s call it a day.” If you do that, you may have lost the small game of negotiating [and some pride along the way], but at least you got something. If you stay defiant, where does that leave you? Nowhere. And that’s where the Dolphins are right now.

Champ Kelly failed this deadline, in my eyes. The door was wide open for him to pull a fire sale like the Jets did [just look at their next few drafts — two first-rounders and two second-rounders in 2026, three (!) first-rounders in 2027 — if that isn’t hope for the future (yes, even for the Jets), I don’t know what is]. And yes, maybe the Jets ripped off the Colts for an overhyped Sauce Gardner. But even if they would have gotten a first and a second for him, that’s still significant draft capital! Miami didn’t pull the trigger and will pay for it in the future — their team will suffer, the ownership will suffer, and most of all, their fans will suffer.