Should The Dolphins Trade For Lamar Jackson If He Becomes Available?

The rumors are swirling about Lamar Jackson and the Dolphins after other rumors began about a potential breakup with the Ravens. I have no idea if those rumors have any truth to them. From the outside, things look fine to me with Lamar and the Ravens. All my Ravens-loving family and friends are still obsessed with Lamar, for what that’s worth (they say the fans have much more influence than they get credit for…).

Anyway, the trade proposals on Twitter are flying faster than Tyreek Hill on the field, and I wanted to give my own two cents on the idea.

All the trades are in the neighborhood of 3 first-round picks and maybe Tua for Lamar and a late draft pick. If that were to actually be offered, should the Dolphins do it? (This is all assuming Quinn Ewers doesn't pan out, of course.)

YES. YES. YES!!!

Let me explain.

I’ve been a Dolphins fan since 2002. Since that time, can you name me a worse NFL team to root for? I’ll wait.

Don’t say the Jets — as bad as they are, they made the AFC Championship game in 2009 and 2010.
Don’t say the Lions — they’re good now (even though they're out of the playoffs this year).
Don’t say the Titans — they made the AFC Championship in 2019.
Don’t say the Commanders — they made the NFC Championship last year.
Don’t say the Chargers — they’ve won a bunch of playoff games and made the AFC Championship in 2007.

The only teams that could be argued are:

The Raiders — who haven’t won a playoff game since 2002 (when they made the Super Bowl) and only have 2 playoff appearances since then. But as bad as that is, at least they made the Super Bowl in ’02…

And of course there's the Browns, who only have 3 playoff appearances since 1995. But still — at least they won a playoff game in 2020!

The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000 — the longest drought in the NFL. I think that in order to be a proven “good team” in the NFL, it’s not about just making the playoffs. Bad teams make the playoffs all the time (just look at the wild-card round the past few years). You’re only a proven good team if you win a playoff game. That shows you can go up against a (at least semi-)legitimate team when the stakes are high and play at a high level. That shows you have real talent.

What’s my point with all this?

My point is that Dolphins fans are starving for some legitimacy. They haven’t had that since 2000. They’ve tried many times with no success. The Tua experiment couldn’t even net them a playoff win.

Now let’s get back to Lamar.

Lamar has some issues. Rumors are that he doesn’t take his football life so seriously — he stays up late at night, sleeps through team meetings, and isn’t a good leader. And if the Ravens are bothered by that, I completely understand. But for the Dolphins, they aren’t a franchise like the Ravens. The Ravens are a professional franchise with expectations to compete for a Lombardi Trophy every year. The Dolphins are just not that.

For the past 25 years, the Dolphins’ expectations have been lowered with each passing year. Though they like to say it, they are not thinking about competing for a Super Bowl title. every year Not even close. They just want some legitimacy, which they’ve been robbed of for a quarter-century. And legitimacy does not necessarily mean a Super Bowl.

My expectations have been lowered as well (fittingly). I don’t ask for much. All I ask for is some legitimacy. To me, that just means a playoff win, and I’ll be happy. Just give me a playoff win and I’ll be very satisfied with the season — I’ll probably be satisfied for the next decade! That’s really all I need and all I seek.

All of Lamar’s issues don’t get in the way of that not-so-lofty goal.

Do they get in the way of a championship? Possibly.
Does Lamar’s playoff performance get in the way of a championship? Certainly.
Does his injury history get in the way of a championship? Absolutely.

But do all those things get in the way of a playoff win? Nope. Just look at the Ravens for the past 8 years (besides this season).

To me, it’s worth it to blow up your entire future just to get the playoff win your fans are so desperately in need of if you're the Miami Dolphins. They've tried and tried and failed every time. It's time to go nuclear.

Three first-round picks? Sure — take them all!

Just imagine Lamar with a receiver like Tyreek Hill (even post injury hopefully) and Jaylen Waddle, and a running back like Achane. Just imagine that. You can’t tell me that won’t get the Dolphins a playoff win. And that’s all I need. And if that means the Dolphins will be basement-dwellers for five years after that, then so be it.

I’m all in — and I’m praying these rumors are true.