What the Darnold Trade Means for the Dolphins
The much-anticipated New York Jets move involving quarterback Sam Darnold went down Monday when they traded to the Carolina Panthers for three draft picks.
It was a trade that beyond signifying the end of the Dolphins seeing Darnold twice a year meant they had lost a potential trade partner in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.
Let's face it, while we're not suggesting the Panthers have committed to Darnold for the next 10 years, it truly is difficult to envision them turning around and giving up more draft picks to move up from their spot at number 8.
Carolina gave the Jets a sixth-round pick this year and second- and fourth-round picks next year for Darnold, which certainly would suggest he'll be their starting quarterback for the immediate future.
That means the Dolphins pretty much are down to four potential trading partners for the sixth overall pick — if the players they are targeting end up being selected earlier, which we'll get back to soon.
Those four teams appearing or said to be in the market to move up to take a quarterback are the Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots, the Washington Football Team and the Chicago Bears.
Of those three, the Broncos would seem to represent the only logical possibility unless Washington or Chicago were willing to give up a large return to the Dolphins to move down to the 19th or 20th overall selection. You can pretty much forget about New England because the idea of helping a division rival find its franchise quarterback is borderline preposterous.
Before the Darnold trade, the Dolphins could have played the Panthers off against the Broncos to try to get the best return for that sixth pick while dropping only down to eighth or ninth overall.
That's assuming, of course, that the Dolphins even are interested in moving down.
After moving down from three to six, it's pretty much a lock the Dolphins won't take a quarterback and it seems guaranteed they'll have their choice of either Kyle Pitts, Ja'Marr Chase or Penei Sewell because the top three picks should be quarterbacks.
The Darnold all but clinched a quarterback at number 2 for the Jets, with the expectation being that the quarterback will be Zach Wilson, who will follow anticipated top overall pick Trevor Lawrence.
The 49ers will take a quarterback at 3 because they didn't give the Dolphins two first-round picks and a third-round selection to move up from 12 to select somebody at another position.
That leaves the Falcons and Bengals at 4 and 5, and the Bengals are expected to choose between Sewell, the tackle from Oregon, and Chase, the wide receiver who played with Joe Burrow at LSU.
There is a lot of mystery surrounding the Falcons' pick, with the thought that they'll take a quarterback or trade the pick to a team that would move up for a quarterback. Or the Falcons could become so enamored with Pitts that they decide they can't pass him up.
So the Dolphins could be left with the choice of one of the big three of Pitts, Chase and Sewell or possibly two.
Or they could look elsewhere to somebody like Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons or Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, though it says here it will be one of the big three.
It also figures to be a BPA (best player available) approach at number 6 because the Dolphins already have a lot of wide receivers on the roster, including prized free agent acquisition Will Fuller V; they have a solid tight end room with Mike Gesicki, Durham Smythe and Adam Shaheen; and they selected tackles in the first two rounds of the 2020 NFL draft with Austin Jackson and Robert Hunt.
The Darnold trade ultimately won't matter much to the Dolphins if their target is there at 6, though it did remove one possible option.
Where the trade really will hurt the Dolphins is when they face the Jets because they had to be hoping the Jets would stick with Darnold considering how they handled him.
The Dolphins were 4-1 against the Jets with Darnold at quarterback, holding them to an average of 12 points a game, and coming up with 10 interceptions against only four touchdown passes.
That's where the trade really will be felt for the Dolphins.
The one consolation, at least in the short term, is that the Dolphins will face Darnold during the 2021 season when Carolina comes to Hard Rock Stadium.
