Miami Dolphins Trade Deadline Primer

The Miami Dolphins' rebuilding project has advanced so far the team finds itself in playoff contention as the 2020 NFL trading deadline arrives Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

That means an entirely different outlook than last year when the team still was in the process of clearing out undesirable contracts and trying to identify which players could help them in the future.

The team now is in a position to focus on the current season and what can be done to improve its chances of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2016.

That means, logic says the Dolphins are more likely to make a trade to acquire player than to send one away this year.

Yes, the Dolphins wouldn't mind dumping running back Jordan Howard, who has been a healthy scratch the past three games and has a $4.75 million guaranteed salary this season. As we've mentioned before, given that guarantee and his stats this year, it's not likely a team will bite and give the Dolphins any kind of compensation for Howard.

There's also not been a peep about Xavien Howard since the South Florida Sun-Sentinel story suggesting the Dolphins were fielding offers for the 2018 Pro Bowl cornerback and were "seriously considering" moving him, a story the Dolphins denied with a statement saying they were not exploring trade options for him.

As far as potential targets, wide receiver is one position that jumps out.

Preston Williams had two drops against the Rams on Sunday; DeVante Parker has a team-high four drops on the season; and the wide receivers simply aren't creating a lot of separation (they're tied for 30th in the NFL with an average separation of 2.5 yards, according to ESPN's NextGen stats).

Help could be on the way in the form of former Cleveland Browns fourth-round pick Antonio Callaway, whose NFL suspension was lifted this week while he remains on the Dolphins practice squad. Callaway is a speedster with obvious talent and he could help if he can steer clear of the off-the-field issues that have plagued his career, but it's also not like he's simply going to get promoted to the active roster and immediately become a star.

Among the names that have been mentioned as being available in a trade at the position are veteran A.J. Green and John Ross of the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as just about anybody on the Houston Texans roster, including former Dolphins wideout Kenny Stills.

Will Fuller is one of the most talented wide receivers said to be on the market, but he'll be a free agent next spring and he's got a guaranteed salary of $10.2 million this year, according to overthecap.com.

Another interesting name to consider is running back Todd Gurley, the former Rams first-round pick in his first season with the Atlanta Falcons. Gurley has 531 rushing yards in eight games so far this season and maybe could provide a boost to a Dolphins running game that's been struggling most of the season.

With the Falcons sitting at 2-6, they likely would consider a reasonable offer for most players. Gurley is signed only through this season, though his base salary is a modest $3.5 million.

Interestingly, the Dolphins traded away a running back at the deadline last year (well, a day before) when they sent Kenyan Drake to the Cardinals for a fifth-round pick that eventually was used to trade for Matt Breida from the 49ers.

The deal was made because the Dolphins and Drake were headed for a seemingly unavoidable breakup via free agency. Breida is averaging only 3.5 yards per rushing attempt this season and has only seven catches in the first seven games.

The other trade the Dolphins made at the deadline last year involved a situation a bit similiar to what's going on with Jordan Howard, with the Rams looking to unload Aqib Talib's salary from their books and willing to give the Dolphins a fifth-round pick to do it in exchange for only a seventh-round choice in return.

Talib was on injured reserve at the time of the trade, the Dolphins never activated him, and he ended up retiring in the offseason.

It truly was one of the strangest trades in franchise history.

We wouldn't expect something that bizarre this year. In fact, it's possible there will be no Dolphins trade, period.

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