Dave Hyde: New GM got it right in trading Waddle as Dolphins stockpile picks
· Yahoo Sports
Let’s start with the two premium draft picks from Denver. They’re worth more for what the Miami Dolphins need than Jaylen Waddle and the $67 million owed him.
They fit the rebuilding Dolphins’ timeline.
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They add Denver’s first-, third- and fourth-round draft picks to Miami’s stockpile at the cost of Waddle and a fourth-round pick.
They make this deal work even before you add how — let’s face it — Waddle was a No. 2 receiver who never reached the expected No. 1 status. Maybe, at 27, he never does. And there are a lot of No. 2 receivers around.
But before giving it the full thumbs-up treatment this trade deserves — before going two thumbs-up on new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan’s moves thus far — let’s understand the parameters for success are already being set for his new regime.
If Sullivan hit on newly signed quarterback Malik Willis and hits on enough of the Dolphins’ seven draft picks in the top 94, this rebuild has a shortcut to success. The Dolphins might be prove-it fun to watch in 2026. They can think of winning again in 2027.
That’s the plan, as it’s playing out, and it underlines why the most important player in any sports franchise is the one laying the blueprint and picking the players. Sullivan has been bold in a way that puts all pressure on him right away. Who doesn’t want that kind of mindset at the top? Who can’t see a change from recent years?
Sullivan has seven picks in the first three rounds. Consider: The Dolphins tanked the 2019 season and had six picks in the opening three rounds in 2020 (three were first-round picks).
The Dolphins aren’t tanking this season — at least not by design. That was the statement when they signed Willis. But they need to get him enough talent to have a chance to show his talent. Otherwise, why get him?
So, the next question for Sullivan after Tuesday is simply this:
Who’s next?
Anyone?
Does he value running back De’Von Achane if a No. 1 pick comes calling? And what about veteran linebacker Jordyn Brooks or center Aaron Brewer? Again: He has to leave Willis with some surrounding talent.
The loss of Waddle isn’t some crossed line toward tanking, either. Again, he was a good piece, never a great one despite being the sixth pick in 2021. That brings up an old-regime subject this this new regime has to change.
Of the 11 first-round picks the Dolphins took in the last decade, only three remain on the team. Tackle Austin Jackson is back only after taking a salary slash to a one-year deal. The other two first-round holdovers are the most recent ones in Chop Robinson and Kenneth Grant.
Any route for the Dolphins to improve starts with those first picks. Sullivan added to that demand Tuesday. He added receiver to the must-do shopping list with cornerback and edge rusher, too.
Here’s the good news in regards to receiver: This sets Sullivan up to have a roster his Green Bay days suggest he wants. Matthew Golden was the highest-drafted Packers receiver with the 23rd pick. Christian Watson was 34th and Jayden Reed 50th.
This sets up as a good draft for receivers, too. So, the 30th or 43rd picks look like the sweet spot for the Dolphins to take one.
All you know right now is the Dolphins have gone from having Waddle and Tyreek Hill at receiver to having names you could pick from a hat.
Things change. That’s the bottom line with new regimes. The good part of Sullivan’s start is he isn’t going to spend a year cleaning out the roster or waiting to make moves. He’s moving at the speed of an avalanche.
Tuesday was his 67th day as general manager and the roster is unrecognizable from how the year ended. There’s a salary-cap hangover of the big contracts of Tua Tagovailoa and Bradley Chubb. But that couldn’t stop turning the page on a disappointing era.
Now, Waddle is gone, too.
It looks like a smart move, one that fits into what the new Dolphins are doing. But it isn’t a success just yet. Dolphins fans just have to list that 2020 draft of first-rounders Tua, Jackson and Noah Igbinoghene to recall how the best of plans go wrong.
Sullivan got this trade right.
Now he has to get the draft right, too.