Miami Dolphins: The Long Con

All of a sudden, the writing on the wall has become a lot more clear with Brian Flores and the Miami Dolphins.

The Dolphins had an arsenal of draft picks next season, and at preseason cuts we finally see how they’ll use them. After trading an undisclosed draft pick for Evan Boehm and a 7th round pick in 2020 for Danny Isidora the team is all about depth. The Dolphins haven’t had depth along the offensive line in what seems like a lifetime. Building around Tunsil seemed to have been the play after the Houston Texans traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks. Clowney’s reluctance to play for the Dolphins is what ultimately lead to Houston moving on, or so we thought.

Just a few short hours later, Laremy Tunsil is on his way out, along with Kenny Stills and a fourth round pick. Houston stayed in touch and got their man after all giving up two first-round picks, a second round pick, a special teams player Johnson Bademosi, and another lineman in Julien Davenport. That’s a big haul for their star left tackle and a good wide receiver. Dolphin fans might be fuming on social media right now but this may have been the plan all along.

From Thursday night until now, fans were scratching their heads when the team named Ryan Fitzpatrick the starter in week 1. Josh Rosen clearly outplayed the veteran journeyman throughout the entire preseason. So why would the Miami Dolphins name Fitzpatrick the starter. Tunsil was supposed to be their cornerstone lineman for years to come. Still the team was in the same position they’d always been. No matter how good Tunsil is, 2-3 good lineman isn’t enough to run a good football team. A three trades later and the Dolphins finally have some depth.

Losing Tunsil wouldn’t have changed the fact they already traded for these players and already acquired depth. Looking at the bigger picture, they might have been slow playing their hand. Sure they lost Tunsil and Stills but essentially they moved two late round picks, to a first and a second round pick and acquired depth along the way on top of not losing their 10+ draft picks next year to do so. Now, they’ll have two first and two second round picks for the next two seasons to go with the cap space they’ll save on not paying Tunsil and Stills.

Again, maybe that was the plan all along. The Dolphins name the seasoned vet the starter. Then spend cut day acquiring depth along the offensive line that needs a revamp. Since a true offensive line takes some time to gel, maybe the Dolphins went with Fitzpatrick’s experience to help them coast while the offensive line comes together.

Oddly enough, it takes roughly 4-5 weeks for a line to learn their assignments and excel. The Dolphins have their bye week conveniently right around the same time. Fitzpatrick’s experience outweighs Rosen’s success while the team faces their roughest stretch and growth period.

The Miami Dolphins got something for their stars before they lost their value. Maybe Brian Flores learned something from Bill Bellichick after all.