Dolphins shopping for trade at owners meeting with little ammo

The Miami Dolphins have a contingent of players at the owners meetings in Orlando, Fl. and trades seem to be a topic of conversation.

According to Armano Salguero the Dolphins are open to trades and are looking to potentially adding a tight-end, linebacker, and/or running back. Salguero says a team source tells him nothing is imminent but that Miami is hoping to shore up some spot prior to the draft.

The question is what does Miami have to offer?

The Miami Dolphins don’t have much to offer another team in a trade. The players they have on the roster are either cap restrictive or simply average at best. Neither make for good trading bedfellows. That doesn’t appear to be a reason to not look.

Salguero points out that one player who could be moved is Andre Branch. It is more an opinion of his than any real fact. He uses the depth at the position as well as the cap hit that Branch is giving Miami.

Depth at defensive end is good and if that were the only hang-up then I might be more inclined to believe Branch could go. The problem is that Branch is another mistake for Mike Tannenbaum. The contract is not team friendly this year. Miami would save $6 million if he were traded but would eat $4 million. Not that it really matters considering the amount of dead money Miami has this year.

While Branch would seem logical there is not much else to work with unless the Dolphins are using draft picks. Linebackers, offensive lineman, tight-ends, running back, quarterback, defensive line, are all either extremely thin, lack quality trade options, or are young and expected to be part of this change over.

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Three players stand out as having viable potential in a trade. T.J. McDonald, DeVante Parker, and Ja’Wuan James. James has been at the forefront of a lot of trade talk but the Dolphins are keeping him at just over $9 million on his 5th year option. He could still be traded.

McDonald isn’t likely going to be traded as the Dolphins really like him. DeVante Parker should be traded or at least considered but Miami is hoping that he can turn it around, something they have said for two seasons now.

That brings us back to draft picks. The Dolphins have a couple of picks to work with and if they believe the quality of the player they can get with a draft pick is more valuable than the player they would select with that pick, then it is possible that they could move it. It seems Mike Tannenbaum loves to make big trades. In that regard anything is possible.

For now the Dolphins should only be discussing draft picks as it relates to swapping picks in rounds instead of outright moving the draft pick. Then again, what they should be doing and what they can do are two different things.