Andre Branch healthy but could he be a trade option?
By Brian Miller
When the Miami Dolphins take the field in 2018 for the regular season Andre Branch could have a big year in front of him or he could be traded.
Andre Branch is in a way a forgotten man on the football field. His 2017 season wasn’t very good as he battled with nagging injuries most of the season and because of that he didn’t come close to the big extension he signed at the onset of free agency in 2017. Now healthy, Branch could be a force in 2018 if he stays on the roster.
On Saturday Branch had a sack during the teams scrimmage but it is his quiet yet productive training camp that his him trending northward.
The biggest problem for Branch in terms of visual inspection is rep counts. The Dolphins are rotating all of their defensive ends and expect to do the same during the regular season to present different looks and create better mismatches with offensive schemes and formations. Branch is part of that rotation and that keeps him out of the spotlight.
This isn’t to say Branch wants to stay out of the spotlight. It doesn’t really work like that. He wants to be at a higher level than he was in 2016 when the Dolphins felt he was a player they needed to retain. Last year was just a bit more, nagging. Adam Gase spoke about Branch after the scrimmage.
"(Does DE Andre Branch look a little different to you now that he’s healthy this year? Has he regained maybe what he was missing with the issue last year?) – “For him, he tried all season to fight through that and he gave us everything he had. His numbers, he had one less sack. Really, where he struggled last year was … He made a lot of plays that were away from him down the field with extra effort. Last year it was hard for him to get that burst that he showed the year before. I think now that he’s healthy, we see it in practice every day. There’s eight guys rotating in there with that first group. When those guys are fresh, it doesn’t matter who’s out there, they’re tough to block.” – MiamiDolphins.com"
The Dolphins are hoping that Branch will return to that form but there are some in the social media world that speculate the potential trade of one of the teams defensive ends. While it’s only speculation it makes some sense.
The Dolphins for all intent and purpose are rotating six players around the DE position. Two of the eight players mentioned by Adam Gase are not likely to make the team. This leaves Cameron Wake, Robert Quinn, William Hayes, Cameron Malveux, Branch, and Charles Harris as the main players rotating.
If the Dolphins opt to trade one of their defensive ends before final cuts, Branch is the mostly likely one to go. Cameron Malveux is showing a lot of potential but has no trade value. The others are on new deals or in the case of Harris a rookie deal.
Branch however is the Dolphins second highest cap number in 2018. He is scheduled to count $10 million against the teams cap this year. If he is traded, the Dolphins will recover $8 million of that number eating the other two million.
To be clear it’s simple chatter but if the Dolphins need to make any moves that require cap space, Branch could be the first one they look at moving on from. It also bears mentioning that releasing Branch is not an option because it carries a dead cap hit of $9.9 million. And Branch is practicing well, so that shouldn’t be a consideration anyways.