Miami Dolphins Chris Grier being smart with buying draft picks

The Miami Dolphins appeared close to trading DE Robert Quinn but the visits to Dallas and New Orleans provided nothing but Chris Grier is still trying to buy picks.

With free agency in the rearview mirror and the 2019 NFL Draft sitting less than five weeks away, Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier appears to be taking a novel approach to building his draft capital. He is trying to buy draft picks.

When the Dolphins traded Ryan Tannehill to the Titans for a 4th round pick and a few throw-in late round selections, they offered the to pay $5 million of Tannehill’s contract. When the Dolphins began talking to the Cowboys about Robert Quinn, they discussed paying some of his remaining $11 million.

Personally, I love this approach and while the draft pick compensation so far remains in 2020, I am all in buying and selling cap space for draft capital. If it works we can expect other teams to start doing the same until the NFL puts their foot down and stops it.

Some in the mainstream media have criticized the approach but it is very safe to say that had Bill Belichick taken this approach he would be heralded as genius. My question is why are more teams not doing this?

With an owner like Stephen Ross who is willing to spend money, dead cap space has not been a problem. Think of it this way. If the Dolphins have. say, $50 million in cap space and only a portion carries over to the following year why not trade the additional space to a team who may not have as much for a future draft pick?

A player has to be involved to make it work. The Dolphins would need a player that is traceable and then absorb their salary by guaranteeing that portion in a way the other team is not responsible for. It’s a simple contract restructure and the more the Dolphins eat the higher the draft pick.

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For now the Dolphins have only done this with Ryan Tannehill and perhaps have attempted to do it with Quinn. It could however be a bit of a trend. In fact it should be. The Dolphins should look to trade players that they no longer want instead of outright releasing them and follow that model of selling off the contract space for a draft pick.

Granted it won’t always work and other teams are hesitant to dive in completely right now but it is a potential trend that could develop down the road into something more in line with actually selling cap space to other teams for draft picks without having to have a player involved. Imagine an NFL where a team that is cap strapped to the dime can buy $10 million in space from another team for say a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick? Or maybe a first.

It would definitely be an interesting proposal.