Miami Dolphins did the right thing by trading Kenyan Drake

Kenyan Drake will not play again for the Miami Dolphins and while some fans are not happy with the compensation, it was the right move for the Dolphins.

The Miami Dolphins received a conditional sixth-round draft pick for Kenyan Drake. That could move up to the fifth-round if Drake meets certain criteria that were laid out in the trade, parameters that we are not certain of.

Fans have not been thrilled with the trade of Drake citing the opinion that Miami could have simply kept him on the roster this year and let him leave via free agency. Their point of contention is that trading Drake is the final phone in on the season.

There are several facts that are being missed here. First and foremost, the Dolphins are not playing Drake regardless of whether he is on the roster or not. Drake has been passed over by Kalen Ballage and then by Mark Walton. With Drake now gone, we likely will start to see more of Patrick Laird or Myles Gaskin who has been inactive.

That is reason number one that the trade works for the Dolphins. Drake wasn’t going to get much in compensation because he hasn’t really had a chance to show what he can do consistently since 2017. Number two on this list of reasons is that Miami would not receive a compensatory pick for Drake.

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If Miami had kept him, Drake would have left via free agency and the Dolphins are expected and have said that they will be big players in free agency next off-season. That is calculated in the compensatory calculations. In this case, Drake would have left and Miami would have received nothing in return.

Forget about the “rebuild” that the Dolphins are doing. This is the new Miami Dolphins. Players that no longer are valued and won’t return a potential comp pick will be dangled in trades. This was the case with Drake today.

The fact that Miami got anything for Drake is surprising. He is in the final year of his contract and he was not in the long-term plans for the team’s future.

The trade deadline is tomorrow and the Dolphins may not be done. While there are a couple of other players that could be moved, the likelihood is pretty slim at this point. Miami may very well be done for the year.

Maybe.