Miami Dolphins: Worst trade with the Denver Broncos
By Brian Miller
In 1992, the Miami Dolphins made a trade with Denver that was bad for both teams.
Sometimes you can look at a trade as both good and bad and in 1992 a trade between the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos was exactly that.
To say that either team won this debacle would make you laugh but to say either of them lost would be just as funny. In fact, it is probably one of the best and worst trades of all-time for either team simply because it both situations were almost identical and finished identical as well.
The Miami Dolphins needed a change a running back. They had spent a first-round pick, 9th overall, on Sammie Smith in 1989 and it wasn’t working. Smith had 1,787 yards as a Dolphins runner in his three seasons with Miami but he was no longer considered a project and Miami needed to move on.
Meanwhile in Denver, the Broncos had spent a first-round pick, 3rd overall, on highly-touted runner Bobby Humphrey. In his three seasons with the Broncos, Humphrey ran for 2,386 yards and 14 touchdowns. Humphrey however had fallen out of favor in Denver and the Broncos wanted to move on as quickly as possible.
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In what is considered a rarity in the NFL, the two teams literally swapped running backs and nothing else. Sammie Smith was now a Bronco and Humphrey was now in Miami.
Humphrey would play only one season more in the NFL and the change of scenery did nothing to help his career or motivate him. He ran for 471 yards and one touchdown starting only one game that season in Miami.
In Denver, they didn’t fare much better. Smith rushed for only 94 yards and no touchdowns in his final NFL season. The fact that this could be considered a “best” trade is simply in the fact it cost Miami nothing to obtain Humphrey but the fact that both teams missed big time on their first-round draft picks in 1989 is the real problem here.