The Miami Dolphins are trying to trade the wrong player.
Jalen Ramsey is likely gone, as someone will give the Dolphins close to what they want, but the better play, the smarter play, would be to trade Tyreek Hill.
As good as Hill is as a football player, he isn't a leader on this team. Not anymore. There are a few in the Miami media who see his work ethic and his play as leading by example. That may have been the case prior to Week 18, but it all went out the window the second he walked off the field. The window closed when he spoke to the media, and no matter what Terron Armstead said to him on the team bus, he can't be counted on to lead by example.
During Tuesday's press conference, Chris Grier said the Dolphins are not shopping Hill and that no one has called about him. That's not surprising.
The Dolphins should be making calls to trade him. They are quietly imploding the roster as it is, so why not move another piece who won't be around beyond 2025? As good as Hill is on the field, the Dolphins don't need the distractions or the worry about what he will do next.
Trading Tyreek Hill could make Tua Tagovailoa a better quarterback
It's not a popular opinion because anything positive you say about Tua Tagovailoa results in a dozen or more fans telling you that you're wrong. In this case, however, it might be true.
Tua is a two-read quarterback unless he can move around the pocket and find another receiver, but more often than not, he reads Tyreek and Jaylen Waddle and then dumps the ball off to his running back. If Hill isn't his first read, he may have more time to make a tertiary read before dumping the ball.
RELATED: Dolphins (probably) just revealed their true feelings about Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa doesn't just look to see if Hill is open; he spends a second or two seeing if he will get open. Then he checks on Waddle. Without Hill, he doesn't have to pay an extra second waiting to see if he is going to get open. He can look at Waddle, his slot receiver, and maybe even his tight end. Unless a play is designed to go to a TE, he doesn't typically get to that read.
If losing Hill increases Tua's read time, again, because he isn't more focused on Hill initially, he should be able to get three reads before the dump, which opens the offense. It gives Mike McDaniel more options in his playbook.
The Dolphins' offense is built too much around Hill, and the Dolphins are not going to win when he is the primary receiver. They tend to play more balanced when they are not using Hill as the first look. With Jaylen Waddle's speed to stretch the field and pull coverage, the Dolphins still have the deep ball option, and the addition of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine will also help.