Brandon Marshall Deal Makes Sense, Cents for Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins might not have gotten a huge return by trading Brandon Marshall to the Chicago Bears, but the trade was still a good move.

True, the Dolphins' compensation of two third-round draft picks does not look like much at first glance.  After all, only two years ago, Miami traded two second-round draft picks to Denver in order to get Marshall.

But while Miami's return is not as high as its buying price, the end result of the Marshall era is that Miami got Marshall's 2,228 yards and nine touchdown receptions in exchange for moving down from the second to the third rounds in two drafts. 

Not bad.

Of course, Miami could have conceivably traded Marshall for about the same price in a year or two, after banking even more production along the way.  But draft picks are not the only thing Miami got out of this deal.

The most recent reports indicate that Miami cleared about $6 million of salary cap space by trading Marshall.  That means that in essence, Miami traded Marshall for not only two third-round draft picks, but also whoever they sign in free agency with that $6 million.

If the Dolphins use that money on a top-flight right tackle or safety, the swap would be a net benefit for the Dolphins, who have a couple of other decent receivers but gaping holes elsewhere on the roster.  There's also the possibility that Miami could clear more cap money to offset the loss of Marshall by signing one of this year's plentiful crop of free-agent wide receivers.

Critics of the trade might argue that Miami is a worse football team today than it was yesterday as a result.  There is truth to that. 

The longer-term view, though, is that they don't play football games in March.  Trading Marshall allows the new Dolphins regime to replace him with a set of players that fits their vision.  It helps rid the locker room of one loose cannon receiver, which might just make the team look a bit more enticing to a free-agent quarterback who seeks to avoid drama.

Marshall was a weapon at wide receiver, but Peyton Manning could not have been enticed by the prospect of Marshall yelling at him for throwing to a receiver who was actually open instead of throwing Marshall a jump ball.  If that sounds an unlikely scenario, remember that Marshall did just that to Chad Henne.

Remember that Matt Flynn was probably watching two years ago when Marshall, frustrated with his lack of touches against Chicago, drew a 15 yard penalty—for the second consecutive week—for throwing the ball to the sideline in a nationally broadcast Thursday night game.

It would be understandable if Flynn might have been hesitant to become part of that circus.

None of this is to knock Marshall.  He was a good, if not great player in Miami for two years.  The Dolphins won more games with him than they would have without him the past two years.  He appears to be on the path to putting his personal problems behind him and will probably excel in Chicago, reunited with his buddy Jay Cutler.

Still, the argument that this trade somehow set Miami back beyond repair is off-base.

The Dolphins are unlikely to get a player of Marshall's caliber with either of their two new third-round picks, but if the Dolphins cap flexibility allows them to combine those picks with a quality free agent at another position, this deal suddenly will not look so bad. 

And if the absence of a distraction at wide receiver make the difference in the Dolphins acquiring a premier free agent quarterback, the move will have been downright brilliant.