Why the Waddle Whispers Don't Add Up

With the Miami Dolphins' 2025 season already a mess and the NFL Trade Deadline now a little less than three weeks away, it figures that we're hearing about all their potential players who could be on the move?

But Jaylen Waddle?

Really?

Sure enough, check out X on Thursday morning and you will see his name trending, all started with reports about the New York Giants looking to acquire a wide receiver after losing star Malik Nabers to a knee injury, and Waddle being included as a potential target.

It's a trade idea that certainly would make sense for the Giants to give them an offensive playmaker for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.

But does it make sense for the Dolphins?

Any sense at all?

WHY WADDLE SHOULDN'T BE IN PLAY FOR A TRADE

The Dolphins have a handful of players who are logical candidates to be traded based on any combination of salary-cap implications, contract, performance, age, positional needs, fit for the future, what have you.

There really isn't any area where Waddle checks a box suggesting the Dolphins should make an effort to trade him.

Bradley Chubb is expensive, getting older and not having a great season (despite his four sacks). Jaelan Phillips is playing on his fifth-year option and the Dolphins might not want to give him an extension. Rasul Douglas is on a one-year contract and older, therefore not a long-term solution. Even Jaylen Wright has been mentioned, the idea there being that the Dolphins aren't using him anyway and could recoup a draft pick for him.

Maybe even De'Von Achane could be in play if the Dolphins decide that the combination of his likely desire for a new (and lucrative) contract next offseason and his market value never being higher than it is right now.

But Waddle?

It just doesn't add up.

And you can start with the idea that however the Dolphins shake up the organization following what has the makings of a dreadful season, they'll still need some kind of nucleus to start over and move forward, and when he celebrates his birthday next month Waddle still will turn only 27.

Better, Waddle's contract is very team-friendly when it comes to the salary cap.

His cap number for 2025, per Over The Cap, is only $8 million and it jumps to a still-very-modest $11.7 million in 2026.

That cap number jumps into the 30s starting in 2027, but that's also when his guarantees expire, therefore his deal can be renegotiated or the Dolphins can move on from him with very little cap consequences at that time.

For a player of Waddle's caliber, that's a very good deal for the Dolphins.

So what's the point of getting rid of a player who's at worst a high-end No. 2 wide receiver, if not a mid- or low-level number 1?

The idea of moving players in a rebuilding project is to accumulate draft capital and cap space but not at the cost of losing good players who can help in the future.

And that's what Waddle is.

Of course, as is the case with any player, the Dolphins would be foolish not to consider offers if a team is willing to make an offer the team can't refuse, like the Houston Texans did with Laremy Tunsil in 2019, but they still should be reluctant to move Waddle.

So just remember that when you keep hearing Waddle rumors because they'll mostly be coming from the other side.

The Dolphins should be looking to move some players at the trade deadline if things stay the painful course, but they also should be judicious in their choices. And moving Waddle, barring a fabulous offer, just doesn't compute.

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