The Ryan Tannehill experiment in Miami finally came to a close this offseason, but the Dolphins reportedly attempted to fast-track the process ahead of the 2018 campaign.
The Dolphins, who’ve been a mess at quarterback over the past decade-plus, looked into Matthew Stafford as the potential solution to their issue at the position, according to the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero. While it appears a Stafford deal never came close to being considered serious, then-Dolphins coach Adam Gase reportedly led the charge.
“Gase, in fact, reached out personally to Lions coach Matt Patricia to try to pry Stafford from the Lions,” Salguero wrote Tuesday. “Gase and Patricia are friends and the Lions coach was new to the Lions at the time and considering all options on how to improve his team.
“Although it’s not believed the talks reached a point where the Dolphins were asked what they were willing to give for Stafford, it is believed Gase would have offered at minimum Miami’s 2018 first-round pick and probably more. Patricia, obviously recognizing Stafford’s value to the Lions, told Gase he was not willing to move on from the quarterback at that point, per sources.”
In hindsight, it’s probably for the best Miami didn’t aggressively pursue a trade for Stafford. The franchise looks to be heading into a full-fledged rebuild, and Stafford’s price tag only would have stalled those efforts. The Dolphins used their first-round pick last year on Minkah Fitzpatrick, who’s poised to be a staple in the team’s defense for years to come. Losing out on a promising player for a slightly above-average QB would have been detrimental to the Fins, who also would have taken on a player with an expensive contract (Stafford signed a five-year, $135 million extension in August 2017).
Quite a bit has changed since these reported Dolphins-Lions trade talks. Tannehill now is Marcus Mariota’s backup in Tennessee, while Gase quickly was hired as head coach of the New York Jets after being axed from the same job he held in South Beach. Miami likely will address the QB position in this spring’s draft, and Detroit will march on with Stafford under center as it enters its second season under Patricia’s watch.
