Bill Barnwell: Trading deadline possibilities

[gafin]

One of the disappointing things about covering the NFL as opposed to one of the other major professional sports is the lack of in-season trades. Baseball, basketball, and hockey all have active trade deadlines with months of rumors leading up to a flurry of swaps, and it’s a ton of fun. In football, obviously, there are a variety of reasons those trades are less likely to happen: An earlier trade deadline (relative to the length of the season), punitive salary-cap rules, higher attrition rate, and the longer period of time needed to learn a football team’s playbook all contribute to making big trades in the NFL an offseason pursuit.

Because of that, as fun as they are to think about, I don’t write very many articles during the season about NFL trade possibilities. After Friday’s Percy Harvin trade, though, I’m opening up the floodgates.

There are a number of situations similar to the one Harvin was in with the Seahawks. Harvin was a recently acquired talent who had struggled to make the impact his team had expected, and his contract represented a future financial burden the Seahawks were happier to unload than they were to pay. There are many players like that around the league, and while some of them would be tough to deal, others would basically be out the door in a heartbeat under the right circumstances. I don’t know that any of them actually will be traded by October 28, when the NFL’s trade window shuts for the remainder of the season, but it’s a group of guys who might at least muster some consideration as possible Harvin-ing candidates

Mike Wallace, Miami Dolphins

The largest cap hit for any receiver is $17,250,000, and it belongs to Wallace, whom the Dolphins acquired in the Last Days of Ireland. Now-deposed Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland gave Wallace a five-year, $60 million contract during the 2012 offseason, guaranteeing him $30 million but presenting a structure that made sense for the Dolphins in the short term. Wallace’s contract had a cap hit of just $3.25 million in 2013 before loading up a massive raise in 2014 to $17.25 million, thanks to a leap of $14 million in base salary. That’s nice.

Wallace hasn’t been the same guy in Miami that he once looked like in Pittsburgh. While he did catch a key touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill in Sunday’s victory over the Bears, he has struggled to get on the same page with the former Texas A&M star during his time in Florida. Wallace’s line in Miami, prorated to a 16-game season, has him catching 75 passes for 937 yards and seven touchdowns. That’s functional, but hardly worth the highest positional cap hit in football.

The Dolphins will have to consider getting out of Wallace’s contract as early as 2015, a move that would be made easier if Jarvis Landry continues to show flashes of being a viable future weapon in the Miami offense. Just $3 million of Wallace’s base salary is guaranteed after this season, and if the Dolphins traded Wallace before the trade deadline or during the 2015 offseason, they would save $3.3 million on their 2015 cap and be free of the contract afterward.

It would be a hefty bag of cash for another team to pony up, at least in the short term. A trade would require the acquiring team to pay $8.9 million in base salary to Wallace over the remainder of the season, a figure that would come off Miami’s cap. After that, though, Wallace would have a relatively friendly deal, with a three-year, $32.8 million contract that had just the $3 million in 2015 guaranteed. A lot of teams could find that sort of cash for a 28-year-old who was one of the best deep threats in football with a better quarterback.

Because of that hefty base salary in 2014, though, a Wallace move would almost surely have to wait until the offseason.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nfl-trading-deadline-who-is-the-next-percy-harvin/


I don't think there is much chance we trade Wallace.

 

[FinsOnTop]

What is this guy talking about? He projects Wallace to have 7 TDs over 16 games? What kind of math is this? He has 5 TDs now in less than half the season. Moron.

 

[Dolfan23]

What is this guy talking about? He projects Wallace to have 7 TDs over 16 games? What kind of math is this? He has 5 TDs now in less than half the season. Moron.

That's typical Grantland nonsense. I can count on one hand the number of factual articles they've put out. I don't read much from them on football but we regularly have their articles posted on my basketball forums and our stats guys and salary cap experts have a field day with them.

 

[Spiff]

Hardline gets traded before Wallace will. Not saying it will happen but there's zero chance we trade Mike Wallace this season.

 

[DolphinzD]

I pretty much only visit Grantland for entertainment purposes.

 

[MRojas4]

Wallace is balling, Clay is finally waking up and Landry is up and coming.

Gibson and Hartline are the ones on notice.

 

[Dolfan23]

Wallace is balling, Clay is finally waking up and Landry is up and coming.

Gibson and Hartline are the ones on notice.

Funny in that Gibson is probably our best red zone WR and Hartline is easily our most consistent route runner with arguably the best hands. I don't want them on notice at all. I want them healthy and contributing along with the other guys. That type of depth and flexibility can make our receiving group absolutely deadly.

 

[phinman1]

Do yourself a favor and skip over anything this clown writes up.

 

[MRojas4]

Funny in that Gibson is probably our best red zone WR and Hartline is easily our most consistent route runner with arguably the best hands. I don't want them on notice at all. I want them healthy and contributing along with the other guys. That type of depth and flexibility can make our receiving group absolutely deadly.

Highly doubt anyone gets traded.

But cap hits next year could make for a interesting off season regarding both players.

 

[Dolfan23]

Highly doubt anyone gets traded.

But cap hits next year could make for a interesting off season regarding both players.

No doubt we're gonna have to do something. If Gibson doesn't regain his health then I'd assume he's gone, although usually guys are back to 100% after a full year removed from ACL surgery so I'd expect he'll be good in 2015.

 

[datruth55]

Yeah the TD against the Bears definitely shows that Tannehill and Wallace are not on the same page. Tannehill threw the pass before Wallace even made his break back to the corner. I think we can kill the noise of "not on the same page" anymore. I was guilty of it early this season but the two are connecting a lot and Tannehill looks for him in the red zone primarily...and Wallace is on pace for 13 TDs...not sure where he got 7.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:48 PM ----------

No doubt we're gonna have to do something. If Gibson doesn't regain his health then I'd assume he's gone, although usually guys are back to 100% after a full year removed from ACL surgery so I'd expect he'll be good in 2015.

Hartline is gone. We either save $700K or $2.1 million by releasing him...not exactly sure how the accelerated bonuses work when you cut someone.

 

[Dolfan23]

Yeah the TD against the Bears definitely shows that Tannehill and Wallace are not on the same page. Tannehill threw the pass before Wallace even made his break back to the corner. I think we can kill the noise of "not on the same page" anymore. I was guilty of it early this season but the two are connecting a lot and Tannehill looks for him in the red zone primarily...and Wallace is on pace for 13 TDs...not sure where he got 7.

---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:48 PM ----------



Hartline is gone. We either save $700K or $2.1 million by releasing him...not exactly sure how the accelerated bonuses work when you cut someone.

It's possible but I wouldn't count on it. He's a Philbin guy and still one of, if not the favorite target of Ryan.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Wallace has caught 5 TD's in 6 games but "pro-rated' to only catch 2 more TD's in 11 more games.

Gotta hand it to him, at least the guy is quite clever... by not proving a comment section on his articles.

 

[MexDolfan]

I understand the nature of this thread, by pointing potential last-minute trades.
But I don't see Dennis Hickey touching the current members of our receiving corps.
In fact, our lack of depth makes hard to picture a trade involving Dolphins' players.

On the other side, I think Dennis could go for a RB or a LB, obviously at right price.

 

[datruth55]

It's possible but I wouldn't count on it. He's a Philbin guy and still one of, if not the favorite target of Ryan.

He's not a Philbin guy...where do you get that? He was drafted in 2009, well before Philbin got here. He was made the starter because we had no one else. I wanted him to stick around because he was the only WR we had that had excellent chemistry with Tannehill but that's no longer the case. Tannehill has chemistry with the other receivers and Hartline's limitations in this offense is hurting the overall production. Hartline is the 4th leading receivers on this team now...Wallace, Landry and Clay are in front of him and he only has 2 more catches than Miller. His 10.3 ypc average is also tied for 7th on the team.

I'm pretty sure Hickey gets rid of Hartline and by evidence of Hickey's moves on the practice squad he wants someone with size and a large catch radius. Hartline's our tallest receiver and he plays like our smallest.