The Denver Broncos are getting set for training camp just like the rest of the teams in the NFL, and general manager George Paton has plenty of work yet to be done. Although the primary moves yet to be made will be final roster cuts and perhaps a veteran addition or two, there’s always a chance that the Broncos could strike a trade with another team.
We’ll have to wait and see to find out just how much George Paton likes to wheel and deal as camp and preseason games progress.
Trades are much rarer in the NFL than they are in pro baseball or basketball or really any other sport because an NFL playbook is not something so easily digested. Of course, football is football, but at the end of the day, chemistry and cohesiveness matter in the league, and understanding a massive playbook — essentially memorizing a new language in a matter of weeks — makes trades at this point in the year fewer and further in between.
With that being said, the NFL is all about relationships and who you know, and when you have strong connections between two front offices or coaching staffs, deals are easier to consummate. Players become less of a fit with their current organization, they have contractual disputes, or young players come up through the ranks ready to take on bigger roles.
With all of that in mind, the Denver Broncos have some strong ties to the Miami Dolphins.
GM George Paton has great ties to Dolphins GM Chris Grier from their time working with the Dolphins together in the early 2000s where Paton was the Director of Pro Personnel.
Since Paton and Grier have gone separate ways — Grier staying in Miami and Paton moving on to be Rick Spielman’s no. 2 in Minnesota — the two have made or been part of some pretty massive trades. Some of the most notable include the Dolphins’ trade of Laremy Tunsil to the Houston Texans and the Vikings‘ trade of Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills.
Could these two strike up something really big before the start of the 2021 season?
Again, nothing is guaranteed or even likely to happen, but the options to consider are fun.
How might the relationship between Grier and Paton come together in the form of a training camp or preseason trade? Here are some options.
Denver Broncos trade possibilities with Miami Dolphins
1. A blockbuster for CB Xavien Howard
The Miami Dolphins got star cornerback Xavien Howard signed to a very team-friendly five-year contract extension in 2019. After picking off 10 passes this past year, Howard wants to re-do the deal and the Dolphins aren’t exactly chomping at the bit to get back to the negotiating table.
MINI-THREAD: 1) Excited about my new @WashingtonNFL contributor gig; since I still work for @nflnetwork, some journalism: There's a lot of trade chatter concerning Dolphins All-Pro CB Xavien Howard, who led the NFL with 10 interceptions in 2020 & is unhappy with his contract...
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) July 14, 2021
The Denver Broncos don’t seem to be a team that would be in the thick of the Xavien Howard trade chatter for obvious reasons. This team is absolutely loaded at cornerback and has just used its primary assets in free agency and the NFL Draft to address that area.
With that said, the Broncos have two of their top four cornerbacks — former Chicago Bears Kyle Fuller and Bryce Callahan — on the final year of their respective contracts. In Fuller’s case, it’s the only year.
It’s likely the Broncos will opt to simply stick with what they’ve got at the position, but you never know if Paton will ask Grier what he wants for Howard, one of the league’s premier players at his position.
The Broncos could offer one of Fuller or Callahan plus draft picks to the Dolphins and have that position solidified for many years to come as opposed to potentially having to re-visit after this season, depending on what Denver does long-term with Michael Ojemudia.
The Dolphins have Byron Jones, Justin Coleman, and former first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene at corner even without Howard, so having one of the Broncos’ guys for a year plus another high couple of picks in the 2022 NFL Draft would be a solid deal from their perspective.
2. Dolphins get RB help in the form of Royce Freeman
The Miami Dolphins’ depth chart at the running back position doesn’t look great heading into 2021 training camp.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
Their current top three at the position:
- Myles Gaskin
- Malcolm Brown
- Gerrid Doaks (rookie 7th-round pick)
Gaskin put forth a solid 972 yards from scrimmage last season while Brown had 581 yards from scrimmage with the Los Angeles Rams. Together, those two seem like much more of an ideal RB2 and RB3 on a team than RB1 and RB2, but the Dolphins apparently aren’t overly concerned about it.
The Broncos sniped Javonte Williams from Miami in the 2021 NFL Draft and perhaps they can now do them a solid by trading them Royce Freeman.
Freeman could have other suitors like the Los Angeles Rams, but one injury to that Dolphins group and they are going to be in some hot water.
Getting Freeman as a one-year rental in hopes that he can rebound and reach his full potential is a nice buy-low opportunity for a team like Miami with poor depth at the position, at least on paper.
3. Dolphins make a play for Lloyd Cushenbarry III
The Denver Broncos just got Lloyd Cushenberry III in the 2020 NFL Draft, but they are already bringing him in a young challenger for his starting job.
Quinn Meinerz was selected as a guard/center in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and there is strong thought that he is going to come in and take Cushenberry’s job.
Cushenberry certainly isn’t going to go down without a fight, but if it’s clear that Meinerz is ready for the job, the Dolphins would probably love to buy a little low on a potential starting option like Cushenberry.
Miami signed Matt Skura this past offseason to a one-year deal with $400,000 guaranteed. They hardly paid him starting money and a player like Cushenberry would be arguably the final piece to their offensive line rebuild which includes 2020 first-round pick Austin Jackson, second-round pick Robert Hunt, and fourth-round pick Solomon Kindley. They also have 2021 second-round pick Liam Eichenberg in the mix at guard.
Cushenberry is a true center so unless the Dolphins wanted to experiment, he’s pretty strictly going to play that position.
If they could get him for a mid-round pick like they did last year for Lynn Bowden Jr., they’d probably love to do something like that and take the risk that Cushenberry can develop over the next three years of his contract life.
4. Broncos get some TE help in the form of Adam Shaheen or Durham Smythe
If I have said it once this offseason, I have probably said it about a thousand times.
The Denver Broncos need some more help at the tight end position.
Whether that comes via an in-house option like Eric Saubert or undrafted free agent Shaun Beyer remains to be seen. Those guys could seize a TE3 role for the Broncos but with Noah Fant expected to be the obvious TE1 and Albert Okwuegbunam coming off of a season-ending knee injury, depth will be necessary.
The Dolphins as it turns out have some pretty solid depth at the tight end position, depth they added another third-round pick to in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Led by Mike Gesicki, the Dolphins already had a pretty solid trio at tight end with backups Durham Smythe and Adam Shaheen prior to the arrival of Boston College tight end Hunter Long.
One of Shaheen or Smythe, capable of playing a TE2 role if need be and really replacing Nick Vannett as the more traditional “Y” tight end in the Denver Broncos’ offense, would be a nice move for George Paton.
It’s not likely either guy would cost all that much to acquire, and neither player is going to count much against the 2021 salary cap.
This type of move, whether for a draft pick or fellow back-end roster player, would be shrewd from George Paton.
5. A surprise trade for WR Jakeem Grant or Albert Wilson
When I was initially putting this list together, the obvious area of the Dolphins’ roster that teams will be scouring when it comes to waiver pickups or trades is at the wide receiver spot.
They just used a first-round pick on Jaylen Waddle and they already had former first-round pick DeVante Parker as well as former first-rounder and free agent acquisition Wil Fuller on the team. Add in other guys like 2020 trade pickup Lynn Bowden Jr., big man Preston Williams, versatile Malcolm Perry, and a variety of other guys and you have yourself more 53-man roster caliber players than you do roster spots.
The Denver Broncos are also in somewhat the same boat with 14 receivers under contract and probably just seven spots (at most) on the 53-man roster to work with.
One of the Broncos’ potential cap casualties right now is return man Diontae Spencer, who has been with the team since 2019 and has carved out a nice role for himself as the primary return man.
Unfortunately, it has not expanded beyond that. The Broncos probably don’t have the roster space this season to keep Spencer if he cannot prove himself to be a valuable asset offensively.
One player who would probably be an upgrade in the return game, as well as offensively, would be Miami’s Jakeem Grant, who has five return touchdowns in five NFL seasons along with six touchdowns as an offensive weapon.
Trading for Grant would allow the Broncos to comfortably move on from Spencer as well as reserve another roster spot elsewhere.
Denver Broncos: Players on the chopping block at each position
The Denver Broncos will have plenty of difficult roster decisions to make in 2021. Which players are on the chopping block at each position group?
Albert Wilson didn’t play in 2020 and would be another fun veteran pickup as WR5 to a very young offensive lineup. He has big-time speed and is just over $2 million in base salary.