The Miami Dolphins tried to pull a fast one, saying they’d move up to draft an offensive tackle. Well, they exposed themselves and will now go quarterback.
The Miami Dolphins are expected to trade up from No. 5 in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Miami has the draft capital to move up as high as No. 1 if they put together the right offer for the Cincinnati Bengals. It was largely inferred that the Dolphins tried to make a deal for No. 1 with the Bengals, but Cincinnati won’t bite at an offer. They are so set on taking LSU Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow No. 1, they cannot be swayed, not even by the Dolphins.
While The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday afternoon Miami would be moving up to not draft a quarterback, but an offensive tackle, that looks to have been refuted by what ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted out on Thursday morning. Simply put, Schefter’s tweet blows Miami’s cover. They used Rapoport’s reporting as a smoke screen; they’re going quarterback.
Schefter reports, “Over the last couple of weeks, the Dolphins called the Bengals on more than one occasion to see if Cincinnati would be willing to trade the No. 1 overall pick. The Dolphins were told, in no uncertain terms, no. Cincinnati would not trade the pick and would stay put at No. 1.”
If the Dolphins were to move up from No. 5 to No. 3 in a deal with the Lions, sure, they could have gone with the best offensive tackle prospect in the draft, as Cincinnati would go Burrow at No. 1 and the Washington Redskins would select Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Chase Young at No. 2.
Even if the Dolphins were to trade up with Washington at the No. 2 spot, there would be a pathway they wouldn’t draft a quarterback. They could take Young right out from under the Redskins or take the best offensive tackle prospect at No. 2 because Cincinnati is unwavering on its opinion of Burrow.
With Schefter’s reporting, there is no denying what Miami’s draft plans are. You do not call the Bengals multiple times for their No. 1 overall pick if you’re not taking a quarterback. Whether it is to draft Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa or even draft Burrow remains to be seen. Simply put, you do not trade up to No. 1 unless you are drafting a quarterback under any circumstance.
While there will be teams possibly looking at moving up for an offensive tackle, we can rule the Dolphins out of that for now. They’ve been exposed by Schefter’s tweet. Miami will draft a quarterback in the top five like they should have all along. But if they still trade up and draft an offensive tackle out of spite, the Dolphins deserve to be ridiculed for their draft maneuvering.