Trade reveals what’s coming

DAVIE — It’s the toughest job in sports, being a NFL coach, considering the involved strategy, bulky roster management and violent careers that demand players make a money grab when they’re able to make a money grab.

The Dolphins have the right guy, too, for the first time in years. Adam Gase is there to be second-guessed this year. But he’s smart. He has strategic vision. He has communication skills, teaching talent and the ability to learn on the job. He also has one more thing right now. He has a problem in the locker room. That’s what the trade of Jay Ajayi really was about. It was about more than Ajayi, more than just a running back wanting to do more, more than trading the frustrated player who was the centerpiece of a successful offense last year.

If Ajayi was the identity of this team entering this year, he represented the identity crisis of it upon being traded. Confused. Angry. Frustrated. Uncertain where things were going..

Just listen. Veteran right tackle Ja’Wuan James was told Wednesday he’s seen a lot in his five years.

“I haven’t seen that — a guy contributing a lot to this offense and this team [being traded],” he said. “It sucks he’s not here anymore. Personally, he’s a good friend, a great back. But he’s on to bigger and better things right now. He’s in a good situation right now [in Philadelphia].”

Which brings up this situation Ajayi left behind: How could he run for 4.9 yards a carry last year and 3.2 this year?

“Everything’s changed,” James said. “We do a lot of different things now, this sea-

son.”

Blocking schemes, he meant. Which changes techniques. Which takes time to learn. Which brings the question: Why change what worked?

“Because we’re told to,” James said.

This doesn’t mean change is wrong. The coaches, no doubt, saw issues that demanded change — maybe just to prepare for when defenses took away Ajayi’s preferred outside-zone running, which James noted, “They’ve been doing.”

So this isn’t about right and wrong. It’s about a disconnect inside. It’s about an issue in the locker room. And this isn’t even the prime problem, considering strategy and technique can be masked with a win Sunday night against Oakland.

The real problem for Gase is players aren’t dumb about what’s coming. Ajayi’s trade was just the start of an offensive makeover. Jarvis Landry, the emotional center of this team, talked in all the accepted clichés Wednesday, because the best thing he can do for his future is have big games in wins.

“We have to, as a team, find a way to put a complete game together,” he said. “We have to find a way to complement each other, and that’s counting on every phase to do their job.”

But Landry knows he was on the trading block last spring before the draft and was available again if a team made the right offer Tuesday. And he knows unless there’s a philosophical U-turn his Dolphins time is on the clock as long as he wants a top-dollar contract.

Gase made light of this, saying he wants Landry back, but how, “I don’t negotiate the contracts.” What can he say now? It’s not just Landry facing contract issues, though. James is in the final year, too. Center Mike Pouncey, a pro’s pro, knows his contract situation suggests this might be his end here. Sure, every team has big changes from one year to the next.

But Gase is still trying to set his winning culture. Who’s here to set it for him on offense? These are his most veteran players, the ones he really need to be the foundation.

His franchise quarterback is out for the year.

His offensive line coach snorted cocaine in his office.

Winning remains the only way out. They’re 4-3. Nine wins might get them in the playoffs the way the AFC is shaping up. Maybe the trade of Ajayi was enough of a jolt to the system to help. We’ll see.

You can like Gase. You can also wonder if one big trade solves his locker room issues — or just adds to it.