Team gets five-time Pro Bowl defender
Dolphins trade for CB Talib, acquire Rams’ draft pick
The Miami Dolphins have added a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback and Super Bowl champion to their roster before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.
If this player plays a down for the Dolphins this season, however, remains to be seen.
The Dolphins acquired injured cornerback Aqib Talib and an undisclosed draft pick from the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a future pick, the South Florida Sun Sentinel has confirmed. ESPN was the first to report the trade, and says the pick Miami received from Los Angeles is a 2020 fifth rounder.
The Dolphins will pay Talib, who is on injured reserve after fracturing his ribs, the $4.2 million he is owed for the rest of this season.
“We had the opportunity to acquire him and some draft capital, and we felt like it was the best for us,” coach Brian Flores said Tuesday.
“Obviously, he’s dealing with an injury. We’ll see where that’s at. This has all happened very quickly so there’s a lot of things we have to assess and evaluate.
It’s hard to make a blanket statement on what it’s going to be, playing time-wise, etc.”
The extra draft pick sweetens the deal for Miami, adding to their extensive haul of draft picks they plan to use to kickstart their rebuilding process.
Talib could return at some point this season from his injury, but whether that is likely is another story. He is eligible to return from IR in Week 15, so he could play in the final three games of the season.
Talib, who spent two seasons with the New England Patriots while Dolphins coach Brian Flores was part of the staff, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Talib, who turns 34 next season, has pulled down 35 interceptions and earned $52 million over the course of his 12-year career. He is a five-time Pro
Bowl cornerback and earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2016. Talib has played in 148 career games with 134 starts, totaling 459 tackles (382 solo), one sack, 125 passes defensed, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
Talib has played for Tampa Bay (2008-12), New England (2012-13), Denver (2014-17) and the Rams (2018-19) in his career. He originally entered the NFL as a first-round pick (20th overall) by Tampa Bay in the 2008.
The Dolphins could table the idea of re-signing Talib to a deal until the offseason to see if he can fill their longstanding void of having a capable cornerback who can play opposite standout Xavien Howard next season.
Acquiring Talib was the second trade deadline move the Dolphins made, following their Monday trade of former running back Kenyan Drake to the Arizona Cardinals for a conditional sixth-round draft pick on Monday.