Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins acquire Quinn for pick
Defensive end will cost Miami fourth rounder
INDIANAPOLIS — The Miami Dolphins have traded for defensive end Robert Quinn of the Los Angeles Rams, the South Florida Sun Sentinel has confirmed. Quinn, the 27-year-old seven-year veteran, is a two-time Pro Bowl selection who had 8.5 sacks last season. He addresses Miami’s need for pass-rushing depth.
The trade, according to FOX Sports, has Miami acquiring Quinn and sending a 2018 fourthround pick to the Rams. The teams will also swap 2018 sixth-round picks.
No deals can be completed until March 14, which is the official start of the league year.
Quinn was a pass-rushing terror early in his career posting 10.5 sacks in 2012, his second season, then posting a career-best 19 sacks in 2013, and 10.5 sacks in 2014.
Quinn, who has spent his entire career with the Rams, joins Dolphins defensive ends Cameron Wake and Andre Branch, the projected starters, and Charles Harris, last year’s first-round pick.
Wake is coming off back-to-back doubledigit sack seasons but everyone else left something to be desired last season. Branch battled knee and groin injuries and pro-
duced 4.5 sacks, one fewer than his 2016 total. Harris disappointed with two sacks and his run defense struggles.
Miami could lose ends William Hayes and Terrence Fede, who are both unrestricted free agents. Curiously, Miami acquired Hayes last year in a trade with the Rams.
The Dolphins have youngsters such as Cameron Malveaux, the undrafted first-year player from Houston, and Jonathan Woodard, the first-year player from Central Arkansas at defensive end. But they needed more help at the position and addressed that need.
The Dolphins have been active in trading for veterans the past two years making deals with Philadelphia to acquire linebacker Kiko Alonso and cornerback Byron Maxwell, the Rams for Hayes, and Jacksonville for tight end Julius Thomas.
Quinn is slated to make a little over $10.3 million in base salary in 2018, and has a $1,111,111 tied to bonuses that are due on March 16.
After that he’s got one more year left on the fouryear, $57 million extension he signed in 2014.
Whether the Dolphins will be re-working, or extending his contract is unclear. In the the previous three trades the Dolphins made at this time of the NFL season they reworked three of the four contracts they acquired, eliminating a year on Thomas’ and Hayes’ deals, and reworking guaranteed money for Maxwell.
The Dolphins are over the projected salary cap, so plenty of tough decisions need to be made before March 14, which is the first day that teams have to be under the projected salary cap of $178 million.
The Dolphins recently committed $16 million to receiver Jarvis Landry by placing the franchise tag on the three-time Pro Bowler, and that money must be accounted for unless Miami trades him by March 14. However, the Dolphins could easily release or trade three players — Thomas, linebacker Lawrence Timmons and offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James — to create an additional $21 million in cap space.
The Dolphins now have $44.4 million in base salary committed to the defensive line for 2018 among Wake, Suh, Branch and Quinn, which is roughly 25 percent of the projected salary cap.