Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trading for safety makes sense
Thomas can improve Dolphins’ pass defense
Two elite NFL players are on the trading block, being auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The New York Giants are soliciting offers for receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and the Seattle Seahawks have been shopping safety Earl Thomas for over a month. While Mike Tannenbaum, the Dolphins’ vice president of football operations, is the most active NFL executive when it comes to executing trades, allow me to explain why pulling the trigger on one of those possible deals makes sense for the Dolphins more than the other.
Let’s start with Beckham, one of the few faces of the NFL not belonging to a quarterback. His relationship has turned sour in New York, and not because of his consistent off-the-field drama, which hasn’t helped.
Beckham’s beef with the Giants is about his salary demands, and his threat of not playing on his fifth-year option.
Beckham reportedly doesn’t just want to become the highest-paid receiver in NFL history, which would mean jumping over the five-year, $82.5 million deal Tampa Bay just gave Mike Evans.
He is seeking quarterback money, which equates to roughly $20 million a season. Pair that with the two first-round picks the
Giants are reportedly asking for, and it becomes pretty clear a marriage between Beckham and Miami doesn’t make sense.
And that’s without factoring in the nasty divorce the Dolphins just had with Jarvis Landry, Beckham’s college teammate and close friend.
Plus, the Dolphins already have a solid group of receivers with Kenny Stills, DeVante Parker, and the recently signed Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson, who were added to replace Landry, who was traded to Cleveland after, sources say, the Dolphins refused to offer him more than $13 million a season.
After moving on from Landry, coach Adam Gase said he wants to spread the ball around — having each receiver pull down 50 receptions — instead of feeding one player 100-plus targets. Gase apparently is done with divas, so Beckham simply doesn’t fit for the Dolphins.
Now Thomas, a six-time Pro Bowl selection who turns 29 in May, is a different story.
His skill set would certainly take the Dolphins’ defense to another level, especially considering Gase admitted this week at the NFL meetings that he wasn’t pleased with the chemistry he saw from Reshad Jones and T.J. McDonald in the eight games they played together last season.
Jones and McDonald are both physical, hard-hitting strong safeties who are best utilized in the box (close to the line of scrimmage). Neither of them has excelled in one-on-one coverage when they’ve drawn an athletic tight end or a scatback coming out of the backfield.
Despite the front office hoping new secondary coach Tony Oden can make the Jones-McDonald tandem work, the Dolphins likely will realize they need a true free safety.
Look up “true free safety” in the dictionary, and there’s probably a picture of Thomas’ mug shot smiling back at you.
Even though Thomas has battled through injuries the past few seasons, he probably still has 2-3 years of high-level production left. He has 25 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles in eight NFL seasons.
The problem is Seattle wants an unspecified early draft pick for Thomas. And Thomas, who is slated to make $8.5 million next year in the final year of his contract, wants a new deal from whichever teams signs him.
The Dolphins are already paying Jones, a twotime Pro Bowl selection, like a top-5 safety, and are financially committed to McDonald for the next two seasons. However, with McDonald’s salary only $1.55 million in 2018, finances should not be the reason the Dolphins pass on a possible deal for an elite player. The Dolphins wasted $3 million on Nate Allen last season.
McDonald has the size (6 feet 2, 225 pounds), and skill set to play weak-side linebacker, so his presence on the roster should not prevent the Dolphins from upgrading the secondary.
Adding a top-shelf safety such as Thomas, or possibly ex-Chief Ron Parker, former Saint Kenny Vaccaro, or former 49er Eric Reid, who are all unrestricted free agents, could be the finishing piece that gives the Dolphins a top-10 defense.
So if the Seahawks are willing to accept a secondround pick for Thomas, and the Dolphins are willing to make Thomas the highestpaid safety in the NFL (which is likely his goal), Miami should pursue the opportunity.
If both prices — the trade and salary demands — are too steep, then Dolphins management needs to give some serious thought to adding other veteran starting free safeties such as Parker (nine interceptions, five forced fumbles and seven sacks the past five years), Vaccaro (eight interceptions, four forced fumbles and 7.5 sacks the last five years) or Reid (10 interceptions, two forced fumbles and one sack, also over five years) on a one-year, $4 million deal.
Last season, the Dolphins were missing a linebacker or safety that excelled in coverage, and finished the year tied for 29th in turnover differential (minus-14). Those are two troublesome areas that caused defensive coordinator Matt Burke’s unit to struggle.
One move, the addition of a proven, play-making free safety, potentially addresses both of those shortcomings.
Look up “true free safety” in the dictionary, and there’s probably a picture of Thomas’ mug shot.