Dolphins, Bengals Working On Huge Trade?
Are the Dolphins and Bengals working on a huge trade?
Cincinnati finished last season with a 2-14 record. As its reward for being the NFL’s worst team, the organization was bestowed with the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Initially it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Bengals would keep the pick and use it on Heisman winning LSU star, Joe Burrow.
However, over the last few days the Bengals have gone out of their way to indicate that they are not set on selecting Burrow.
“We’ve started the process of evaluating him,” head coach Zac Taylor said of Burrow.
“We certainly have a long way to go before making decisions on what we’re doing with the first pick.
“That’s been exciting. We’re not preparing for an opponent, so we have a chance to jump into the actual film work for all the position groups.”
Along the same lines, Cincinnati’s director of player personnel said this week that the Bengals were still open to anything as far as the draft goes.
“I don’t know that any decision has been made for what we’re going to do in April,” he said.
“We’re early in the process. We certainly haven’t had any meetings to determine that at this point. Those will be meetings we’ll have as we go through the process.”
Does that mean the Bengals are willing to trade the pick?
“Right now, I would be open to leaving everything on the table because we haven’t decided yet,” he continued.
“(We’re) figuring out how to best use the capital we’ve ‘earned.’”
If Cincinnati really is willing to move the top pick, the organization may have an interested buyer in the Miami Dolphins.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Miami is very interested in Burrow.
“Per a league source, the Dolphins covet LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft,” he wrote.
“Specifically, the guy who signs the checks — owner Stephen Ross — is the one who wants Burrow.
“It’s unknown at this point whether coach Brian Flores and/or G.M. Chris Grier agree.”
The Dolphins have three picks in the first round.
Between the No. 5, No. 18 and No. 26 selections, they could easily put together an enticing package for the Bengals – if they wanted to.
At this point, the big question is just how Cincinnati values Burrow in relation to Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa or Oregon’s Justin Herbert.
If they view the talent level as similar, they could come away with a huge haul in return for handing Burrow over to Miami.
Should that not be the case, then there is obviously no trade to be made here.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
