Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, citing multiple league sources, reports that the Dolphins attempted to trade for Lions QB Matthew Stafford before the start of the 2018 season.
According to Salguero, the effort was led by former Dolphins HC Adam Gase, who was looking to move on from Ryan Tannehill.
Salguero says that Gase reached out personally to Lions coach Matt Patricia about acquiring Stafford and the belief is that Miami would have offered at minimum their 2018 first-round pick and probably more for him.
However, Salguero says that the belief is talks between the two teams never reached a point where the Dolphins were asked what they were willing to give for Stafford. Patricia reportedly told Gase he was not willing to move on from Stafford at that point.
Dave Birkett mentions that he asked Lions GM Bob Quinn about this at the Combine and Quinn denied that the Dolphins tried to trade for Stafford. Birkett adds that he’s not saying that this report is inaccurate, but the Lions at least did not want the notion out there about a potential Stafford trade.
Stafford, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Lions back in 2009. He was in the final year of his five-year, $76.5 million contract when he and the Lions agreed to a five-year, $135 million extension back in 2017.
Stafford stands to make base salaries of $13.5 million and $15 million over the next two years of the agreement.
In 2018, Stafford appeared in all 16 games for the Lions and completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 3,777 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 17 quarterback out of 38 qualifying players.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
