Dolphins

Dolphins Have Spoken To Multiple Teams About Trading For A Running Back

March 23, 2016

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, citing a league source, reports that the Dolphins are exploring every option at running back right now including potential trade options.

According to Salguero, Miami has already made conversations with multiple teams about trading for a running back.
However, Salguero doesn’t offer any specific trade targets for the Dolphins.

The Dolphins have struck out on running backs up to this point in free agency, as they lost Lamar Miller to the Texans, had their offer sheet for C.J. Anderson matched by the Broncos, and free agent options like Chris Johnson and James Starks elected to re-sign with their respective teams.

Dolphins HC Adam Gase made it clear on Tuesday that second-year running back Jay Ajayi will take on a much larger role for them in 2016.

“The reason we were trying to do that is we’re looking to having more than one guy,” Gase said. “Jay is going to be a big part of what we’re doing. I’d like to have multiple backs. Right now, we don’t have a lot of guys on the roster. I think we only have three guys on the roster right now. We’re going to need to really develop that stable of backs.

“Options will present themselves. We just need to stay patient, whether it’s through the draft or somebody gets cut free or there’s somebody else out there that we need to take a look out. We’ll just keep investigating that. I guess for me, I feel really comfortable with Jay. I saw a lot of good things on film last year. I’m fired up to get going with him. The problem is, we can’t do anything until April 11th. But really, those two weeks are meetings and weightlifting. Really, that minicamp will be our first good look to see where we’re at with our running backs.”

Some have suggested that the Dolphins could consider drafting Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliott in round one if he’s still on the board at No. 13 overall.

Miami has approached free agency rather conservative this year, and is reportedly focused on players who won’t impact their future compensatory picks, so they could wait and bring in a free agent this summer.

We’ll have more regarding the Dolphins’ options at running back as the news is available.