Getty Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill spoke out on the idea of a Jaylen Waddle trade in 2024.
The idea of a Jaylen Waddle trade started circulating on social media on February 20 and a contingent of the Miami Dolphins community humored this theory enough to catch the attention of superstar teammate Tyreek Hill.
“I’m all the way in Greece right now and I get on Twitter to see people talking crazy about dolphin football,” Hill voiced on X.
Then, in a follow-up post, Hill stated: “My boy waddle is the future , he is better than I was at this point in his career and for people in this fan base to want to trade him is ludicrous.”
Concluding: “Him and Tua [Tagovailoa] was special before me and will be special after I leave.”
Ex-Jets GM at Root of Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle Trade Speculation
Hill may not realize it, but the irony of this entire situation is that former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum is at the root of it — although Tannenbaum last held an NFL job within the Dolphins organization as their executive vice president of football operations from 2015 through 2018.
Even so, the ex-NFL exec is best known for his tenure with the Jets, and there’s something comical about a rival franchise’s former GM causing this sort of stir.
During the February 20 edition of ESPN’s Get Up, Tannenbaum suggested a hypothetical trade where the Dolphins send Waddle to the Kansas City Chiefs for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie — who’s very talented in his own right.
“I love this one,” Tannenbaum said, breaking down the deal. “Two great young players. Trent McDuffie straight up for Jaylen Waddle and here’s why.”
“If you’re Miami, you’re probably going to cut Xavien Howard as a cap casualty,” he explained. “So, you get Trent McDuffie, who is a great young player. So that’s for Miami. Obviously, you still have a great receiver in Tyreek Hill. For Kansas City, you need a No. 1 receiver. Jaylen Waddle really has a chance to be a No. 1.”
Is this a fair swap of two proven first-round talents? Perhaps, but that debate is somewhat irrelevant because this deal is never going to happen.
And yet, multiple Miami news outlets covered it on a slow post-Super Bowl day in February, giving this theory enough legs to make it all the way to Hill on his Greek vacation. Incredible.
Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle Entering Contract Year in 2024
The only reason the Dolphins might consider trading Waddle is his contract situation. Miami will likely pick up the former No. 6 overall pick’s fifth-year option for 2025, but the front office must extend the speedy playmaker at some point after that — which means a large payday is looming.
Having said that, there’s little doubt that the second contract is coming once the Dolphins can afford it.
Waddle has achieved three straight 1,000-yard campaigns since entering the league in 2021. The Dolphins are also in win-now mode with Hill playing at an elite level, and they’re not trading one of their best offensive pieces in the midst of a quest for a Super Bowl.
McDuffie is a tremendous player, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s actually better than Waddle at his specific position, but the Chiefs youngster also specialized as a slot cornerback for most of the 2023 season. He generally did not guard the opposition’s best pass-catcher either, with those duties falling to veteran CB L’Jarius Sneed.
In the modern-day NFL, a potentially elite WR is considered to be more valuable than an elite nickelback any day of the week and twice on Sundays. As evidence, just look at where wideouts are drafted every April compared to smaller-sized cornerbacks like McDuffie.