Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan could face an entirely new draft-building challenge if one NFL team gets their way this offseason
Miami may have picked the perfect time to change their team-building philosophy.
Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan is going to be attempting something we haven’t seen in South Florida for decades.
Building a persistent winner and a championship caliber football team. It’s going to be a handful and will be something that tests the patience of ownership, management, the fanbase and more. After all, Sullivan has vowed to build through the draft. Opportunities to build through the draft are best undertaken when teams find themselves in a state of “surplus” with their draft picks. Sullivan’s bid to get the Dolphins into that state may be undertaken in uncharted waters, if ESPN insider Adam Schefter‘s latest report comes to life. At least one team, per Schefter, is going to push for more flexibility in trading future draft picks.
Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan could be entering into uncharted waters if latest NFL rumor comes true
“There are going to be people in the NFL, this offseason, that push to have that limit loaned to five years. That’s coming. Right now it’s three years in the NFL and this has not been out there at all…there’s going to be a push by at least one team this offseason to extend the NFL trade limits from three years of picks for five years of picks.”
— ESPN’s Adam Schefter on interest for the NFL expanding the window of tradable draft picks
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. This is a horrible idea for NFL teams. Those in charge of NFL teams are already given exceptionally too short of leashes at times. The ability to trade five years worth of draft picks and tap out a team’s pipeline of resources sounds like a disaster waiting to happen in the wrong hands. Just look at how watered down the Dolphins roster became thanks to the tireless effort to spend every premium resource in a three year window.
The Dolphins spent first round draft choices (and then some) on Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb in 2022 while also being stripped of first and third round draft picks for tampering with QB Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton.
Miami is still (dearly) paying the price. And if former general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel were still at the helm, such a development would have me quite queasy. Now, if Sullivan lives up to his philosophy, the freedom to sell the farm long-term could offer some fascinating opportunities down the road. But knowing how to navigate those hypothetical opportunities is uncharted waters thanks to the current cap on trading future picks.
If this rule change becomes reality, Miami feels as well positioned as anyone to take advantage of it in all the right ways, which is a refreshing change after the most recent regime leveraged future resources in all the wrong ways instead.
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