Any dreams that Miami Dolphins fans may have had regarding a potential trade for disgruntled New York Jets safety Jamal Adams can be put to bed. Because the news has just broke — Adams is a former New York Jets safety. Joe Douglas, Adam Gase and the Jets have traded Adams to the Seattle Seahawks in a blockbuster deal, sending Adams and a 4th-round pick to the Pacific Northwest for safety Bradley McDougald, 2021 1st- and 3rd-round pick and a 2022 1st-round selection. This is a mega-deal similar to the one that the Miami Dolphins struck in August of 2019 with the Houston Texans for offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil — and it ignites an arms-race to rebuild in the AFC East as the Patriots face monstrous turnover over this past offseason and the offseason ahead in 2021.
For so long the AFC East has belonged to the Patriots, but now things are considered to be wide open — especially now that the Jets have nailed down a “Tunsil-sized” trade that provides them with an embarrassment of riches for the coming years.
But the Dolphins were also active in trading a former 1st-round safety in the past year — remember, they flipped Minkah Fitzpatrick for a 1st-round pick in a straight up trade in between the second and third weeks of the 2019 NFL season. That deal sent Fitzpatrick to Pittsburgh, where he went on to log 5 interceptions and be named an All-Pro defender in 2019.
And so the question begs to be asked — did Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier miss the mark with trading Fitzpatrick after knocking it out of the park with their trade of Tunsil? Fitzpatrick commanded one first round pick, which would go on to be the No. 18 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Adams? He’s commanded effectively equal price to what the Dolphins got for Tunsil in two 1st-rounders and a 3rd-rounder.
To put it bluntly, no. Chris Grier did not fail and he did not get ripped off by Pittsburgh in the cost he recovered for Fitzpatrick. At least not at the time. Because Fitzpatrick, while widely regarded as a standout defender, wasn’t especially impressive during his 2018 rookie season. The safety missed more than one out of every 10 tackle attempts he made (12.1%, to be exact) and he was far more erratic in coverage than the standout he became playing a single-high role for the Steelers in 2019.
Fitzpatrick had no pro accolades other than being a high pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. And, based on his play, he was a promising and disgruntled young player.
Contrast that to Adams, who at the time of his trade had three years of play under his belt at the pro level and had provided teams with a much greater sample size into who he is as a player. He’d made two Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro before he was traded.
So if Fitzpatrick went on to have his 2019 season in Miami and was then traded after that and Chris Grier managed to recover a 1st-round pick, then yes — Dolphins fans would have a very real right to be angry. But players are only worth what other teams are willing to pay in a trade market. Fitzpatrick’s resume at the pro level at the time of his September 2019 trade was no where near that of Adams’ in July of 2020 — and hence neither is their compensation.