The report this morning from the Sun Sentinel’s Omar Kelly that the Miami Dolphins are looking to trade veteran linebacker Raekwon McMillan comes as a bit of a surprise — but if you’ve been watching the Dolphins in their attempts to get better on defense, the clues have been there. Miami was aggressive in loading up on linebackers and Brian Flores’ defense was intentional with their dispersement of his reps in 2019 to ensure he wasn’t on the field in certain situations.
For a defense that covets being multiple and being able to hit opposing defenses with a slew of different coverage assignments and run fits with the same personnel, McMillan’s limited coverage skills do stand out like a sore thumb. But that doesn’t mean McMillan can’t be a valuable player — he’s got terrific physicality and a strong sense for sticking his nose into gaps and finding his way to the football as a run defender.
What could the Dolphins hopefully bring back in a trade of McMillan?
He’ll be most valuable to teams that don’t have stout defenders on the front level or to teams who are expecting to contend but simply don’t have the linebacker depth to hold firm against more physical offenses. Kelly’s report indicated that the Dolphins are looking for a “mid-round draft pick”. Some teams may be desperate enough to give the Dolphins one but the team isn’t likely to return a top-100 selection for McMillan based on his current NFL resume. Miami’s best case scenario would be a team buying into the linebacker’s youth and seeing him as a long-term piece — which could help the team overlook the fact that McMillan is in the final year of his contract and could be lost to free agency at the end of the year if no terms can be agreed to.
This is a sticky proposition for the Dolphins. McMillan indeed has value. And trying to trade him now versus letting him walk makes sense. But his status as a player in a contract year who got reduced snaps last year isn’t going to make it easy to pitch teams coughing up a prized pick for his services. Our guess? If McMillan ends up getting dealt, it will probably be for a 2021 5th-round selection.