Miami Dolphins team owner Stephen Ross hasn’t been shy about his desire to find a franchise quarterback. Whether it was the pursuit of Deshaun Watson, or tanking for Tua Tagovailoa, the team has frequently been linked to high-profile QBs. They even reportedly were ready to swing a deal for Joe Burrow prior to the 2020 NFL Draft, but the Cincinnati Bengals were not interested, to no surprise.
In 2020, the Dolphins had executed their plan almost to perfection. The issue is, several other teams were doing the same. It was the Tank for Tua year, but it eventually became Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert who would steal the show instead.
The Dolphins still ended up with Tua, but they had to trade up to do so. In fact, they were prepared to trade up even further, if the Bengals had only been willing to hear them out.
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Miami Dolphins were prepared to sell their future for Burrow
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Dolphins offered the Bengals all three of their 2020 first-round selections (5, 18, 26) for the No. 1 overall pick, with the hopes of selecting Joe Burrow. Or at least that’s what’s being passed around now after we’ve seen the instant success with the young, bright QB out of LSU.
But that’s not all, the Dolphins were prepared to offer even more, but the talks never reached that stage as the Bengals essentially hung up the phone right away, not having an interest in doing anything other than selecting Burrow, rightfully so.
Two years later, Burrow is preparing to play in the AFC Championship game, just one win away from reaching the Super Bowl and the Dolphins are searching for another new head coach. It’s hard to ignore the talent Burrow has, but to be fair, the Dolphins couldn’t really do anything different, other than lose a few more games throughout the year. Now, they have Tua Tagovailoa and the Bengals have Burrow. It is what it is.
