Sure, the Miami Dolphins are 4-3, but they just might be one of the strangest teams in NFL history. Miami lost quarterback Ryan Tannehill for the season before that season even began, and their solution to that loss was to bring Jay Cutler out of retirement.
That’s brought out some hilarious moments, sure, and Dolphins forever backup Matt Moore has even gotten some run under center this year. But Miami got four wins mostly thanks to its running back, Jay Ajayi, who was abruptly traded on Tuesday to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Because the trade deadline suddenly matters in the NFL, Ajayi was shipped to the Eagles for a fourth round draft pick according to multiple outlets and later confirmed by the Eagles themselves.
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/925355499511537665
You can attempt to glean a few different things here, though good luck feeling good about any assumptions you might make. Are the Dolphins quietly tanking and conceding that the Bills or Jets might take the other Wild Card spots in the AFC, or perhaps even sneak out from under the Patriots and win the division?
Did Ajayi not get along under Adam Gase’s strong-arm tactics in handling how the team protested the national anthem? Or was Miami just trying to maximize value in its running back in a league where replacements in the backfield seem cheap and plentiful? You could argue a lot of different things, but the one thing that’s clear is the Eagles are certainly “going for it” in the NFC East this season. It’s a much weirder tale in the other conference, though.
