MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — When Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said in April that he’s “trying to do right by [Cedrick Wilson Jr.] because of how he’s handled himself on and off the field,” many assumed that meant trying to find him a new home.
What it may have meant was trying to find him a new (and bigger) role.
Wilson has been targeted as much as any Dolphins receiver through three days of camp, and those trade whispers from the spring seem a bit quieter.
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On Friday, Wilson addressed that speculation for the first time and did everything he could to make it clear that he is perfectly fine remaining in Miami, even if it means he’ll be the team’s No. 3 option behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
“I’m definitely happy to be here,” said Wilson, who signed a three-year, $22.1 million contract last offseason. “I mean, my mindset when I left Dallas was to come here and put my best foot forward. I feel like maybe I fell short of that last year, and that’s my goal this whole offseason is to show that I can play.”
Wilson caught just 12 passes for 136 yards and zero touchdowns in his first year with the team as the team’s No. 5 option behind Hill, Waddle, Trent Sherfield, and Mike Gesicki.
But Sherfield and Gesicki are gone, and Wilson is still here.
That doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon.
“We’ve never asked for a trade,” Wilson said Friday, following the team’s third training camp practice.
When asked if Grier has ever indicated that he was looking for a trade to give him more of an opportunity elsewhere, Wilson replied:
“I’m not sure. That was never communicated to me.”
Back to what Grier said about Wilson in April. Miami’s personnel boss acknowledged what was widely assumed: The Dolphins were not planning on trading for Hill when they signed Wilson.
“Cedrick signed here to be the No. 2 at the time, and then we made the trade for Tyreek. But how he handled himself, he’s an incredible professional. Like volunteering to return kicks for us at the end of the year. He saved us and won us some games with some key returns that probably people don’t give him credit for. The expectation that he’s here? We’ve had teams call and ask about him. We’re not shopping him, but teams have called.”
Those calls did not lead to a deal prior to the draft, and unless the dynamic at that position again changes unexpectedly, they won’t lead to a deal prior to the season.
“You’re going to see my opportunities when they come up, and when the ball comes my way, I’m going to catch the ball,” Wilson said.