MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A fifth-round pick for a three-month rental of a 38-year-old defensive tackle is phenomenal value.
But the Miami Dolphins collectively — and Mike McDaniel in particular — have placed an even higher value on Calais Campbell, which is why they rejected the Baltimore Ravens’ substantial offer for Campbell at the trade deadline.
Miami Dolphins’ Calais Campbell Trade Talk
McDaniel after Sunday’s win over the New England Patriots — their third straight after a 2-6 start — confirmed the outlines of NFL Media’s report from earlier in the day about the Dolphins’ conversations with the Ravens.
The league-owned outlet reported that McDaniel stepped in to nix the fifth-for-Campbell swap — and McDaniel basically confirmed it postgame.
However, he insisted it wasn’t a situation of Mike McDaniel vs. Chris Grier, the Dolphins’ general manager who had put together the deal-that-never-happened earlier this month.
“The offer for compensation for his services was real,” McDaniel told reporters after the Dolphins 34-15 victory Sunday. “And I think it wasn’t like it was Chris versus me. … [We] work together and yeah, I may or may not have thrown an adult temper tantrum.
“That’s the tricky thing about Chris’s job. He has to look long-term and short-term at the same time with the best interests of the organization. We rely on each other for things that I need to be on top of and one is the locker room, and what one individual does for the entire team.
“I think it speaks to Calais because that was a strong compensation for a guy that, he just passed the 30-year-old mark. But it speaks to how he’s playing, speaks what he means to the team, that teams would be willing to do that and there’s some competition for that.
“My job is to speak on behalf of what’s the best thing for the 2024 Dolphins. I’m just fortunate to work in an organization where myself and the GM can just be transparent and work together. He didn’t want to see any more adult temper tantrums.”
Let’s throw that answer through the McDaniel Translator:
If the Dolphins traded Campbell at the deadline, it would tacitly be waving the white flag on the season after losses in six of the last seven games.
Beyond losing one of the Dolphins’ best players — Campbell has four sacks, 22 pressures, a forced fumble, and nine tackles for loss on the season — the Dolphins would also be losing the heart and soul of their locker room. Campbell’s leadership is unmatched.
McDaniel likely envisioned a potential death spiral if they dealt Campbell.
So instead, they kept him, have since won three straight, and will head into their Thanksgiving night game against the Green Bay Packers with many of their goals still within reach.
After a win over the Patriots, defensive lineman Calais Campbell discussed the trade talks that involved him around the deadline… https://t.co/hVdu04E29e pic.twitter.com/uRivHBd8UV
— WPLG Local 10 Sports (@Local10Sports) November 24, 2024
In the Dolphins’ victorious postgame locker room Sunday, Campbell acknowledged that he was part of the decision-making process.
“I was grateful that they brought me into the conversations,” he told reporters. “They didn’t have to say anything to me at all. We had a really good conversation about what we think about this team, where we are. We felt like we had a good chance to fight, to get back into the fight.
“Everything’s happened so far based on the conversation we had as we thought it would. Now we have a big game on Thanksgiving, in the prime-time slot, to get back to .500 and have shot to put ourselves back in the conversation. All of that doesn’t matter. All that matters is staying in the moment, and playing good technical football and put ourselves in the position to win ball games.”