We’re now less than two weeks before the 2025 NFL Trade Deadline, and that means get ready for more speculation and more stories about which players might be on the move or more be attractive to teams looking for help.

One such story came out Wednesday courtesy of ESPN, which listed the top 25 trade candidates and had Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle at the No. 2 spot behind only Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson.

But then the analysis regarding Waddle basically was to not expect the Dolphins to move, so basically he was included on the list because teams would like to get their hands on him.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, regardless of the Dolphins’ poor record and the likely coming changes in the organization, it makes zero sense for them to get rid of Waddle — barring an offer so good they can’t refuse.

That’s also what ESPN wrote.

“The team does not plan to trade the player, but interest is there,” was the comment from Jeremy Fowler. “While Miami could be tempted to trade players due to its 1-6 record, Waddle is a building block on offense, and he’s due $36.1 million in cash over 2025-26 — reasonable for a high-end receiver these days. Multiple league execs expect the Dolphins’ no-trade stance to stand, barring a surprise.”

This is where we’d simply suggest removing Waddle for all trade speculation stories, and that’s independent of head coach Mike McDaniel saying last week rumors involving the Dolphins were “baseless.”

As we wrote in an earlier story addressing this issue, however the Dolphins shake up the organization following what has the makings of a dreadful season, they’ll still need some kind of nucleus to start over and move forward, and when he celebrates his birthday next month Waddle still will turn only 27.

Better, Waddle’s contract is very team-friendly when it comes to the salary cap.

His cap number for 2025, per Over The Cap, is only $8 million and it jumps to a still-very-modest $11.7 million in 2026.

That cap number jumps into the 30s starting in 2027, but that’s also when his guarantees expire, therefore his deal can be renegotiated or the Dolphins can move on from him with very little cap consequences at that time.

For a player of Waddle’s caliber, that’s a very good deal for the Dolphins.

So what’s the point of getting rid of a player who’s at worst a high-end No. 2 wide receiver, if not a mid- or low-level number 1?

The idea of moving players in a rebuilding project is to accumulate draft capital and cap space but not at the cost of losing good players who can help in the future.

And that’s what Waddle is.

Of course, as is the case with any player, the Dolphins would be foolish not to consider offers if a team is willing to make an offer the team can’t refuse, like the Houston Texans did with Laremy Tunsil in 2019, but they still should be reluctant to move Waddle.

That same ESPN article had wide receiver Jakobi Meyers as its No. 5 trade candidate, which makes sense considering he requested to be moved before the start of the regular season.

But it definitely was surprising to see the Dolphins listed second among the four team fits for him.

This has nothing to do with Meyers, but the idea of the Dolphins acquiring veterans at this tumultuous time seems difficult to accept.

If the Dolphins are going to be going through a big rebuilding project next offseason, the last thing they need is to be sacrificing draft capital, particularly for a veteran who’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

This might make even less sense than the Dolphins trading Meyers.

The one item we absolutely can get on board with is having edge rusher Jaelan Phillips at number 8 on the list of top trade candidates.

Phillips is from the same draft class as Waddle (2021), but he’s playing on his fifth-year option and will be a free agent next offseason.

While he’s been the most effective Dolphins pass rusher in terms of pressure, it’s not highly likely the team will want to sign him to a long-term contract given his injury history.

The Dolphins actually have three big-name edge defenders who they would consider trading, the other two being Bradley Chubb and Matthew Judon.

But given the age and production, it does seem as though Phillips is the one who’d fetch the biggest return.

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