You can understand the trouble the Miami Dolphins are in by just looking the standings.

And the Dolphins can understand the additional trouble they’re in by looking at their salary-cap hell.

But the full view of their trouble didn’t come in focus until Tuesday’s trade deadline blindsided everyone with this conclusion:

You’d rather be the stinkin’ New York Jets right now than the Dolphins.

Just typing that previous sentence makes me think it’s suddenly very hot in here. Is this what a panic attack feels like?

The Jets, like the Dolphins, are having  futile season. The Jets, like the Dolphins, will begin yet another tear-it-all-down rebuild this offseason. But that’s where the parallel nightmare ends. The Jets went all-in on the future at the trade deadline, while the Dolphins were quiet.

The Jets have five first-round picks and three second-round picks in the next two drafts after a couple of big trades on Tuesday.

The Dolphins have the minimum: two first- and second-round picks.

The Jets have remade their roster to be $94 million under the cap for next season, too.

The Dolphins are presently $11 million over the cap for 2026.

It was bad enough the Dolphins didn’t make up any ground on the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East over the past several years. It was worse they were passed this season by the New England Patriots, who seven years removed from their last Super Bowl win have a proven coach, a budding franchise quarterback and a first-place view in the division.

But the Jets? The J-E-S-T? The franchise that’s finished last in the division six times and second-to-last three times over the past decade? This is the team you’d take over the Dolphins?

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Any of it this year. But the roster assembled by fired general manager Chris Grier was so bad the Dolphins hardly had anyone to trade after Jaelan Phillips and $5 million was sent to Philadelphia for a third-round pick.

Put another way: Only tackle Patrick Paul looked untradeable. He’s a keeper. He plays a premier position and is on a rookie contract for a couple of more years. But everyone else? If the right price came, the Dolphins should have traded anyone considering their situation.

That’s what the Jets did. They traded their two best players. Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams went to Dallas for a first- and second-round pick. Cornerback Sauce Gardner went to Indianapolis for two first-round picks.

The Jets figured they could finish 26th in points allowed with or without Williams and Gardner and their big salaries. They also looked down the road, saw they didn’t have a quarterback and figured they’d could use some draft capital to get one (or two).

There’s no need to say the Jets’ collecting draft picks like this doesn’t mean it’ll work. The Dolphins are Exhibit A of that right. They had five first-round and five second-round picks in 2020 and 2021. Here’s who those picks became:

Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson, Noah Igbinoghene, Robert Hunt, Raekwon Davis, Jaylen Waddle, Jaelan Phillips, Jevon Holland and Liam Eichenberg.

Some good. Some bad. Just no one special, which is what you look back on a draft for more than who you missed on. Who did you hit on? Who did you find up high or in the bargain bin that other teams have to fear coming into a Sunday?

It takes talent to find talent. That’s the conclusion of this latest, failed Dolphins era. They tried to trick the system by tanking. They didn’t understand it still comes down to recognize talent, prioritizing positions and deciding what’s winning football.

And so here we go again.

It’s not bad enough that they’re 2-7. It’s not bad enough that the owner isn’t sure what to do with his coach and quarterback for financial, not football, reasons.

But just when you thought things couldn’t look much worse for the Dolphins, the trade deadline showed otherwise. You’d rather be the stinkin’ Jets right now.