Sometimes, old news that becomes new news becomes new news for a reason.

A Saturday Preview! of a Sunday Splash! report from Adam Schefter of ESPN.com dusts off the well-known reality that the Dolphins tried to trade up from No. 5 to No. 1 in 2020, with the goal of drafting quarterback Joe Burrow. Given the current circumstances, the resurrection of the dated report is significant, to say the least.

To be fair, the new report advances the ball, a bit. As of late January 2022, when the Bengals were preparing to play in the Super Bowl that capped Burrow’s second season, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the Dolphins were willing to give up each of their three 2020 first-round picks “and potentially more.” The Bengals, however, refused to engage.

Schefter now reports that the Dolphins offered four first-round picks for Burrow.

Whatever the Dolphins offered, the Bengals were determined to take Burrow. Given Burrow’s recent comments about his current lack of happiness playing football and the possibility of eventually playing for another team, it’s a given (as discussed during Thursday’s PFT Live) that one or more teams will call the Bengals in the offseason to assess whether Burrow may be available.

Here’s what I think, as explained both during PFT Live and a recent appearance on Pardon My Take: Burrow doesn’t want to demand a trade, but he’d like the Bengals to decide to make the move on their own. That would allow him to exit Cincinnati without being regarded as a villain in his home state.

The fact that he grew up in Ohio is significant. The Playmakers book (which can be purchased for a mere $18.99) reported that, if Burrow had been from Athens, Georgia, and not Athens, Ohio, he would have made an Elway-Eli-style power play with the Bengals in 2020.

Six years ago, the Bengals refused any and all offers from the Dolphins. If another team makes the Bengals a big offer for a quarterback who has made his feelings abundantly clear, what will the Bengals do?

In leaking to Schefter the fact that the Dolphins offered four first-round picks, someone seems to be trying to speak into existence a fresh effort to trade for Burrow. And even if Burrow won’t publicly say he wants out, what is he privately saying to the team?

That’s something we don’t know, and something we won’t know. Perhaps until the Bengals stun the football-following world by trading Burrow without Burrow ever having to stand up and say, “Carson Palmer was right.”