Miami Dolphins left OT Branden Albert was cut Thursday then he wasn’t
Every sports site or channel had the Miami Dolphins cutting left OT Branden Albert. Thursday morning. It had been reported that the Dolphins even told Albert that he was cut. Of course, that report would be of no surprise to anyone around football.
The expectation is that second-year player Laremy Tunsil will take over the starting left OT job. The Dolphins drafted him in the first round in 2016 so it was only natural. But soon after, the report was retracted and changed to a trade looming.
There’s the surprise!
The team team realized that there could be a trade market for him so they stopped the process. By rule, no trades can happen until the new league year starts March 9. So it will be a while until we find out who may have called with the sudden trade possibility.
After all, the 32-year-old was a Pro Bowler as recently as 2015 in a not-so-great year to draft a left OT. The Dolphins have themselves some leverage now as they were ready to cut him. There are a few teams out there that can use a left tackle right now.
The Denver Broncos , Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants are three teams that could go far with a left OT. Albert is due to make $8.875 million in 2017, and he is signed through 2018. So he could be used as a stop-gap to make a quick run at a Super Bowl.
And allowing him to get cut and hit the market takes away a team’s guarantee to have him. So the fact that they were ready to cut him for nothing gives them a position of strength in trade talks. The Giants just might get a valuable draft pick for him.