The NFL trade deadline is fast approaching, and with it, the rumor mill is already buzzing. Teams are starting to explore potential deals to stock up on draft assets, and the chatter isn’t slowing down. For the Miami Dolphins, a few names have been popping up in these discussions. Notably, it’s wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and running back De’Von Achane.

But if you ask the team’s head coach, Mike McDaniel, he’ll call those rumors nothing but baseless.

“For the record, all rumors about Miami Dolphins players are baseless currently,” the head coach said. “And that’s unfortunate. Personally, not just this year for this team, this time of year bothers me for the sake of the individual player that’s having to answer questions about his long-term journey or where he’s playing questioned on rumors or thoughts of other people.”

The Dolphins are already 1-5 heading into their Week 7 matchup against the Cleveland Browns. Coach McDaniel has been on the hot seat since Week 1. So, let’s just say the trade rumors at this point are palpable even though the Dolphins have yet to play three games before the early November trade deadline.

Whether it’s Waddle and Achane or Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Jaylen Wright, everyone’s being connected to the potential trade deals. On top of that, SNY’s Connor Hughes and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo added another layer to these rumors. On Wednesday, Hughes reported that the New York Giants are considering trading for Miami’s wideout, Waddle.

Rapoport and Garafolo, meanwhile, noted on Sunday that the team’s pass rusher, Bradley Chubb, has “generated interest” on the trade market. The silver lining for the Dolphins, though? Well, for starters, the Dolphins aren’t going to trade all these players.

Mike McDaniel might not consider trading Jaylen Waddle

It all started with Jaylen Waddle’s social media activity. Per reports, the fifth-year wideout unfollowed several of the Dolphins’ players on Instagram and deleted his recent posts. And just like that, the rumor mill started connecting him to trade rumors.

While Coach Mike McDaniel has surely observed that the trade rumors are baseless, Waddle’s name has been constantly thrown around in connection with the Giants. And it surely makes sense. The Giants are in dire need of a wideout on their receiving corps, considering their WR1, Malik Nabers, is on IR.

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But naturally, it also raises a question: Sitting at 1-5, will the Dolphins really trade Waddle? For the time being, it seems unlikely. The reasons, however, are many. For starters, Waddle is young and is in his fifth season only. Except for the 2024 season, he’s amassed three consecutive 1000+ yard seasons across the first three years of his NFL career.

On top of that, the Dolphins have already lost their star receiver, Tyreek Hill, to a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. Last but not least, the decision to trade Waddle doesn’t sit financially with the team. Waddle signed a three-year, $84.75 million extension in 2024. And the team smartly spread out his money over his old rookie deal to keep his salary cap hit lower now.

That means, if they trade him now, they’d have to pay him $23.2 million in 2026, nearly double what it would cost to just keep him ($11.6 million). That said, as Mike McDaniel would point out, the trade rumors like these are nothing but baseless. And the rest we’ll see in early November.