Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel shuts down 'baseless' trade rumors

David Furones, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Oct 17, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Nov. 4 trade deadline is less than three weeks away, and with the Miami Dolphins 1-5 entering Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, speculation over them selling ahead of the deadline is rising.

Dolphins players’ names are being brought up in reports and rumors, and coach Mike McDaniel tried to put a kibosh on it when the question arose Friday.

“All rumors about Miami Dolphins players are baseless, currently,” McDaniel said. “That’s unfortunate. Personally, not just this year or 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 potential or has where he’s playing questioned on rumors or thoughts of other people.”

Dolphins players swirling in rumors include wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, with reported interest from the New York Giants. Edge rushers Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb have been mentioned, with ESPN proposing a trade of Phillips from Miami to the Detroit Lions. Running back De’Von Achane has been the subject of speculation.

Phillips, who has been hard on himself this week for missing a potential game-altering sack last Sunday against the Chargers, showed he’s still in good spirits when he brought some levity to the conversation after being asked if trade talks every come across his desk.

“I don’t really have a desk,” he said, to laughter of reporters surrounding his locker. “Look, I can’t do anything about that. All I can do is focus on improving, getting better every day and putting good stuff on film. Whether that’s the Dolphins keeping me, whether it’s another team getting me, that’s like completely out of my control so it’s not even something I spend my time worrying about. What I can do is try to do the best that I can for this team.

“I obviously love this team and this organization. I’ve spent a lot of time and dedicated a lot of effort and emotions to this team and organization, so ideally I would love to just be able to do my job and help this organization out, and whatever plays out, plays out.”

Waddle said he doesn’t see the social media reports and images created of him in another team’s uniform.

“Not really,” he said. “I really don’t see too much. If my agent or anything don’t contact me, then I really don’t see too much.”

McDaniel wants to keep his team’s focus on their assignments in the coming matchup in Cleveland.

“We are focused on the Browns, and I try not to give legs to any of those rumors,” McDaniel said. “But if I was an individual player, it probably wouldn’t be the greatest thing to hear. Fortunately for us, we got a team of players focused on the Browns, and I won’t let them stray from that focus with, really, everything that I could possibly do.”

Waddle’s mindset backs that thought.

“I’m just focused on the game, honestly,” he said. “Focused on the Browns and just trying to get a win.”