The Dolphins will cut Branden Albert. Unless they don’t.
The veteran left tackle has become the latest example of a player who is told that he’s out and then, once the team realizes there could be a trade market for him, the process stops. Via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, Albert has been told he’ll be cut, but as of the end of the day on Thursday he remains on the roster.
Per Salguero, “there is sudden and significant interest from at least one and perhaps other teams in acquiring Albert.”
And so the Dolphins will keep Albert for now, waiting to see whether a trade can be worked out. By rule, no trades can happen until the new league year commences at 4:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 9.
The deeper question is whether the Dolphins intended to pursue this approach all along, setting the process in motion to cut Albert but waiting for teams to call and inquire about the possibility of trading for his current contract in lieu of signing him on the open market, in competition with other teams. If so, it’s a shrewd move by Miami, since it gives them a position of greater strength than if they decided to initiate trade talks.
Albert is due to make $8.875 million in 2017, and he is signed through 2018.
