MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was visibly tired of answering questions about his team's inactivity at the 2025 NFL trade deadline, to the point he transparently hinted at his focus on Sunday's opponent, the Buffalo Bills (1 p.m. ET, CBS), multiple times during Wednesday's news conference.
Despite being seen as likely to be active moving players ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline, the Dolphins only made one move -- trading outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2026 third-round pick. Ultimately, McDaniel said, the team didn't feel compelled to make any moves in light of its 2-7 start to the season.
"All deals are not close to me until they're done. So I have a weird way of looking at it," McDaniel said. "But yeah, there wasn't anything that moved the needle for us to change our roster beyond what we've done."
Miami parted ways with longtime general manager Chris Grier last week, promoting Champ Kelly on an interim basis with four days to spare before the trade deadline. The belief, sources from multiple teams told ESPN, was that the Dolphins would be open to trading most of the players on their roster -- at least more so than they were under Grier, who thought Miami could still turn its season around.
ESPN senior writers Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler reported the Dolphins received calls about wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and linebacker Bradley Chubb, but the team rebuffed offers for both players. A source told Graziano, Miami wanted at least a first-round pick for Waddle, who signed a three-year, $84.75 million extension in 2024.
While Kelly has the interim GM title, McDaniel said there was a cohesive process with team owner Stephen Ross to determine the franchise's direction for the next few months.
"It was a collaboration of myself, Champ, and [Dolphins senior vice president of football and business administration] Brandon Shore, and utilizing all of the minds that we have within the organization but communicating with our ownership directly," McDaniel said. "We had very, very healthy conversations and we're all in agreement for the moves [we made] and/or moves we didn't make.
"It was a normal trade deadline process where you are, contrary to popular belief, you generally talk about a ton ... there's conversations all over the place with every team because everyone's trying to get better and seeing what competitive advantage they can get. I'm happy with the preparation portion of this morning for the Buffalo Bills."
McDaniel acknowledged after the Phillips trade he understood the value of the compensation Miami received in return. The Dolphins now own five picks in the first three rounds of the 2026 draft -- which will be critical toward rebuilding a roster that will likely look a lot different next season.
Chubb has no guaranteed money remaining on the five-year, $110 million extension he signed in 2022 and renegotiated this past offseason. And the team would save $20 million in salary cap space if he's released or traded after June 1 next year. Trading or releasing wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who suffered a season-ending dislocated knee in Week 4, would save the team roughly $36 million.
McDaniel said ignoring the outside noise will be critical for the Dolphins moving forward.
"The NFL is an exhausting place if you lean into all rumors," he said. "This is a business of rumors. People are paying attention or buying subscriptions or watching television and there's a game once every seven days, or four I guess if you count Thursday. I think ultimately coaches and players have to adjust to the fishbowl that is the National Football League. I'm sure some guys probably had some thoughts or feelings [about the trade deadline] ... the unknown is the greatest source of stress and anxiety for human beings.
"But to be honest, you have a team playing a division opponent that we very much are familiar with and are eager to position ourselves to put our best performance out there and compete against these guys. So I think it was a breath of fresh air to have a unilateral focus on an opponent and what we have to do."
ESPN's Football Power Index gives Miami a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs and projects its final record at 5.5-11.5. Center Aaron Brewer said the Dolphins still have a job to do, regardless of their record, and that the team "can still end 10-7."
Fullback Alec Ingold said Monday that there was a "weekend of reflection" after last week's 28-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, during which players focused on recovery and preparation for this week's game against Buffalo; he said Kelly didn't address the team ahead of Tuesday's deadline.
As a team captain, Ingold said his job is to find the balance between encouraging his teammates and making sure their standard remains upheld.
"You don't want false positivity, right?" he said. "I don't think that helps anything, but I do think there's a skill to find beauty in our struggle, and encouraging guys that have been playing well and making sure to emphasize those points and kind of widening your scope. A lot of us when adverse times hit, when the results aren't happening, you kind of dial your focus into your job, what you can control.
"As a leader the challenge is acknowledging the people that are doing a great job ... leading by example as well, and then being bold and convicted in things that you don't want to see anymore and having the courage to speak up on that and holding everybody accountable to that standard. I think it's those three things that as leaders, it falls on us to execute, and I think that's kind of the formula we have to find again."