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Los Angeles Rams Trade Cornerback Aqib Talib to Miami Dolphins for Draft Pick

Introduction

Los Angeles Rams Trade Cornerback Aqib Talib to Miami Dolphins for Draft Pick

Just prior to the National Football League’s trade deadline the Los Angeles Rams send their injured star cornerback, Aqib Talib, to the Miami Dolphins. These teams also exchanged future draft picks in this deal.

Along with Talib, the Rams sent the Dolphins a fifth round draft pick. The Miami team sent the Rams a seventh round selection in the 2022 NFL draft. Essentially this move was a way for the Dolphins to buy a draft pick, and it enables the Rams to clear salary cap space.

The Dolphins are winless so far about halfway through the 2019 – 2020 NFL season. They are clearly tanking to collect future draft picks in hope that they can build a winning football team in Miami for the future. Currently through the use of trading high their higher value players away they have been able to collect excellent draft picks for the next couple NFL drafts.

Dolphins 2020 NFL Draft Selections

The Miami Dolphins have acquired a lot of future draft picks for the 2020 NFL draft. Currently they have a total of 14 picks in that draft including three first round draft selections coming in April of 2020. They also have two second round picks in that draft as well as two projected compensatory picks in the 2020 NFL draft.

The Los Angeles Rams

The LA team made this move to clear space in the salary cap as Aqib Talib is currently on the injured reserve list. Talib has a remaining $4.2 million left on his current NFL contract which is now the responsibility of the Dolphins.

Talib has been dealing with a rib injury since week 5 of the 2019 – 2020 NFL season, and he has the possibility of returning to game action by week 15 of this year’s NFL schedule. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season so no one knows where he will suit up for the 2020 – 2021 NFL season.

Talib’s Success in the NFL

Aqib Talib is a five time Pro Bowler in the NFL. He has a total of 35 interceptions since his rookie year in 2008, and 10 of those interceptions were returned for defensive touchdowns. Among active players in the National Football League he is tied for first in picks, and he is fourth all time in interceptions returned for touchdowns. Talib has played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New England Patriots, the Denver Broncos, the Rams, and as of now the Miami Dolphins.

He was a Super Bowl 50 champion, and was named to the NFL’s First Team All Pro in 2016. In 2013 he was selected to the NFL’s Second Team All Pro. Right now, Talib is 33 years old, and he is still considered one of the best cornerbacks in the National Football League.

Career Regular Season Statistics

    Def Interceptions         Fumbles           Tackles                      
Games                                                
Year Age Tm Pos No. G GS Int Yds TD Lng PD FF Fmb FR Yds TD Sk Comb Solo Ast TFL QBHits Sfty AV
2008 22 TAM CB 25 15 2 4 32 0 19 9             20 14 6 0 0   3
2009 23 TAM LCB 25 15 15 5 99 0 32 15 0 0 1 -5 0   64 56 8 2 0   6
2010 24 TAM LCB 25 11 11 6 91 1 45 11             39 38 1 1 0   6
2011 25 TAM LCB 25 13 13 2 55 2 28 11 1 0 0 0 0   35 31 4 2 0   4
2012 26 2TM CB   10 9 2 59 1 59 10 0 0 1 0 0   40 33 7 1 0   4
    NWE CB 31 6 5 1 59 1 59 2 0 0 1 0 0   19 13 6 0 0   2
    TAM CB 25 4 4 1 0 0 0 8             21 20 1 1 0   2
2013* 27 NWE LCB 31 13 13 4 12 0 14 14 1 0 1 0 0   46 38 8 1 0   11
2014* 28 DEN LCB 21 15 15 4 62 2 33 16 1 0 0 0 0 1 67 58 9 3 1   9
2015* 29 DEN LCB 21 15 15 3 123 2 63 13             45 39 6 1 0   10
2016*+ 30 DEN LCB 21 13 13 3 86 1 46 12             43 32 11 1 1   14
2017* 31 DEN LCB 21 15 15 1 103 1 103 7 1 0 0 0 0   31 23 8 0 0   9
2018 32 LAR CB 21 8 8 1 30 0 30 5 1 0 1 47 0   23 18 5 0 0   3
2019 33 LAR CB 21 5 5 0 0 0 0 2             14 7 7 0 0    
Career         148 134 35 752 10 103 125 5 0 4 42 0 1 467 387 80 12 2   79
5 yrs   TAM     58 45 18 277 3 45 54 1 0 1 -5 0   179 159 20 6 0   21
4 yrs   DEN     58 58 11 374 6 103 48 2 0 0 0 0 1 186 152 34 5 2   42
2 yrs   LAR     13 13 1 30 0 30 7 1 0 1 47 0   37 25 12 0 0   3
2 yrs   NWE     19 18 5 71 1 59 16 1 0 2 0 0   65 51 14 1 0   13

Career Playoff Statistics

        Games   Def Interceptions         Fumbles         Tackles        
Year Age Tm Pos G GS Int Yds TD Lng PD FF Fmb FR Yds TD Comb Solo Ast TFL QBHits
2012 26 NWE LCB 2 2 0 0 0 0 1             9 1 0 0
2013* 27 NWE LCB 2 2                       3 2 0 0
2014* 28 DEN LCB 1 1 0 0 0 0 1             4 0 0 0
2015* 29 DEN LCB 3 3 0 0 0 0 6             13 1 0 0
2018 32 LAR CB 3 3           1 0 0 0 0   11 2 0 1
Career       11 11 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 0 0 0 46 40 6 0 1
2 yrs   DEN   4 4 0 0 0 0 7           18 17 1 0 0
2 yrs   NWE   4 4 0 0 0 0 1           15 12 3 0 0
1 yr   LAR   3 3           1 0 0 0 0 13 11 2 0 1

Media Statements

"We're getting calls, like every team, and then there's teams calling us too, trying to unload players as well," says the Miami Dolphins general manager, Chris Grier. "We might be [a buyer], yeah. There's some things that might tempt us. We've had some conversations with teams."

"Everything we do, we do in the best interest of the team, long term and short term," the Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay explained. "... Nothing but a lot of great things from our end on Aqib and what he's meant to us."

"I have some history with Aqib. I think he's a really good player," says the Miami Dolphins head coach, Brian Flores. "We had an opportunity to acquire him and some draft capital, so we felt like that was the best move for us."

Sources:

“Rams trade CB Aqib Talib, pick to Dolphins”, Wolfe, Cameron and Thiry, Lindsey, espn.com, October 29, 2019.

“Aqib Talib”, pro-football-reference.com, October 30, 2019.