Dolphins Cutting Isaiah Wilson

The Miami Dolphins released tackle Isaiah Wilson less than a week after officially announcing his acquisition in a trade

So much for the idea of the Miami Dolphins getting a steal with their trade for tackle Isaiah Wilson.

The Dolphins have waived the 2020 first-round pick three days after they officially announced his acquisition from the Tennessee Titans.

The Dolphins got Wilson and a 2022 seventh-round pick for a 2021 seventh-round selection, which was an absurdly small cost to take the chance that Wilson could get on the right path after a troubling rookie season with Tennessee.

The decision to cut Wilson will cost the Dolphins nothing financially because all his contract guarantees were voided in Tennessee, so the only cost of waiting a year on a seventh-round pick.

Just in the short time since the Dolphins acquired him, Wilson showed up late for his physical, late for his team orientation and skipped two optional workouts that he had committed to attend, a source told Adam Beasley of The Miami Herald.

On Friday, a video from his Instagram account showed Wilson dancing on top of a car and appearing to be vaping.

Let’s check in on Miami Dolphins OL Isaiah Wilson... pic.twitter.com/XCqjaWUosZ

— Austin Stanley (@AustinStanley81) March 19, 2021

Wilson was the 29th overall selection in the 2020 NFL draft, but the Tennessee Titans had enough after a series of incidents that included an arrest for DUI.

The Dolphins had hoped they could get Wilson straightened out, partly because of his connection with head coach Brian Flores from attending the same high school, Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York.

Veteran offensive lineman Rodger Safford, Wilson's teammate in Tennessee, offered his thoughts on the Wilson news on Twitter.

Sad to see what’s going on with Big Zay but let’s be clear this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a player refuse to get out of his own way. Just haven’t seen it happen this fast and in this light. Damn man...

— Rodger Saffold (@Rodger_Saffold) March 20, 2021

In a best-case scenario, Wilson would have fulfilled his potential and competed at some point for the starting right tackle job.

The worst-case scenario is pretty much what materialized, which only reinforced the idea that it wasn't a bad gamble at all because of the low cost and small time investment involved.

The decision to cut Wilson, though, should serve as a reminder that it's safe to always temper enthusiasm whenever the Dolphins pick up a reclamation project — whether it be off-the-field issues or underperforming — because those unfortunately seem to go south more often than not.

We've already seen it in recent years with the Dolphins with players like Antonio Callaway, Mark Walton and Taco Charlton.

So the notion that Wilson should have been expected to play a key role on the offensive line was off base from the start. This was a gamble from the beginning and it simply didn't pay off.

Now the Dolphins move on with the same group of guards and tackles with which they ended the 2020 season — Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, Jesse Davis, Ereck Flowers — and proceed as they would have had the Isaiah Wilson episode never happened.