Report: Dolphins Shopping Wide Receivers

The Miami Dolphins reportedly have contacted teams around the league in an effort to move Preston Williams and/or Lynn Bowden Jr.

The Miami Dolphins loaded up at wide receiver in the offseason, in the process putting a couple of young players at the position in limbo.

So it shouldn't be a surprise at this time that the team is shopping Preston Williams and Lynn Bowden Jr. around the league, according to SI NFL writer Albert Breer.

As part of his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column, Breer discussed the NFL's sanctions against the Dolphins before adding this additional note on the team:

"Things should heat up once injuries start to occur and preseason games start to be played. But Miami’s already at work here with a surplus at a prominent position. They’ve talked to other teams about potentially moving veteran receivers Preston Williams and Lynn Bowden Jr. Williams showed a ton of promise as a rookie, with 32 catches for 428 yards and three touchdowns, but has leveled off since. Bowden came out of Kentucky as a sort-of Swiss Army knife offensive weapon, having worked as a receiver, quarterback and return man in college. He was taken in the third round by the Raiders and traded to Miami before Week 1 of his rookie year, and he has struggled to find a niche and battled injuries since. So maybe someone out there will see something in one of these two and take a swing. Either way, it’s probably smart of the Dolphins to get out in front of the glut of names likely to hit the trade market later in the month.

WHY THE DOLPHINS WOULD TRADE WILLIAMS OR BOWDEN

If the Dolphins can get anything in exchange for either Bowden or Williams, it almost would have to be considered a win for the team because neither seems to have a great chance to make the 53-man roster after the Dolphins acquired Tyreek Hill via trade and signed Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Trent Sherfield.

Hill and Wilson obviously will make the team, as will Jaylen Waddle and rookie fourth-round pick Erik Ezukanma, and Sherfield also likely will make the team based on his special teams experience, his prior connection with Mike McDaniel, not to mention the fact he's looked good in camp.

That's five wide receivers right there, and there are many years when that's how many the Dolphins will keep among their 53.

And even if the Dolphins decide to keep six, at this point Bowden and Williams — based on practice observations and other factors — likely trail players like River Cracraft, Mohamed Sanu and maybe even return specialist DeVonte Dedmon and rookie free agent Braylon Sanders.

As Breer noted, maybe a team will be intrigued by different ways to use Bowden, who showed good open-field running ability as a rookie in 2020 but was kept out of action last season after being put on IR in the preseason.

As for Williams, he's a big body who did show intriguing potential in the first half of 2019 after he arrived as a rookie free agent, but he's never attained that same level of play after going down with a torn ACL in a November game against the New York Jets that season.

A team intrigued by either player might consider throwing the Dolphins a late-round pick, perhaps a conditional one, to get them on their roster now as opposed to waiting until the end of the preseason for Miami to release them.