Miami's roster shake-up reveals a potential Chargers acquisition: an All-Pro center with a perplexing contract situation. Could he solidify their offensive line?
I'm still trying to figure out what the Miami Dolphins are doing.
They fired head coach Mike McDaniel and most of his staff, replacing him with former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. The team then, almost immediately, released WR Tyreek Hill and announced that QB Tua Tagovailoa wouldn't be back for the 2026 NFL season (they are still looking for a trade partner but have said they'll release him if they can't find one).
So, are they tanking? Is this going to be one, or several, down years for the Dolphins that allows them to load their team with cheap, young talent acquired via the draft? I have no idea.
While the Mike McDaniel era is absolutely getting bulldozed by Hafley and the Dolphins front office, I do wonder if maybe they're going to try and make a go of it while they still have a handful of players signed on to long-term, big money contracts.
They could grab a QB and WR on the free agent market that they feel can perform better for them than Tua and Tyreek, but (as of right now) they don't really have the cap space to sign anyone. So, either way (tanking or not), they're going to be looking to clear money off their books and probably looking to acquire draft picks along the way.
Seeing as how this was Mike McDaniel's team for the last few years, I imagine there are at least a few players on the roster that he believes in and would like to have in Los Angeles. And there's one in particular that I want to talk about today:
Aaron Brewer
Here are the most important things for you to know about Aaron Brewer...
First, he's an awesome center. He finished on the All-Pro Team in 2025 and probably should've been selected to the Pro Bowl. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the 2nd best center in the league in 2025.
Second, his contract situation is....strange. He signed a 6-year deal with the Dolphins that quickly hit a benchmark that voided the last three years of it. This was done, apparently, to spread out the salary cap hit. This means that he's headed into the final year of his contract with Miami.
Also, his contract was structured in a way where this year is the most uncomfortable. His cap hits the last two years were $2.5M and $3.8M but it jumps up to $9.1M this season. That's part of the reason the Dolphins are out of cap space.
Trading Brewer now only frees up about $1.6M in cap space for the Dolphins, but their other options are to potentially lose him in free agency or to sign him to an extension that restructures his 2026 numbers. I imagine they have talked with his agent about if he is interested in staying with the Dolphins through a coaching change and what could be some lean years.
From the Los Angeles Chargers perspective, they could avoid the Tyler Linderbaum free agent bidding war by landing Brewer via trade and then signing him to an extension. They'd be getting a center that is three years older but, in theory, less expensive and just as productive. The Chargers would also be giving the offensive line a Mike McDaniel evangelist to help guide the way. Los Angeles would just have to part ways with some of their draft capital to do so.