Miami Dolphins Moves Catch New England’s Attention
The Miami Dolphins’ acquisition of wide receiver Tyreek Hill this offseason paved the way for the New England Patriots to land DeVante Parker, but it also has created a lot of potential headaches for their defense — and that last part also applies to the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets.
“Well, we have to play them twice, and those are two very, very meaningful games,” Patriots director of player personnel Matt Groh told reporters Friday. “We’ve got to have a way to be able to combat those two players, along with a lot of the other great players that they have and have been able to add. But there’s multiple ways for doing that — there’s personnel, there’s scheme.”
“Those two players” to whom Groh was referring are Hill, of course, along with 2021 first-round pick Jaylen Waddle, who set an NFL rookie record last year with 104 catches.
And the speed the Dolphins will be able to throw at opposing defenses — let’s not forget about new running back Raheem Mostert — indeed will be problematic. Or at least it should be.
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And, yes, it may affect personnel decisions by Miami’s division rivals.
“We’re very cognizant of what they’ve got down there, and we’re going to try and find guys that can help us out in that regard,” Groh said. “There’s multiple ways to try to find different avenues to slow those guys down. It will be tough. They’ve certainly added a lot of speed there.”
The addition of Hill set the stage for the trade of Parker, who was sent to New England along with a 2022 fifth-round pick in return for a 2023 third-round selection — even though it could be argued that Parker might have been dealt either way after seven seasons in Miami.
Groh presented it as such, adding the role played by longtime Patriots assistant (and former Lions head coach) Matt Patricia in the process.
“Certainly, it got kick-started on their end with them adding a different player,” Groh said, “and then where they were at with their wide receiver room, and then having the opportunity to add a great player to our roster.
“They [Dolphins] weren’t going to be able to just keep everybody, and when [Parker] became available, I would say Matt Patricia did a great job of being on that early and kind of getting that information to us as quickly as he could. We were in on that early, and it really came together well for us. We’re really excited about having DeVante here.”
