Winners, Losers, and Grade for Miami Dolphins-Chicago Bears Trade

Late Monday night, the Miami Dolphins dealt veteran center Dan Feeney to the Chicago Bears ahead of Tuesday’s 53-man roster cutdown deadline. The compensation, according to multiple reports? A sixth-round pick in 2024.

The swap gave the Bears needed depth on the interior line and gave the Dolphins a bit of compensation for a player who really wasn’t in their plans. Who won the Dan Feeney trade? And what grades should each team receive? Let’s explore.

Grading the Dan Feeney Trade

Feeney, 29, was a third-round pick by the Chargers in 2017. He started 57 games in his first four NFL seasons. When his contract expired after the 2020 season, he signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets, and spent the next two years there as backup.

Feeney’s usage in New York was tiny. He had nearly as many special teams snaps (67) as offensive reps (109) in 2022.

Still, there was a market for him this past offseason. The Dolphins signed him to a one-year, $3.3 million contract early in free agency, a deal that included a $2 million signing bonus (which the Dolphins remain responsible for).

Chicago Bears Grade: B

Miami Dolphins Grade: B-

Chicago Bears Win Dan Feeney Trade

From a Bears perspective, they get an experienced backup at the league minimum. And while there was some value lost in the draft pick surrendered (more on this in a bit), it was a price the Bears needed to pay.

The Bears are a very young team (25.8 average age) with a very young, and banged up, offensive line.

While Feeney isn’t exactly a grey beard, he adds some gravitas to that position group.

His position flexibility was a plus — Feeney has logged snaps at both guard and center in the NFL — and Feeney could even see snaps in Week 1 with injuries to Teven Jenkins, Nate Davis, and Cody Whitehair.

Miami Dolphins Lose by a (Bottle)Nose

The Dolphins lost this trade the second they realized Feeney wasn’t going to be one of their top seven (or even eight, depending on Terron Armstead’s health) Week 1 offensive lineman.

At that point, it was just about extracting as much value as they could for a bad contract.

If not for his not-insignificant guaranteed money, he would have been a prime cut candidate.

MORE: Team-By-Team Tracker for Every NFL Roster Cut

The Bears allowed Miami to move on from a mistake while still getting something out of it.

A sixth-round pick isn’t great, but it’s also not nothing.

Let’s for the sake of argument, say the Bears were to pick in the mid-170s next April. That pick will, according to an Over The Cap estimation, had the salary cap value of $1.4 million.

So another way to look at this deal is they overpaid for a sixth-round pick by $600,000 for the right to give Feeney a shot to win a job.