Even though they’re unlikely to acquire Julius Thomas for left tackle Branden Albert, the Dolphins are interested in trading for the Jaguars tight end. But Miami’s going to face competition if it attempts to land Thomas in a separate deal, as Mike Kaye of WTLV reports that multiple teams are eyeing a possible trade for the 28-year-old.
Aside from the Dolphins, it’s unclear which clubs are targeting Thomas, but the Broncos, Cardinals, Packers, Giants and Jets are among the teams that either got little production from tight ends in 2016 or could lose their No. 1 option to free agency. Thomas has already played in Denver, where he put up back-to-back 12-touchdown seasons from 2013-14. He parlayed that two-year stretch into a $46MM contract with Jacksonville in 2015, but the deal hasn’t gone according to plan for the franchise.
Thomas has missed 11 of 32 games as a Jaguar and averaged under 10.0 yards per catch with them. On the other hand, he has combined for respectable reception and touchdown totals since leaving Denver, having amassed 76 grabs and nine scores.
Any team that acquires the 6-foot-4, 251-pound Thomas would take on a sizable financial commitment, though a contract restructuring would be a possibility. For now, Thomas is due base salaries between $7MM and $9MM over the final three years of his deal, which also carries cap hits ranging from $8.3MM to $10.3MM through 2019.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Seems like a Pats move, with the potential departure of Bennett. A restructure may be needed but by this they give themself a solid 2TE behind gronk. They could try to draft a TE in the draft but that’s a bit risky. Let’s not forget Thomas was once a top 5-10 TE, you take him and add him to Gronk and crew makes a very good offense better