Miami, FL
Dolphins Sunday Mailbag: Tua, Chop, Jaelan, and More
Part 1 of a Dolphins mailbag on this first weekend of August:
From Richard grosso (@rjgro):
One media guy says Chop is impressing early; another says the opposite; what says my most trusted observer?
Thanks, Richard. Your most trusted observer absolutely loves what he’s seen from him with the understanding that he’s a rookie and I’m not necessarily putting him in the Pro Bowl just yet. But the burst off the line of scrimmage really jumps out, he had a perfect rep in edge setting Saturday and in every conversation he strikes you with his maturity level. So far so good is what I’d say.
From Break (@DolphinsBreak):
Super easy generic one. Why will the Dolphins finally win a playoff game in 20-something years, and also why won’t they?
The Dolphins finally will win a playoff game because they won’t falter down the stretch, won’t get beaten up by injuries this season and end up winning the AFC East title and secure a home playoff game. They won’t win a playoff game again because the same issues will crop up, namely the inability to come up with a counterpunch when opposite defenses find ways to slow down their passing game down the stretch.
From Dave (2DaGreco49):
How many tight ends are Miami keeping?
Hey Dave, it’s clearly going to be three or four, but since you asked I have to go you an answer and I’ll go with three, and those three will be Durham Smythe, Jonnu Smith and Julian Hill. If there’s a fourth, it’ll come down to Tanner Conner and Jody Fortson Jr.
From Dave (@angryvet59):
This may not be a fair one because it calls for you looking into The Poupart Crystal Ball, but Tua has his deal & knows the expectations. Do you think he may try to extend plays unnecessarily, forcing throws with more INTs? Keep up the good info on the Podcast Alain!
Thanks Dave, no, I don’t have that concern as it relates to him having his extension. I do think he may look to extend plays a bit more because he’s clearly going to be more mobile than he was last season and this is where the coaches have to stay on him to remain smart, both in terms of not forcing passes and also in terms of not exposing himself to open-field hits unnecessarily.
From Jayco (@ljc7975):
Welcome back Alain. Were you surprised that Wynn and Beckham started camp on the shelf? I am hoping this is not an ominous sign.
Thanks Jayco, glad to be back. I was not surprised at all with Wynn because there never was any indication he was close even during the spring. As for Beckham, that clearly was more surprising because the implication was that his absence from the offseason program was about being really cautious.
From Bo Stout (@Stout001):
With the emergence of Duck & Bonner, do you think the Dolphins secondary will allow a single TD pass this year?
Hey Bo, good one. Even your joke aside, I’d caution against putting Duck and Bonner in the Hall of Fame just yet. And, truth be told, the two rookie free agent cornerbacks who really have caught my eye are Jason Maitre and Isaiah Johnson.
From Dante Xavier (@DanteLima115):
Compared to last year’s 53, what position group could you see carrying more/fewer players?
The obvious spot where I think you’ll see fewer players is the secondary because the Dolphins had a whopping 12 there at times last year. I also don’t see the Dolphins carrying three quarterbacks this year because of the new rule. As for spots where we could see more, I’d certainly point to the defensive line, where the Dolphins had never more than five last season.
From Jake McVay (@JakeMc945):
Hi Alain, I really appreciate how you do these for the fans. Thank you! How do you feel about the linebacker crew? Everyone seems to worry about the O-line and D-line, but I am worried about the linebacker position. My biggest worry. What are your thoughts?
Hey Jake, first off thanks. Now, for your question, I’m assuming you mean all linebackers, including edge rushers. I personally really like the depth the Dolphins have for off-the-ball linebackers with Long, Brooks, Walker and Riley, and I think they’ll be fine at outside linebacker with the two draft picks (Chop and Mo), along with Emmanuel Ogbah (who’s looked really good in practice) and the returning starters, assuming Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb will be back sooner rather than later — and it is looking very good with Phillips being able to be ready for the start of the regular season.
From Lloyd Heilbrunn (@LloydHeilbrunn):
How much of the praise the pass rush is getting the last several practices is due to the fact that the blocking is crap?
Hey Lloyd, another factor here also is the nature of training camp practices where the hitting isn’t nearly what it is during the regular season. All factors considered, the pass rush has looked good, though context is important.
From Ofilio Arguello (@ArguelloOfilio):
What is your sense from the organization regarding losing to top defenses? Do they feel their scheme was or is right and injuries are to blame? Or, do you think McDaniel is making changes and adjustments to beat these teams?
Hey Ofilio, I think the Dolphins would blame the losses on bad execution more than anything else, even injuries, though Mike McDaniel is smart enough to realize that some tweaks are necessary to give opponents more to handle.
From Bladeaux (@Bud_Nuggets):
If you’re picking the chart, who are the starting OLBs the first month of the season and why? (We know neither Phillips nor Chubb will be back).
Let me start by saying I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the idea of Jaelan Phillips being in the starting lineup in Week 1. At this time, I’m thinking Emmanuel Ogbah would be in the starting lineup (a pretty remarkable turn of events, really) and the other, if not Phillips, probably would be Chop Robinson or as a long shot Quinton Bell.
From Ed Helinski (@MrEd315):
Who’s been surprising and who’s been disappointing so far in Dolphins camp?
From Chris Shields (@shieldsc_):
What’s your biggest surprise of camp thus far? (Please give example of a positive surprise and a negative) thanks and appreciate the free content. Who’s your pick to be the longest wild card to make the 53?
Hey Ed and Chris, surprising is always tough because that depends on your expectations, but what I’ll use here are lesser-name players. And one guy who really stands out here is Quinton Bell, who fans probably know only from “Hard Knocks” as the guy who played the role of Maxx Crosby on the scout team last year. He’s been really impressive. As for disappointing — and I hate to single out players that way — I’d have to go with Jody Fortson Jr. I had high expectations for him based on what I saw in the offseason practices, but he’s dropped too many passes for my liking. As for my biggest long shot to make the roster, there are two rookie free agent cornerbacks who I’ve really liked is that’s Jason Maitre and Isaiah Johnson.
Miami, FL
Jaylen Brown bidding war? Haslem drove this? All the fallout from Antetokounmpo trade to Miami
It was the blockbuster deal of the NBA offseason: After years of will-he/won’t-he, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded to Miami.
It also feels like the first domino of what will be some other big moves — including possibly a Jaylen Brown bidding war and trade. At NBC, we’ve explained the Antetokounmpo trade, named its winners and losers, and broken down how it will impact fantasy teams. Still, the fallout from this trade just keeps coming. Here are some other notes and analysis surrounding Antetokounmpo’s move to Miami.
Jaylen Brown bidding war?
Boston tried to say, “We weren’t shopping Brown, it was only because this was Giannis Antetokounmpo.” Except a few years back, they said the same thing when Brown was rumored to be part of a trade offer for Kevin Durant. From Brown’s perspective, you don’t want to be the person in the relationship where your partner is always looking around for an upgrade.
Other teams are expecting Boston to make Brown available, and there could be a bidding war, something articulated well by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the network’s “Get Up.”
“What I expect to happenis a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality, that it wouldn’t be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes and that there would be a Jaylen Brown market. And now we’re going to watch that. I think it’ll take time to play out.”
If Brown becomes available, look for Houston and Atlanta to be at the front of the line for him, with a number of other teams — Portland has said it’s interested — in the mix. The challenge will be matching his salary, which is $57.1 million next season and totals about $183 million over the next three years. Brown is coming off his best season as a pro, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
Boston kept young players out
Why did Milwaukee ultimately choose the Miami offer over Boston? In part because, while Brown would have been the best individual player the Bucks could have gotten in return, they wanted more — specifically a young player like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez, and Boston would not put them in the offer, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Boston’s final offer was Brown and two unprotected first-round picks. Milwaukee preferred Miami’s offer… or at least one key person did.
Bucks co-owner Haslam pushed for Miami trade
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam also owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns — a team that dealt with a trade demand from future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett. Then came the Antetokounmpo saga with the Bucks.
That led Haslam to push for the “certainty” of the Miami offer because he didn’t want to see Brown come to Milwaukee and force his way out in a couple of years, something Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reported right after the trade went down.
Report: Haslam a ‘driving force’ in Giannis trade
Mike Florio looks at Jimmy Haslam’s reported role in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and analyzes Haslam’s involvement as owner of the Cleveland Browns.
That was a concern of others in the Milwaukee front office, reports Sam Amick and Eric Nehm at The Athletic, who add there had been signs in recent weeks that Brown didn’t really want to land in Milwaukee.
Herro happy
Brown may not have wanted to go to Milwaukee, but Tyler Herro — who is a Milwaukee native — is excited to go home in the trade, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Sources: Tyler Herro is thrilled about a fresh start and playing for his hometown team the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro always envisioned returning home at some point during his NBA career.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 23, 2026
Except Herro may not be staying in Milwaukee—there are multiple reports that the Bucks are listening to offers to trade him again. At the front of that line may be Detroit, which is looking for shooting and secondary ball-handling to pair with Cade Cunningham, and Herro fits that bill.
Is Anthony Edwards next?
Once one superstar is traded, the insatiable NBA trade rumor machine starts looking for the next star who might be on the move.
Is it about to be Anthony Edwards’ turn in the spotlight? ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said on the latest Hoop Collective Podcast, “The NBA vultures are swirling around Ant in anticipation of him potentially becoming the next superstar who’s available in the trade market.” Multiple reports in recent years have said Edwards has been frustrated with the team building in Minnesota, dating back to when it traded away Karl-Anthony Towns to save money.
This is not happening fast. Minnesota has no intention of trading Edwards right now, and he still has three fully guaranteed years at $156.9 million left on this contract. There is no pressure to move him, and Edwards would deny he is even thinking about leaving.
That said, teams file these kinds of things away and just wait.
Miami, FL
Fiery, fatal crash shuts down southbound lanes of Don Shula Expressway in southwest Miami-Dade
An investigation is underway after a man was killed in a fiery crash with a truck on the Don Shula Expressway in southwest Miami-Dade early Tuesday morning, according to officials.
The Florida Highway Patrol said that a white Mercedes coupe was headed south on SR 847 (Don Shula Expressway), near Southwest 104th Street when it crashed into the back of a truck.
A large fire broke out after the crash, and investigators said that the driver of the Mercedes, who was only identified as an adult Hispanic male, died at the scene.
The fiery crash forced officials to shut down the southbound lanes of the roadway, and drivers were being asked to seek an alternate route.
Heavy delays were reported behind the crash, and delays also started to build in the northbound lanes near the scene.
The southbound lanes have since reopened.
No other information was released.
Miami, FL
Miami Heat slip behind Boston Celtics in Giannis Antetokounmpo race
The Miami Heat woke up Monday no longer in control of the chase they had led for weeks. With the 2026 NBA Draft set for Tuesday and the Milwaukee Bucks closing in on a resolution to the Giannis Antetokounmpo saga, Miami suddenly finds itself in a two-team race it is no longer favored to win.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday that Antetokounmpo is expected to be moved before the draft, with the Heat and Boston Celtics emerging as the two finalists. The Bucks have narrowed their talks to those clubs, sources told Charania, and are weighing two dramatically different packages for the former two-time MVP.
For a fan base that spent the better part of a month believing Miami was the team to beat, the shift landed hard. The Heat are still in it. They are simply no longer the favorite.
A two-team race with a Tuesday deadline
Milwaukee set the timeline itself. Bucks ownership signaled in May that it wanted Antetokounmpo’s future settled by the start of the draft, and Charania reported Monday on ESPN’s “Get Up” that a trade is expected to land in line with that cutoff.
Charania framed the two bids as opposites. One is built around an established star, the other around youth and draft capital, and he described the negotiations bluntly.
“These conversations have been a blood bath,” Charania said.
He also stressed that whatever happens, it will not balloon into a multi-team construction the way other blockbusters have. Whether the deal closes Monday or Tuesday, Charania said, it is expected to be a one-to-one trade between Milwaukee and one of the two finalists, with no third team folded in. That detail matters for Miami, because it removes one of the lifelines the Heat had been counting on.
Boston changed the math with Jaylen Brown
For most of the buildup, Miami held the perceived edge because the Celtics were reluctant to part with Jaylen Brown. That changed over the weekend. The Stein Line’s Marc Stein reported Monday that Boston emerged “with a real shot” to win the race built around a Brown-centric offer, with Milwaukee willing to consider a swap even without a third team to absorb his contract.
That is the development that flipped the race. Brown is a five-time All-Star and a former NBA Finals MVP coming off the best statistical season of his career, having averaged a career-high 28.7 points per game as Boston’s centerpiece. He is also a bona fide star Milwaukee can plug in immediately, which speaks directly to ownership’s stated preference to get a recognizable face back rather than a stack of prospects.
The money works, too. A Brown-for-Antetokounmpo framework lines up cleanly under the salary cap, and from Milwaukee’s vantage point, flipping one star for another carries better optics than entering a full teardown empty-handed.
Prediction markets moved with the news. Per Kalshi data, Miami’s implied odds slid from the low 60s into the mid-30s on Monday while Boston vaulted toward roughly 70 percent. Those figures shift by the hour and should be read as a temperature check rather than a forecast, but the direction of the swing is the story.
What Miami is putting on the table
The Heat’s pitch leans on volume and flexibility rather than star power. Reported frameworks have centered on Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic, with Kasparas Jakucionis and multiple future first-round picks also in the mix, and Miami holds the No. 13 overall pick in Tuesday’s draft.
It is a thoughtful offer for a rebuilding team. It is also, by definition, not a star, and that is the gap Boston is now exploiting.
There is a limit to how far Miami is willing to go. Bam Adebayo is the only player truly untouchable in the Heat’s discussions, and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reported that the front office does not want to strip the roster and its draft capital down to the studs to get a deal done. That restraint is understandable given the franchise’s history of swinging big and missing, most painfully on Damian Lillard three years ago, but it also means Miami may be unwilling to match a price Boston now appears ready to meet.
The case for the Heat to lose this race
There is a real argument, voiced by some of the league’s most prominent analysts, that Miami should be careful what it wishes for. Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons both cautioned against the Heat gutting their young core for an aging star, with Lowe warning that the long-term cost could hollow out the roster.
“The concerns I think are very real for Miami,” Lowe said.
The basketball context behind that caution is hard to ignore. Antetokounmpo is 31 and coming off the most injury-plagued season of his career, appearing in just 36 games amid groin, calf and knee issues while the Bucks finished 32-50 and missed the playoffs, snapping a run of nine straight postseason appearances.
He still produced when available, averaging 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, but his looming free agency in 2027 is depressing his trade value across the league. For a Heat team that went 43-39 and has been hunting a co-star for Adebayo since dealing Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, the math of trading a future for a 31-year-old’s prime window is genuinely fraught.
What happens next
The next 24 hours should decide it. Milwaukee has telegraphed the draft as its internal deadline, and the expectation is a resolution before Tuesday night, though multiple insiders have noted the saga could still spill into free agency if the Bucks decide their leverage is better served by waiting.
For Miami, the stakes are stark. Landing Antetokounmpo would end years of frustrated superstar pursuits and reset the franchise’s ceiling overnight. Losing him to Boston, again on the doorstep of a deal, would sting in a way Heat fans know all too well. Either outcome arrives soon, and for the first time in this chase, the Heat are watching it unfold without holding the best hand.
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