MARCH 24: The fifth-rounder headed to Miami will be pick No. 149, according to Ben Goessling of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Vikings will keep the 137th pick, acquired from Tampa Bay via Buffalo.
MARCH 13: The Dolphins have traded wide receiver Mike Wallace and a seventh-round pick to the Vikings for a fifth-rounder, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Both picks are in the 2015 draft, the Dolphins tweeted. 
In dealing Wallace, the Dolphins free up $2.5MM of cap space in 2015, $9.3MM in 2016 and $11.5MM in 2017, though they’ll be stuck with over $16MM of dead money during that time span. Most of that dead money ($9.6MM, to be exact) will be on Miami’s books this year. However, the $2.5MM the Dolphins save for next season will help in their efforts to keep tight end Charles Clay, a transitional free agent whom the AFC East rival Bills are pursuing. Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald tweets that Miami has “more than enough” cap for Clay. That news comes in the wake of both the Wallace trade and the deal the Dolphins made earlier Friday to send expensive linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick to the Saints for wideout Kenny Stills.
As for Wallace, the trade should come as no surprise to the 28-year-old, who Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reported was on the phone with Vikings staff members throughout the afternoon on Friday. Wallace, who spent the first four years of his career in Pittsburgh, signed a five-year, $60MM contract with the Dolphins prior to the 2013 season. He subsequently caught 140 passes for nearly 1,800 yards and 15 touchdowns during his two years in Miami. The Dolphins will replace him with Stills, who hauled in 63 passes for over 900 yards as a second-year man in 2014.
In Minnesota, Wallace will give young quarterback Teddy Bridgewater a durable, productive target. The six-year veteran has missed just one game in his career and has five consecutive seasons of at least 60 catches. Wallace is coming off a campaign that saw him tie a personal best with 10 TDs, giving him 47 for his career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wow… Can’t say I saw that coming. Hopefully Wallace & Johnson can provide legitimate threats. This does not put them in title contention but a step closer. Another year of Zimmer re-tooling the D and they very well could be in the hunt for a deep playoff run, That is if AP stays and is happy.