After the Miami Dolphins held on at the NFL trade deadline, head coach Mike McDaniel explained that he discussed potential deals with general manager Chris Grier for players who would be traded or acquired.

Defensive lineman Calais Campbell was clearly one of those players discussed in a possible trade to the Dolphins, and according to IF NFL According to journalist Albert Breer, he apparently almost got traded to one of his former teams.

That team was the Baltimore Ravens, who Campbell played for from 2020-2022 before spending last season with the Atlanta Falcons.

“They almost brought Calais Campbell back,” Breer said on Amazon Prime before Thursday night’s game between the Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals. “This deal fell through at the last minute.”

What the Ravens were offering the Dolphins, who were in a tough situation with Campbell, needs to be clarified.

On the one hand, Campbell may have been their best player through the first eight games of 2024this after deciding to sign with the team and continue his career at the age of 38 for a chance at that elusive Super Bowl title.

Having Campbell do it in the city where he played college football — a UM alumnus — was a bonus, but the championship was what he wanted, and the Ravens would clearly offer a better chance to do that now.

But the Dolphins’ reluctance to deal with him makes sense when you consider the tone of the organization after its strong performance against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday – yes, even in a loss.

Trading Campbell, even to give him a solid if this was indeed his final season in the NFL, would have been an elegant thing to do, but it also would have signaled that the team was giving up on the 2024 season. not close to doing that with nine games remaining.

Ultimately, the Dolphins decided not to move with Campbell because having him in the lineup clearly gave them a better chance of winning.