Addition of Matt Moore in Miami Does Not Kill Kyle Orton Trade Talks

The Miami Dolphins signed former undrafted Carolina Panthers free agent quarterback Matt Moore to a two year deal, which does not signify an upgrade over incumbent starting quarterback Chad Henne. More likely, Moore was signed to replace Tyler Thigpen, who left the Dolphins for the Buffalo Bills and a shot at more playing time.

The Miami Herald is reporting that by no means is a Kyle Orton trade dead:

“Despite numerous believable national and local reports that Miami’s attempt to trade for Denver quarterback Kyle Orton is over, I am told exactly the opposite is true.”

In fact, after day one of practice, the Herald was pretty intent that Miami needs to get Orton into camp ASAP.

“As a Dolphins fan, you better hope — no, that’s not strong enough. You better pray that Orton gets traded to Miami.”

These are very strong sentiments, contrary of course to reports that we have been hearing over the last 24 hours that an Orton trade is “dead” specifically after the signing of Matt Moore. Heck, even I figured the Dolphins might use Moore as a backup plan to Orton right away, Tweeting that Orton could be staying in Denver early on Friday.

However, Moore–like I said–is more likely a replacement for Tyler Thigpen who bolted for a division rival, and the Dolphins still have to have Orton on top of their starting QB wish list. I am not sure how you could rule out teams like Washington, Seattle, and San Francisco for Orton either, but nothing has been really reported on them at this point in time, other than the fact that Seattle initially had interest, but it’s possible that it has died.

With Moore in the fold, the Dolphins’ quarterbacks are he, Henne, and rookie Pat Devlin of Delaware. Rotoworld.com’s Evan Silva said that their QB situation was about as good as that in Seattle or Washington, and I tend to agree. The Dolphins’ best quarterback right now is a bottom 10 quarterback in the NFL, if not worse, and Orton is likely in the top 15 or 16 guys in the league. Acquiring him would be a good move for Miami, and a good move for Denver because the Broncos aren’t keeping him any longer than late April of 2012, so there’s no use in delaying “Tebow Time”.

This trade could still get done, just take a deep breath. According to NFL Network’s Michelle Beisner, to this point, the Broncos have not even received an offer from the Dolphins for Orton. How can a trade be done with no offer? We’ll see how desperate they get over the next few days. Some have speculated that since the Broncos paid Kyle Orton his roster bonus that they are too committed to trading him, but they could still save over $7 million so I don’t buy that one bit.