NFL Trade Rumors: Dolphins shopped Mike Wallace to Eagles in 2014

CBS NFL Insider Jason La Canfora recently dropped an interesting nugget involving Miami Dophins wide receiver Mike Wallace and the Philadelphia Eagles. The ironic thing about it was that he brought it up in an argument with a Twitter user questioning the accuracy of his reporting. In any event, here's the tweet:

@JClaryObserver um, wallace was shopped with eagles among those they talked to. You don't have clue brother. Quit while you're behind kid

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) February 15, 2015

As you can see, La Canfora indicates the Dolphins were shopping Wallace to the Eagles (among other teams) last offseason. Perhaps that explains why he wrote this column last March about the Eagles being a potential landing spot for the Miami pass catcher. Plus this is hardly the first time the Eagles and Dolphins have been mentioned as trade partners given all the Dion Jordan talk last year.

Conflicting reports emerged last offseason regarding Wallace's trade status. La Canfora insisted he was on the block while Miami Herald report Armando Salguero insisted Wallace wasn't being made available. La Canfora, not unlike other reporters, has been hit and miss. To his credit, he did report that the Eagles were interested in Jason Worilds prior to anyone else did last offseason.

It was easy to see why the Dolphins may have wanted to move on. Miami signed Wallace to a five-year, $60 million contract with $30 million in guarantees during the 2013 offseason. It was then-GM Jeff Ireland who rewarded him with that contract. But then Ireland was (unofficially) fired in 2014 and replaced by now-GM Dennis Hickey. The new regime may have wanted to dump Wallace's bloated salary.

The Dolphins couldn't find any suitors and it's not hard to see why in hindsight. Wallace just hasn't lived up to the expectations of his enormous contract. Despite being the highest paid wide receiver in 2014, he finished 32nd in yards with 862.

Now, just because Miami was shopping Wallace to Philadelphia doesn't mean the Eagles were interested. Especially when you consider this is a guy who apparently quit playing during a game once. But if for some reason they were, the Birds may be able to acquire him this offseason. The Dolphins can release Wallace for a savings of nearly $6 million in cap space. There's talk of Wallace restructuring his deal so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. For what it's worth, Dolphins fans don't expect to see him back in 2015.

The Eagles are relatively set at wide receiver already assuming they find a way to re-sign impending free agent Jeremy Maclin. With Maclin in the fold, the Eagles also have 2014 rookies Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff returning. The Eagles are also likely stuck with Riley Cooper for at least one more season due to his cap figure. I wouldn't expect the Eagles to go hard after Wallace if he does get released, but at the least it could be worth keeping an eye on.

(Hat tip to reader @IgglesCoverage on the find.)