Wednesday morning brought word from Ed Werder and Chris Mortensen of ESPN that the trade between the Dolphins and Eagles involving cornerback Byron Maxwell and linebacker Kiko Alonso might be called off because of concerns about Maxwell’s shoulder that arose during his physical.
Werder followed up to say that “as of now” the deal is dead, although other reports indicate that isn’t the case. Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins are “gathering more information” on Maxwell’s shoulder injury, which kept him out of the final two games of the regular season, and determining their “comfort level” moving forward with the deal.
Salguero adds that the Dolphins’ hesitation “isn’t [an] attempt at [a] screw job.”
The deal was expected to include a restructuring of Maxwell’s contract and was expected to include a swap of 2016 first-round picks that would have jumped the Eagles from No. 13 to No. 8 with the Dolphins going in the other direction. It’s possible that the trade, which can’t become official until 4 p.m. ET, could go through with other compensation as a result of the Dolphins’ concerns, although that along with everything else about the trade appears to be up in the air at the moment.