It didn’t take long for the Dolphins to go from likely to trade wide receiver Mike Wallace to the Vikings to trading Wallace to the Vikings.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Miami has shipped the wideout to Minnesota along with a seventh-round pick. The Vikings will send a fifth-round pick back to the Dolphins.
The move ends months of speculation about whether Wallace would return to the team for the 2015 season after two years in Miami that saw Wallace’s production fail to live up to the big contract that the Dolphins gave him in 2013. There were also frequent talk about Wallace being unhappy with his role, culminating in an argument with the team’s coaches that landed Wallace on the bench for much of the team’s final game in 2014.
Now he’ll get a chance to play in Norv Turner’s offense, which has been friendly toward deep passing throughout his long career in the NFL. Wallace will line up with Greg Jennings, Charles Johnson and tight end Kyle Rudolph to give Teddy Bridgewater a deeper group of targets than he had as a rookie. Should Adrian Peterson remain with the team, the Vikings offense will look even better heading into next season.
Wallace has a base salary of $9.85 million in 2015 and is signed for two more years with salaries of $11.45 million each year. The Dolphins could use the savings toward a new deal for tight end Charles Clay or for other moves in what’s already been a very busy offseason in Miami.