Dolphins safety recruiting Lamar Jackson to replace Tua in since-deleted tweet

Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott quickly started recruiting Lamar Jackson to Miami after the QB’s trade request in a since-deleted tweet. So much for Tua?

Head coach Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins brass have made it clear that Tua Tagovailoa is their guy at quarterback. Despite growing injury concerns and questions from the outside about his ceiling, the franchise has been fully committed to their former first-round pick. Safety DeShon Elliott might be slightly less committed, though, now that Lamar Jackson is fully in play.

With little non-Ken Francis news about the 2019 NFL MVP who the Baltimore Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on earlier in March, Jackson made waves on Monday by announcing that he requested a trade on March 2. There are some finer points to this matter regarding Jackson playing hardball as a negotiation tactic, his ongoing talks with the Ravens, and so on.

The news of the trade request, though, had Elliott hopping onto Twitter to try and get Lamar Jackson to the Dolphins — completely overlooking the Tua-shaped elephant in South Beach — in a tweet that has since been deleted.

Dolphins DB recruits Lamar Jackson to Miami in since-deleted tweet

On the one hand, it’s not hard to drool in the imagination of Lamar Jackson working in the McDaniel/Shanahan offense with weapons like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle around him. On the other hand, Elliott tweeting that out just a few weeks after Miami picked up Tagovailoa’s fifth-year option probably has a lot to do with why it was quickly deleted from his profile.

At any rate, the Dolphins have indeed been mentioned as a fascinating landing spot for Jackson should the franchise be interested. To this point, though, they have not wavered from their Tua-based faith and don’t seem to be a player in the Jackson sweepstakes.

Instead, if Jackson doesn’t end up back with the Ravens, the leading favorite appears to be the Indianapolis Colts, a team saddled with what will likely be the third-best quarterback prospect in the 2023 NFL Draft given that they own the No. 4 overall pick behind the Panthers and Texans. Of course, dark horses like the Falcons, Vikings, Titans and more linger as well.

We’ll have to see if we can include the Dolphins in that conversation at any point, but if Elliott had his way with no filter, Miami might be at the front of the line to try and strike up a deal.