After the Miami Dolphins hit the NFL trade deadline, head coach Mike McDaniel explained that he had discussed potential deals with GM Chris Grier for players to be traded or acquired.

Defensive lineman Calais Campbell was clearly one of the players discussed in a potential trade away from the Dolphins, and according to S.I.N.F.L reporter Albert Breer, he apparently came close to a deal with one of his former teams.

That team was the Baltimore Ravens, for whom Campbell played from 2020-2022 before spending last season with the Atlanta Falcons.

“They almost brought back Calais Campbell,” Breer said on Amazon Prime before Thursday night’s game between the Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. “That deal fell through at the last minute.”

What the Ravens offered the Dolphins, who were in a tough spot with Campbell, needs to be clarified.

On the one hand, Campbell may have been their best player through the first eight games of 2024, after deciding to sign with the team at age 38 and continue his career for a chance to chase that elusive Super Bowl title to hunt.

Campbell doing this in the city where he played college football — a UM alum — was a bonus, but the championship was his thing, and the Ravens would clearly offer a better shot at it now.

But the Dolphins’ reluctance to deal with him makes sense when we look at the tone of the organization after the good performance against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday – yes, even in a loss.

Trading Campbell, even to give him a solid foundation if this were indeed his final NFL season, would have been the classy thing to do, but it would also have been a signal that the team was giving up on the 2024 season. And they don’t plan to do that with nine games to go.

Ultimately, the Dolphins decided not to go with Campbell, as having him in the lineup clearly gave them a better chance to win.