Dolphins acquire Ayodele and Fasano

On the eve before the Draft, Miami decided to trade away its fourth round pick in order to acquire LB Akin Ayodele and TE Anthony Fasano from the Dallas Cowboys.

To be honest, my first reaction to this trade was displeasure. After all, neither of those players are above average and now Miami's stock of draft selections has a gigantic hole between picks 64 and 197. That's an eternity to go without having a single pick.

Miami's stock of draft picks now looks as such:

=====
DAY ONE (Rounds 1 and 2)

Round 1 (1 overall)
Round 2 (32)
Round 2 (57, from San Diego)

DAY TWO (Rounds 3-7)

Round 3 (64)
Round 6 (197, from Dallas)
Round 6 (204, compensatory)
Round 7 (209)
Round 7 (245, compensatory)
=====

The good side of the this trade is that both of these players are still young and both are coming from the same system that they will be playing in. Furthermore, both players play positions that are relatively weak in this draft. The selling point for me is that Fasano is still only 24 years old, barely older than a senior coming out of college, and it's not likely that Miami was going to select a TE that was much better than him in this year's draft, especially with their fourth pick. Add in Ayodele who will likely challenge for a starting linebacker spot and it seems like a fair deal - not a great deal, but a fair deal.

Let's take a look at the guys the team just got:

Fasano (6'4", 258 lbs.) is a two year veteran out of Notre Dame. He was a second round draft pick in 2006. These are his career stats:








==========

YEAR	TEAM	G	GS	REC	Catch %	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	FD	FUM
2006	DAL	16	6	14	58%	126	9.0	22	0	4	0
2007	DAL	16	5	14	67%	143	10.2	26	1	6	0
Career		32	11	28	62%	269	9.6	26	1	10	0

==========

Ayodele (6'2". 250 lbs.) is a six year veteran out of Purdue. He is 28 years old. He was a third round draft pick in 2002. These are his career stats:







==========

YEAR	TEAM	G	GS	TOT	SOLO	AST	PD	SACK	FF	REC	INT	YDS	TD
2002	JAC	16	3	68	61	7	3	3.0	2	0	1	22	0
2003	JAC	16	16	116	96	20	4	1.0	0	3	2	15	0
2004	JAC	16	16	93	80	13	3	2.0	2	1	0	0	0
2005	JAC	16	11	72	56	16	1	2.5	4	1	0	0	0
2006	DAL	16	16	84	64	20	4	1.0	0	2	2	2	0
2007	DAL	16	14	57	36	21	4	0.0	0	0	0	0	0
Career		96	76	490	393	97	19	9.5	8	7	5	39	0