Jaguars reportedly interested in Branden Albert trade

The Jacksonville Jaguars are reportedly interested in a trade with the Miami Dolphins for left tackle Branden Albert, according to Uncle Chaps of Barstool Sports who first broke the story on Thursday.

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald provided some additional context on Friday.

Salguero admits that the Dolphins may not be receiving much interest on Albert, calling Jacksonville “perhaps the only team” interested in a deal.

Where it gets interesting is that Salguero spells out the conditional vs. non-conditional draft pick scenarios for the 2017 and 2018 NFL Drafts, but says that if and when a deal doesn’t happen that both teams are happy with the Jaguars could easily trade tight end Julius Thomas down south.

“[Julius Thomas] only played nine games and caught 30 passes, including four touchdowns last season.

Because of this, rumors persisted the Jaguars would release Thomas this offseason. Those subsided when the team kept Thomas through the Super Bowl because that meant $3 million of the player’s 2017 base salary became guaranteed. And teams do not typically release players once they guarantee significant portions of their base salary.

Except that doesn’t apply to a trade.

The Jaguars can trade Thomas and his new team would be on the hook for the base salary, including the guarantee. Indeed, if Thomas is traded to the Dolphins, they would take on the remaining three years of his deal. The Dolphins have shown a willingness to do this in the past as they took on cornerback Byron Maxwell’s contract after trading for him last season.”

What do you think is more likely? The Jaguars trade a draft pick for Branden Albert? The Jaguars trade a player like Julius Thomas? Or the Jaguars and Dolphins don’t make any sort of trade?