MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — For the second time in three days, the Miami Dolphins have traded away a starter.
The Dolphins announced Saturday they have traded linebacker Raekwon McMillan and a 2021 fifth-round draft pick to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a fourth-round pick in next year's draft.
McMillan started 28 of 29 games played with Miami since being selected in the second round of the 2017 draft. He started 12 games last season, totaling 72 tackles, including 35 solo.
"He's somebody I respect a lot," Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said of McMillan after the trade was announced. "He's a good football player. I think he's going to have a long career, but there's a lot of depth in that room."
Flores wouldn't say what ultimately led to the decision to trade McMillan.
"There's, again, like a lot of decisions we make as an organization, there's a lot of things that go into it that you're not going to know about, and we're not going to tell you," Flores told reporters. "But in every decision we make, it's in the best interests of the Miami Dolphins."
The Dolphins traded last year's starting running back, Kalen Ballage, to the New York Jets on Friday, receiving a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft.