MIAMI (June 5, 2007) -- Trent Green could be on the field with the Dolphins by this weekend after Miami finally agreed to terms with Kansas City on a trade for the quarterback.
Green will undergo a physical in Miami and if he passes it, the trade will be completed, a person within the NFL with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. The person requested not to be identified because the deal is not official.
Neither team would confirm the trade. A Dolphins spokesman said he had no knowledge of a deal even being worked out, much less finalized. Green's agent, Jim Steiner, did not return messages seeking comment.
If the move happens, the 36-year-old Green would likely be with the Dolphins when they open a three-day minicamp on June 7.
Foxsports.com reported that Kansas City will get a fifth-round draft pick that could become a fourth-rounder instead, depending on how well Green plays in Miami.
In 5 1/2 seasons as Kansas City's starter, Green threw for 21,459 yards -- an average of 244 per game -- and 118 touchdowns while completing 62 percent of his passes. He missed eight games last season because of a concussion suffered in the season opener, and didn't believe he'd have a chance to fairly compete with Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard for the starting job in KC in 2007.
So he wanted a trade to South Florida and worked out a new contract several weeks ago with the Dolphins, who traded for Daunte Culpepper before the 2006 season.
"They haven't said, 'You're the guy, come right in,"' Green said last month when asked about his talks with the Dolphins. "They haven't told me one way or another. I just know I would have a much more fair chance, for my mind."
Culpepper played in only four games a year ago because of knee problems and is still trying to recover from major surgery in 2005. If the Green deal gets completed, Culpepper's status -- which is already uncertain for 2007 -- would become even more cloudy, and there is widespread speculation that the Dolphins may simply consider releasing him.
"It's unfortunate the way things turned out for Daunte," running back Ronnie Brown told Sirius NFL Radio.
Culpepper, who wants to participate in minicamp this weekend and begin competing for the starting job, is due to make $5.5 million in 2007.
Miami also drafted a quarterback this year, Brigham Young's John Beck in the second round after passing on a chance to take Notre Dame's Brady Quinn with the No. 9 overall pick -- which the Dolphins used on receiver-returner Ted Ginn Jr., of Ohio State.
Culpepper's health almost certainly was a major factor why Miami spent weeks trying to coax Kansas City into trading Green, who would have made $7.2 million this season with the Chiefs. The Dolphins offered the Chiefs a sixth-round pick long before April's draft, while Kansas City reportedly insisted on a fourth-round selection.
Green is one of seven NFL quarterbacks with at least three seasons of more than 4,000 yards passing and one of only four -- Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and Dan Fouts are the others -- to post that many yards in three consecutive seasons, doing so from 2003 through 2005.
"I support him in whatever he wants to do and whatever happens. ... But I sense some of his frustrations," Huard said in Kansas City on June 3.
Green and new Dolphins coach Cam Cameron have a long relationship. Both are former Indiana quarterbacks, and Cameron was Washington Redskins quarterbacks coach when Green was a third-stringer there in 1995 and 1996.
Cameron has repeatedly declined to comment specifically on the Green situation in recent weeks.
