Rams reacquire Tutu Atwell from Dolphins in trade for running back Jarquez Hunter

The Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins completed a trade on Thursday that sends wide receiver Tutu Atwell back to Los Angeles in exchange for running back Jarquez Hunter, pending physicals. Both franchises confirmed the swap in statements posted to their official websites, and the deal was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter before either team made it formal. The trade arrived four days before the league's roster cutdown deadline, when all 32 teams must trim to 53 players.

Atwell, a wide receiver who spent his first five NFL seasons with the Rams, had signed a one-year contract with Miami in March and was competing for a roster spot he was unlikely to win. Hunter, a fourth-round pick who barely saw the field as a Rams rookie, now gets a chance to compete for touches in a Dolphins backfield being rebuilt under a new coaching staff.

The trade in numbers

Atwell, 26, was a second-round pick out of Louisville in 2021, taken 57th overall. Over five seasons with the Rams, he caught 105 passes for 1,535 yards and five touchdowns across 64 regular-season games, 27 of them starts, according to figures published in the Rams' official trade announcement. His 2025 season, split across stops with the Rams and then Miami on a one-year, $1.4 million deal signed March 13, produced just six catches for 192 yards and a touchdown in ten games, a stretch interrupted by a hamstring injury.

Hunter, 23, was Los Angeles's fourth-round selection in 2025, the 117th overall pick out of Auburn, where he rushed for 3,371 yards and 25 touchdowns on 539 carries across four seasons, per the Dolphins' official release. In his rookie NFL season he appeared in five games but did not take an offensive snap, logging his only action on special teams. Per reporting from CBS Sports, Miami also frees roughly $1.075 million in cap space by moving off Atwell's deal while absorbing $187,500 in dead money.

How the deal came together

Atwell was a fixture of Sean McVay's offense during the Rams' Super Bowl-contending stretch earlier in the decade but saw his role shrink as Los Angeles built out its receiver room around Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and increasingly deployed three-tight-end packages. He left in free agency for a one-year deal with Miami, a rebuilding team whose new coaching staff was reshaping the receiver depth chart around this year's draft class. That plan left little room for Atwell: the Dolphins used third-round picks this spring on receivers Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell, and Bell was only recently activated off the non-football injury list, tightening the numbers game Atwell faced heading into final cuts.

Hunter's path out of Los Angeles followed a similar logic in reverse. He entered 2025 as a home-run threat out of Auburn's backfield but landed on a Rams roster that already featured Kyren Williams as the lead back, with Blake Corum and Ronnie Rivers also on the depth chart. Barring an injury, Hunter was not projected to carry a significant offensive role in Los Angeles this season, and the Rams' preseason usage reflected that: five games, zero offensive snaps as a rookie. Trading him for a familiar veteran receiver gave the Rams a way to add proven depth without disrupting a backfield rotation that already has three bodies ahead of him.

Who is affected, and the reaction

For the Rams, the return of Atwell restores a player McVay has repeatedly credited with speed and route-running savvy, giving Los Angeles a fourth or fifth receiving option to pair with Matthew Stafford behind Nacua and Adams, alongside Jordan Whittington and rookie Konata Mumpfield. For Miami, Hunter arrives as a low-cost bet on a running back with size — he is listed at 5-foot-10 and 211 pounds — and college production that outstripped his rookie-year opportunity. The Dolphins, already carrying a backfield in transition, gain a player who can compete immediately for a depth role and special-teams snaps rather than fight for a spot behind an established starter.

The deal also has ripple effects on both rosters' bubble players. With Atwell gone, Miami's remaining wide receiver competition narrows further around Douglas and Bell as the team finalizes its 53-man group. In Los Angeles, adding Atwell puts additional pressure on receivers further down the depth chart, including sixth-round pick CJ Daniels, to distinguish themselves in the Rams' preseason finale.

McVay addressed the trade directly, framing it as a straightforward add to receiver depth rather than a reaction to any other roster uncertainty.

"It will be good to be able to bring Tutu Atwell back. Obviously wish Jarquez Hunter nothing but the best moving forward," McVay said, adding that the move "felt like a chance to be able to add depth to the receiver room" and noting "there's a lot of love for Tutu Atwell in this locker room and a lot of familiarity."

McVay also moved to separate the trade from unrelated roster speculation involving the Rams' receiver group, telling reporters the transaction had nothing to do with any pending disciplinary questions elsewhere on the depth chart. Outlets that graded the trade in its immediate aftermath were mixed on which side benefited more, with several analysts arguing Miami added a cost-controlled young prospect while Atwell now faces a crowded target list in Los Angeles behind two established starters. Neither team has publicly disclosed further draft-pick considerations attached to the swap beyond the direct player-for-player exchange.

What happens next

The trade is pending the completion of physicals for both players, standard for any in-season or preseason transaction, before it becomes official on the NFL's transaction log. Both teams close out the preseason schedule this weekend, part of a third preseason slate that runs from Friday through Saturday, before the league-wide roster cutdown deadline arrives Sunday, Aug. 30, at 6 p.m. ET, when every club must reach the 53-man limit. Hunter and Atwell will each need to make their new teams' initial rosters to see regular-season snaps, though both arrive with clearer paths to playing time than they had before the trade. Final roster decisions, along with any subsequent waiver-wire moves permitted through Monday, Aug. 31, will determine whether either player factors into his new team's Week 1 plans.