After days of silence regarding the possibility of the Miami Dolphins doing a deal with offensive tackle Jake Long that would make him the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and put him under contract before his name is called out on Saturday, there are now indications that an agreement could be coming.

Tom Curran of NBCSports.com, citing an unnamed source, reports that a deal between the Dolphins and Long is “nearly in place.”

Citing the same source, Curran says that the other Long — Virginia defensive end Chris Long — would then be the prime target of the Rams, with the No. 2 selection.

If/when the Dolphins have a contract in place with the No. 1 pick, the Rams would then be permitted to negotiated with one or more players at the second overall spot.

At this point in the process, however, it’s impossible to know what’s true and what isn’t. Perhaps the Fins are actually pursuing defensive end/linebacker Vernon Gholston, who now must face the reality that he’ll slide to No. 3, at the earliest, if he doesn’t do a deal with the Fins.

The other odd dynamic here is that Jake Long and Gholston are represented by the same firm, CAA.

If it’s true that the Fins intend to pay less money to the No. 1 pick than the No. 1 pick from a year ago received, we’d be shocked if Jake Long is the guy, absent a change in agents. If Tom Condon wouldn’t allow his name to appear on a six-year deal for late first-rounder Benjamin Watson of the Patriots several years ago, there’s no way that Condon would attach his Hancock to a contract that represents a reduction in the value of being the first overall selection in the NFL draft.

So we tend to think that this is a ploy from the Dolphins to get Gholston to tell CAA’s Ben Dogra that whatever the Fins are offering had better be accepted. Now.