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The Dolphins may be able to contain criticism of personnel moves that occurs on the record and in the team’s locker room. But they can’t stop folks from talking off the record.

A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that multiple key players are “dismayed” by the team’s decision to trade cornerback Vontae Davis. They specifically wonder whether the team is aggressively trying to put together a winning team in 2012.

It’s not just the decision to trade Davis. Some players are still bothered by the fact that receiver Brandon Marshall was traded, and by the reality that no meaningful effort was made to upgrade the receiver position with free agents.

And while the source did not indicate that veterans are griping about the decision to go with a rookie quarterback, the decision to bench the team MVP from 2011 and to hand the ball to a first-year player doesn’t contradict the appearance that the Dolphins are building for the future at the expense of the present.

It’s all creating an undercurrent of discontent that will make for an interesting final episode of Hard Knocks, which debuts next Tuesday. Some of it may also bubble up in tonight’s episode, which debuts on HBO at 10:00 p.m. ET.