Clint Lamb
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The Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans have agreed to a trade. Unfortunately, it isn’t the much-speculated deal that would send Deshaun Watson to Miami in exchange for Tua Tagovailoa and a slew of first-round picks.
Instead, Houston is sending off-ball linebacker Benardrick McKinney to Miami and will get edge rusher Shaq Lawson back in the deal, according to a tweet on Sunday from Adam Schefter with ESPN. There will also be an exchange of late-round picks.
Houston and Miami have a deal: Texans are trading LB Benardrick McKinney to the Dolphins for LB Shaq Lawson, per league sources. The deal also will include a swap of late-round picks, but the focus is the LBs.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2021
It’s an interesting move for both parties.
The Texans could certainly use more pass rushers after losing Jadeveon Clowney and J.J. Watt in recent seasons. There’s still Whitney Mercilus, Jacob Martin and others in the fold, but Lawson will provide a boost.
On the other hand, the Dolphins need help at linebacker. Raekwon McMillan clearly wasn’t the answer and was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders last season. Kyle Van Noy was also recently released after just one season in Miami.
The 28-year-old McKinney played in only four games last season because of a shoulder injury, but he’s got some versatility that could flourish with Brian Flores.
Now we wait to see if that’s the only trade Miami and Houston agree on. Just last year, a trade between the two franchises included Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, Johnson Bademosi, Julian Davenport and several picks.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
Solid trade for both parties.
Dolphins are set up to thrive in 2021, if they don’t screw it up with distractions. Maybe someone there should say they are not interested in changing QB’s this year 😎
the only thing better than making deshaun watson stay in houston would be a trade with JaxsonVile. how cool would it be for Lawrence to go to Houston and succeed 🤪
They are but a lot of ‘interesting’ moves case in point with Van Noy and Lawson. Van Noy was a leader on that defense and a significant contributor when available and Lawson played in practically every game, constantly in the QBs face around the ball. Trading him in his prime at 26 years old after career high with 18 qb hits to go along with 4 sacks for a dude that only played in 4 games because of a season-ending shoulder injury seems, yeah, kinda dumb.
Any Texans have the scoop on this McKinney dude?
Not sure why they’re fixing what didn’t appear to be broken. Impossible to have any chemistry on either side of the ball if you constantly change the pieces around what seemed to be a cohesive unit starting to build something special outside of Week 17.
Brady and the Bucs back to back if every one stays healthy