The Miami Dolphins shocked the football world with their decision to trade away offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil just before the start of the 2019 season. How surprising was the move? When the first whispers started leaking out that Miami was even considering a deal, the trade was considered lunacy and nonsense. The Dolphins did, after all, need to improve their offensive line, so trading away their best asset was going to be hard to justify on the eve of the season.
Yet Miami did pull the trigger — trading Tunsil, two late round picks and WR Kenny Stills to the Houston Texans for a 2020 1st-round pick (26th overall), a 2021 1st- and 2nd-round pick, OT Julien Davenport and DB Johnson Bademosi.
It was a blockbuster if we’ve ever seen one. And now that Tunsil has seen a full season play out in Houston, one can’t help but wonder to look back and inspect how well his season went.
Tunsil was named to his first Pro Bowl this season — but the argument could be made that Tunsil didn’t play his best football this season relative to in years past. In 2019, Tunsil was attributed with:
- 18 total penalties (12 false starts)
- The 7th best pass blocking win rate of left tackles according to ESPN (outside the Top 10 overall OTs)
- 3 sacks allowed (Pro Football Focus)
In all, this season wasn’t Tunsil’s best work — his 2018 campaign with Miami was a much more polished, refined series of games. And yet because everyone knows of Tunsil and the trade package he demanded, he’s now set to play in the Pro Bowl, despite not being named to the Pro Bowl last year when he played a better season.
The Dolphins will need to make their picks count, but seeing Tunsil perform as a good offensive tackle but not the juggernaut some thought he was destined to be in Miami helps to soften the blow of Miami trading their best offensive lineman on their long-tortured unit.
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