The Houston Texans finally got one over on the Miami Dolphins since the Laremy Tunsil trade.
With the Texans trading defensive end Shaq Lawson to the New York Jets for a 2022 sixth-round pick and the Dolphins having released inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney, it is fair to say that Houston came out on the winning side of the exchange.
For the Texans, they were able to offload McKinney’s five-year, $50 million contract that he signed in the advent to training camp in 2018. McKinney lived up to the contract that season with a Pro Bowl selection, but missed 14 games over the next two seasons. With the emergence of Zach Cunningham, and reserve linebacker Tyrell Adams collecting over 100 tackles in the absence of McKinney in 2020, it was clear to general manager Nick Caserio’s regime that they needed to make a change. They would probably need to make one anyway given Houston was moving away from a 3-4 to a Tampa 2.
Lawson had been displaced since the Bills allowed his contract to expire at the end of the 2019 season. The former 2016 first-round pick from Clemson notched 4.0 sacks for Miami in 2020, but it was a decrease from the 6.5 sacks he generated in his final year with the Bills. Given that Houston played a similar scheme to Leslie Frazier’s defense, the expectation was Lawson would claim one of the defensive end spots.
Neither McKinney nor Lawson lived up to the expectations each team had for them in the offseason. The Dolphins released McKinney as they trim their roster to 53 players by 3:00 p.m. Central Time on Aug. 31.
For the Texans, they were able to at least get something out of Lawson, even if he didn’t claim one of the starting jobs. Caserio traded the 27-year-old to the New York Jets for a 2022 sixth-round pick. Houston may never use the sixth-round pick on its own, but they can package it to acquire a veteran or move up in the 2022 NFL draft.
Houston got something when their player didn’t work out. Miami got nothing. That’s a win.