Updating the Tunsil trade and the Dolphins' 2021 draft haul
We're done with part one of the Dolphins benefits from the trade of tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Houston Texans, and the Dolphins ended up with cornerback Noah Igbinoghene and (indirectly) with guard Solomon Kindley.
Part two will come in the 2021 draft and it has the chance to be even better for the Dolphins.
As a reminder, the mega trade that went down last Sept. 1 saw the Dolphins send Tunsil, wide receiver Kenny Stills, a 2020 fourth-round pick and a 2021 sixth-round selection to Houston in exchange for tackle Julién Davenport, cornerback Johnson Bademosi, a 2020 first-round pick, and first- and second-round picks in 2021.
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Davenport started eight games for the Dolphins in 2019, including seven at left tackle, but the Dolphins drafting two tackles in the first two rounds this year tells you all you need to know about their level of confident in him moving forward.
Bademosi, for his part, played four games as a backup before being released in October and landing with the New Orleans Saints.
But this trade wasn't about the players acquired for the Dolphins, it was about the draft picks — and maybe a bit about finances, as we'll explain later.
The 2020 first-round pick from Houston became the 26th overall selection after the Texans won the AFC South title and then defeated the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round of the playoffs before losing against the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The Dolphins turned that pick into two picks when they moved down four spots in the first round to allow the Green Bay Packers to take quarterback Jordan Love at No. 26.
At No. 30, the Dolphins took Igbinoghene, who stands a good chance to make an immediate impact as the nickel cornerback alongside starters Byron Jones and Xavien Howard.
The Dolphins took the fourth-round pick they got from Green Bay (the 136th overall) and coupled it with their compensatory pick at 141 to move up in the fourth round to take Kindley, the large lineman from the University of Georgia, who conceivably could find himself competing for a starting job at right guard right away.
The trade up in the fourth round was made with the Texans, who gave the Dolphins back their original fourth-round choice that had come over in the Tunsil trade.
Three years after being the Dolphins' first-round pick, Tunsil made the Pro Bowl for the first time, though he did lead the NFL in penalties with 18 and he arguably played better for the Dolphins in 2018.
Regardless, the Texans felt they found their franchise left tackle, which they proved when they signed Tunsil to a three-year extension with $50 million in guaranteed money, according to overthecap.com and spotrac.com.
Tunsil's cap number in 2021 is going to jump to $19.4 million, per overthecap.com, while the highest figure on the Dolphins figure at the moment is new cornerback Byron Jones' $16.1 million.
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So it's fair to suggest there could have been an economic element to the Dolphins' decision to move on from Tunsil.
GM Chris Grier said at the time of the trade, however, that the Texans kept coming back him with increasingly better offers until he found it impossible to turn them down.
The real rewards of the trade for the Dolphins will come in the 2021 NFL draft, for which the Dolphins again are well positioned.
After ending up with 11 picks in 2020, the Dolphins already have 10 selections for next spring after their trade of defensive end Charles Harris to the Atlanta Falcons on Friday for a 2021 seventh-round pick.
In addition to having the Texans' first- and second-round picks and the seventh-rounder from Atlanta, the Dolphins also will have the sixth-round selections of both Seattle (obtained for a 2020 seventh-round choice) and Pittsburgh (part of the 2019 Minkah Fitzpatrick trade).
The Dolphins, however, will be without their own sixth-round (to Houston) and seventh-round picks (to Pittsburgh).
So this is how it looks as it stands right now:
1st round — Own pick, pick from Houston
2nd round — Own pick, pick from Houston
3rd round — Own pick
4th round — Own pick
5th round — Own pick
6th round — Pick from Pittsburgh, pick from Seattle
7th round — Pick from Atlanta
