Dolphins Make a Trade With Houston

The Miami Dolphins have consummated a trade with the Houston Texans for the second time in three years, and it involves defensive players

The Miami Dolphins are making a trade with the Houston Texans. No, not that one.

The Dolphins will be sending defensive end/linebacker Shaq Lawson to the Texans for inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney in a trade also involving a swap of draft picks. The Dolphins will be getting a 2021 seventh-round pick and sending Houston a sixth-round selection, per Texans Daily.

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

McKinney is a six-year veteran who made the Pro Bowl in 2018 but is coming off a season where he was limited to four games because of a shoulder injury. He is signed through 2023 after agreeing to a five-year contract extension in 2018.

McKinney has a $7.9 million cap hit for 2021, while Lawson's cap hit was scheduled to be $9.8 million, though the Dolphins will be on the hook for the remainder of the $4 million signing bonus he got last offseason.

This marks the second time in less than a week the Dolphins have moved on after one year from one of their major unrestricted free agent signings of 2020. Lawson followed linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who officially was released Wednesday.

RELATED: The Van Noy Release Fallout

McKinney, who entered the NFL as a second-round pick out of Mississippi State in 2015, is a pure middle linebacker tailor-made for a 3-4 defense. His arrival likely means the Dolphins won't be shopping for an off-the-ball linebacker in free agency.

As for Lawson, he started seven games for the Dolphins in 2020 as an edge defender after signing a three-year, $30 million contract.

His impact, though, was rather limited. He started seven of the 14 games he played, though he was on the field for 55 percent of the team's defensive snaps. He had four sacks and scored a touchdown when he returned a fumble against the Arizona Cardinals after Emmanuel Ogbah stripped quarterback Kyler Murray.

Lawson's skill set, though, might be better suited for a 4-3 scheme, which is what operated in during his time with the Buffalo Bills after being a first-round pick in the 2016 draft.

It's the second significant trade between the Dolphins and Texans following the mega deal that sent tackle Laremy Tunsil to Houston in exchange for three premium picks, including what became the third overall selection in the 2021 NFL draft.

And there, of course, has been speculation about another potential Houston-Miami trade — that one involving Deshaun Watson if the Texans ultimately decide to grant their Pro Bowl quarterback's wish to be moved.

That's just a hypothetical, though.

The Texans and Dolphins made a real deal Sunday, and it certainly was an interesting one.