Looking back at the flurry of Miami Dolphins trades this past week
By Brian Miller
Dolphins and Texans
What Miami received: Two first-round picks, a 2nd round pick and two players for Kenny Stills and Laremy Tunsil.
For almost the entire week leading up to the final roster cuts and last Thursday’s preseason finale, the Dolphins were at the center of trade talks with the Texans. Most of this talk centered on landing Jadeveon Clowney but when Clowney said he didn’t want to play for the Dolphins, it appeared that the trade was dead.
After the Dolphins finalized their 53 man roster, it was announced that Miami was shipping Laremy Tunsil to the Texans in exchange for a lot of draft capital. The Dolphins received a first-round pick in both 2020 and 2021 as well as a 2021 2nd round draft pick. They received offensive lineman Julie’n Davenport and special teams player Johnson Bademosi.
Why this may work: The Dolphins are hoarding draft picks in the next two drafts and if they can draft well, they can fill a lot of holes with top college prospects. In the next two drafts, the Dolphins will have two picks in each of the first three rounds alone.
Bademosi is a really good special team contributor which will help the Dolphins immediately while Davenport will again give the Dolphins depth and competition on the offensive line. Last year he started 15 of 16 games and could become the starter on the left side without Tunsil.
Why this may not work: The Dolphins don’t have a great history of making a good decision with the draft. They are banking on their ability to recognize talent and making good choices. If the Dolphins can’t identify top talent that fits the schemes and system, then they will have basically traded a likely All-Pro left tackle that is not easy to find.
This trade could be a fantastic trade for Miami and they saved a lot of cap space from Kenny Stills being involved. And in the process erased a distraction.