Breaking: Miami Dolphins make trade with the Houston Texans
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are still slinging deals with the Texans and if Chris Grier continues, he may just end up with Deshaun Watson after all. This trade, however, isn’t for Watson.
Miami is swapping late-round draft picks and players. The Dolphins will send edge rusher Shaq Lawson to the Texans in return for Bernardrick McKinney and interior linebacker.
McKinney was a Pro Bowl player in 2018. He is under contract for the next three years and his base rolls out around $7 million, $9.5 million, and $10.5 million according to Spotrac.com. The move will cost Miami about $2.6 million in dead cap space but frees up over $7 million. That $7 million savings, however, will get absorbed by the McKinney deal.
Lawson was o.k. last year when he was on the field. He signed a multi-year deal as a free agent last year but the Dolphins are shedding the bad contracts they made. Miami already dumped Kyle Van Noy who signed a $51 million multi-year deal last off-season.
McKinney has a lot of upside and immediately makes the interior of the linebacker group better. He should fit in well with the Brian Flores system. Later today, our own Nick Belotto will take a look at how the deal impacts what Miami may do in the draft. The addition of McKinney may mean the Dolphins do not target an interior linebacker.
The move does also leave the Dolphins with another hole on the edge but this year there are an unusual amount of edge rushers available in free agency and there could be more by the end of the weekend.
Like the Isaiah Wilson trade, this move will not be finalized until the start of the league new year on March 17.