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If you’re like me when you saw the first line of whatever alert you got of this trade being announced, your heart skipped an infinity amount of beats when you saw that the Miami Dolphins were making a trade with the Houston Texans. After CPR or the paddles were removed from your chest from sending electricity back to your heart, returning you to this world, you then realized that it wasn’t the trade you thought it was.
Sources: The #Texans are trading Pro Bowl LB Benardrick McKinney to the #Dolphins for Shaq Lawson.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2021
The financial portion of this trade seems to favor the Dolphins.
The Dolphins, who are indeed trading Shaq Lawson for Benardrick McKinney, structured Lawson's deal in a way that allowed for this with minimal cap pain. Will cost them just $2.7M against the cap to move him, plus an additional $7.2M to absorb McKinney's contract. Total wash.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) March 14, 2021
On the field, the Dolphins lose a defensive end that who knows might be replaced by someone early in the draft, say a Micah Parsons perhaps or a Shaq Barrett in free agency(a man can dream)? But they gain an inside linebacker that has a really good chance to be part of a solid duo along with Jerome Baker. I’m very intrigued at the idea of McKinney and Baker commanding the middle of the field.
McKinney is a guy that I imagine most people only have barely heard about. Honestly, I had to remind myself who he was because McKinney only played four games this year due to a season-ending shoulder injury that he suffered in mid-October. However, I remember McKinney being a force in 2018 when he made the Pro-Bowl.
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McKinney will be 29 in November, and it seems like if his shoulder heals the way the Dolphins believe it should, he should step in and be a day one starter. I know Brian Flores does whatever he wants when he wants, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that McKinney could just be added depth.
As for Lawson, I thought Lawson was a solid starter. He did his job and was reliable. The thing about him was that I thought he disappeared for long stretches of time too often. I feel that’s the kind of player he is. Not elite, but a solid starter. Every team needs players like him and McKinney. As Adam Beasley said, the money portion is a bit of a wash. I think the players are a bit of a wash as well. McKinney will be solid, but, at the moment, I doubt he’ll be a pro-bowler for the Dolphins. That doesn’t mean he can’t make an impact or that I can’t be way off on his production.
This makes it two weeks in a row Flores and company have gotten rid of a player that they signed just last year. I think it’s an interesting trend that aligns with this regime's philosophy: they don’t care what your contract is. Anybody could be history at any moment. Every player is on a one-year deal with this team.
I know this isn’t the case, but what if the Dolphins and Texans made this trade to give everyone a heart attack when we looked at our phones and saw the trade between the Dolphins and Texans? Brian Flores has it in him to play with our emotions, and he certainly did that with this trade. Is this trade just a precursor for a larger, more noteworthy trade in the future between these two teams? Who knows? All I know is I need to prepare my body better than how I handled the sight of this trade.
Man alive is tomorrow, when free agency begins, going to be wild. For now, enjoy your Sunday with basketball and golf.
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