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Redskins miss opportunity in wake of Texans’ Laremy Tunsil trade

By Jacob Camenker

HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 25: Danny Amendola #80 of the Miami Dolphins runs after a catch pursued by Tyrann Mathieu #32 of the Houston Texans in the first quarter at NRG Stadium on October 25, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 25: Danny Amendola #80 of the Miami Dolphins runs after a catch pursued by Tyrann Mathieu #32 of the Houston Texans in the first quarter at NRG Stadium on October 25, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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The Washington Redskins missed an opportunity to make a deal with the Houston Texans. Instead, the Texans made a deal with the Miami Dolphins.

Trent Williams hasn’t reported to the Washington Redskins. And he’s not planning on reporting. As of right now, the NFL veteran is in the process of a lengthy holdout, and there is no end in sight. Regardless of this, the Redskins front office has been adamant that they won’t be trading him.

And at this point, it appears that may have backfired.

One of the teams on the market that certainly could have used Williams was the Houston Texans. The Texans have an opening to win the AFC South again, and they should have an easier time doing that in the wake of Andrew Luck‘s retirement. However, Deshaun Watson‘s protection has been poor over the course of the past few seasons, and he was sacked a league-high 62 times last year.

Because of this, it appeared that the ‘Skins could’ve gotten a strong package in exchange for Williams. Instead, the Miami Dolphins were able to get a massive haul.

The Dolphins ended up trading their starting left tackle, Laremy Tunsil, to Houston in exchange for a boatload of draft picks. In total, there were the assets that each team got, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:

Texans

Dolphins

  • Two first-round picks
  • One second-round pick
  • ST Johnson Bademosi
  • OL Julien Davenport

That’s a lot of draft capital. On the surface, it makes some sense to surrender those kinds of assets for a guy like Tunsil, who is an ascending talent and is only 25 years old. It demonstrates that the Texans are all in and realized that they desperately needed to upgrade their offensive line in order to avoid getting Watson hurt.

That said, this was certainly a missed opportunity for the Redskins. They should have tried harder to trade Williams to the Texans. If the Texans were this desperate for tackle help, they may have surrendered a very good package for Williams. Obviously, it wouldn’t be close to as good as the Tunsil package — Williams is a 31-year-old who has dealt with knee injuries in recent seasons, after all — but the team probably still could’ve squeezed a first-round pick out of the Texans at the very least in exchange for Williams’ services.

Simply put, there isn’t another suitor that needs a tackle nearly as badly as the Texans did. You could argue that the Los Angeles Chargers need one with Russell Okung back, but they may be wary of acquiring a second high-priced veteran option with a recent injury history while they have Okung on the roster. The Cleveland Browns also could use an upgrade at left tackle, but again, they’re not as desperate as the Texans were.

It’s possible that the Texans may have only given up significantly less for Williams. But still, it seems like the Redskins may have missed an opportunity to offload Williams and end the stalemate. It would surely weaken their roster this season, but acquiring a future asset in exchange for a player that may not even play certainly would’ve been a smart move.

Next. An initial look at the Redskins' 53-man roster. dark

And even if the Texans’ offer for Williams was only half as good as the Tunsil offer, it would have certainly been worth it.

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