Photo by Ian Witlen
Audio By Carbonatix
The Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins made a trade on Sunday. If you missed this bit of news, let me be the first to inform you that it’s not what you’re thinking it is. On the plus side, you’re finding this out in a way that’s much less stressful on the heart.
Many Dolphins fans were minding their own business on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in South Florida when the following tweet from ESPN’s Adam Schefter popped up on their timelines:
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
Houston and Miami have a deal! To exchange linebackers and meaningless late-round draft picks. For Dolphins fans who have been waiting for the moment when the Dolphins trade for Houston Texans All-Pro quarterback Deshaun Watson, this was the equivalent of being told the pizza guy is here with the anchovy and black-olive pies you ordered.
Dolphins fans predictably expressed their dismay and disappointment at a tweet obviously meant to troll them.
I thought this was Watson lmfaoooo youre sick https://t.co/ZfYE1gmsNh
— Rogan Isbell (@roganisbell24) March 14, 2021
Went from ???? to ???? in about 2 secs. https://t.co/8DFxj2lR28
— DA?NY (@DanGnajerle) March 14, 2021
Ahhh the Houston-Miami deal we’ve all been waiting for! https://t.co/C2TWSzPjWX
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) March 14, 2021
They’re just trolling us now https://t.co/6CYDN5e3JG
— ???? Bout Sports • 5RSN (@TacoBoutSports) March 14, 2021
When everyone saw “Texans/Dolphins in the same sentence as Trade” https://t.co/ErwAUAzAOl pic.twitter.com/gLUGl6wTn4
— Tito Benach (@TitoBenach) March 14, 2021
Adam knew what he was doing here lol i thought it was a Watson deal https://t.co/kcSaMGUOI9
— ClutchCity (@DreamShakes34) March 14, 2021
Hurt feelings aside, the trade – in a vacuum – is a good one for the Miami Dolphins. Benardrick McKinney is a player the Dolphins have reportedly had their eye on for a long time. He’s a recent Pro Bowler, and he’s much younger than Lawson. Moneywise, the trade is also thought to make sense because it clears some cap space for Miami to sign a pass rusher in free agency. The teams are also swapping late-round picks in the deal, with Miami sending out a 2021 sixth-round pick and receiving back a 2021 seventh-round pick.
Good trade, bad delivery. On the bright side, it feels like Dolphins fans got a dry run if and when the actual real Watson-to-Miami trade transpires. We’ll consider it a very realistic fire drill.
