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! 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.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
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
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.Adam knew what he was doing here lol i thought it was a Watson deal https://t.co/kcSaMGUOI9
— ClutchCity (@DreamShakes34) March 14, 2021
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.