Dolphins and Texans May Have Torpedoed Both Their Rosters With Saturday Moves

The NFL's 53-man roster deadline was overshadowed by the trades made by the Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans on Sunday, as each team imploded in spectacular fashion.

Houston was stuck in an unenviable situation when it came to franchise-tagged pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney. Ironically, the Texans wanted to trade him to Miami, but the former 2014 first overall pick refused to sign the franchise tender to facilitate the move. Clowney had two preferred destinations, one of which was the Seattle Seahawks.

The Texans general manager-less front office (led by head coach Bill O'Brien) held no leverage, and caved to both the Seahawks and Clowney. All they received for the star pass rusher was a 2020 third-round pick, defensive lineman Barkevious Mingo, and linebacker Jake Martin. That was it.

But they weren't done for the day, which is where the Dolphins enter the equation.

As mentioned above, Miami had perhaps the highest bid for Clowney, who had no desire to be on a perennial last place team. In fact, reports indicated in the days prior that Houston was looking to flip Clowney in a package for star left tackle Laremy Tunsil. This is where things get interesting.

More reports surfaced saying the Dolphins locker room would "revolt" if Tunsil was traded off the team. So, what did Miami do? If you guessed "traded Tunsil," you were 100% correct! Tunsil, wide receiver Kenny Stills, and more were sent to Houston in a huge package deal, which netted the Dolphins 2020 and 2021 first-round picks and a 2021 second-rounder.

This is all part of the Dolphins' plan: tank. The belief since the start of the calendar year was that Miami would be serious players to draft Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whom owner Stephen Ross is "enamored" with. Now, they have the picks to move up and trade for him. But let's be real, this Miami team is a heavy favorite to net the first pick in 2020 anyway and may not need to trade up.

Tagovailoa showed in his first full season of work that he has durability issues. Tunsil was the best offensive lineman on the roster. So, if Tagovailoa were hypothetically drafted by Miami, he'd be stuck behind a sieve o-line that will do him no favors, which will be evidenced by sacrificial lambs in Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen this season (and, oh by the way, Rosen is now set to waste the second straight year of his young career).

As for Houston, they solved their o-line problems, and in turn, are helping quarterback Deshaun Watson. But they mortgaged their top draft selections in 2020 and 2021 in order to do so, while trading one of their better pass rushers in Clowney, someone who should be legitimately elite.

Oh, and O'Brien surrendered more o-line depth in the process for running back Carlos Hyde. Yay?

The Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans succeeded at their goals, but in the long term, they incurred more damage than benefit.