Besides the Miami Dolphins game today against the Buffalo Bills today the other big game of interest to Phins fans outside of maybe the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars (hopefully no one really believed that the Jags would pull that one out) was the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans game. Beyond the fact that many Dolphins fans have kept up with the Titans now that Ryan Tannehill is their starter, the bigger issue was whether or not the Texans would lose today. With the win, the Titans claimed their division title in the AFC South but more importantly for Dolphins fans was the fact that the Texans lost and thus handed us the number three overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
As most fans recall the Dolphins pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Houston Texans before the 2019 season began. The Texans, in the deal, received Miami’s stand out left tackle Laremy Tunsil, wideout Kenny Stills, Miami’s 2020 4th rounder, and Miami’s 2021 6th rounder. In exchange, the Dolphins received the Texans’ 2020 and 2021 first-round picks, their 2021 second-round pick, and special teamer Johnson Bademosi as well as tackle Julien Davenport.
So following last season’s trade and the 2020 season, a season that saw the Texans’ lay an egg by managing only four wins and seeing their head coach and general manager fired mid-year, the Dolphins will receive the third overall pick by way of Houston and the 18th overall pick, their own pick based on their record and not making the playoffs. As for the second round, the Dolphins will receive the 38th overall pick, the Texans pick from last year’s trade, and the 50th pick, our own slotted second-rounder.
This is a team that could clearly still use a player with Tunsil’s talent along the offensive line but the trade seems to look better and better as time has gone by. I am sure when the Miami brass made this huge trade before last season that they never imagined that they would wind up with the number three pick in the 2021 draft. Depending on how the team’s higher-ups see the development of rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this season the number three overall pick gives Miami a lot of leeway to make whatever decision they need to, be it to draft another quarterback, which is not what I believe will happen but since I do not have the ear of the gentlemen that make these decisions I do not know, or to trade down and add even more picks for some other quarterback starved team as there are always plenty of those.
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