Laremy Tunsil has been traded twice. The first time, he cost two first-round picks and a second-rounder — a Khalil Mack-level haul, paid by a team with no general manager. The second time, six years later, he cost a second, a third, a fourth, and a seventh. Same player. Same position. Less than half the price.
What happened in between is the story of two franchises going in opposite directions — and of how the NFL values a left tackle when it's desperate versus when it's done with him.
Act I: The Desperate Team (2019)
The 2018 Houston Texans had a franchise quarterback and no one to protect him. Deshaun Watson was sacked an NFL-leading 62 times — the most in the league — behind what was widely considered the worst offensive line in football.2
The Texans had no general manager. Head coach Bill O'Brien was running the front office himself. And on August 31, 2019 — the same Saturday he shipped Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle for almost nothing — O'Brien pushed all his chips in.
Houston sent two first-round picks (2020, 2021), a 2021 second-rounder, tackle Julie'n Davenport, and special-teamer Johnson Bademosi to Miami for Tunsil, receiver Kenny Stills, a 2020 fourth-rounder, and a 2021 sixth-rounder.5 The Dolphins, under first-year coach Brian Flores, were gutting the roster for a multiyear rebuild. They couldn't reach an extension with Tunsil after picking up his $10.35 million fifth-year option, so they cashed him in.2
Tunsil was 25, the 13th overall pick in 2016, a player whose draft stock had cratered three years earlier when a video of him smoking from a gas-mask bong surfaced minutes before the draft. Miami took him anyway. He started 44 games in three seasons and made the Pro Bowl in his first year in Houston.4
The price was staggering, and everyone knew it. Pro Football Rumors called it "a Khalil Mack-level haul."1 The Ringer called it a fleece — "the GM-less Texans" selling their future to protect Watson on his cheap rookie deal.3
What Miami's Haul Became
Miami turned those picks into the foundation of its rebuild — though not always directly.
The 2020 first-rounder (No. 26 overall) went to Green Bay on draft night 2020. The Packers drafted Jordan Love. Miami took Noah Igbinoghene at No. 30 and Brycen Hopkins at No. 136 with the return.5
The 2021 first-rounder (No. 3 overall) went to San Francisco in March 2021. The 49ers drafted Trey Lance — a story told in full elsewhere in this archive.5
The 2021 second-rounder (No. 36) stayed home. Miami drafted safety Jevon Holland, a multi-year starter.5
The throw-ins scattered. The 2020 fourth-rounder (No. 111) went back to Miami on draft day 2020 and became guard Solomon Kindley. The 2021 sixth-rounder (No. 202) went to Cincinnati for quarterback Ryan Finley and became running back Chris Evans. Kenny Stills caught passes in Houston for two seasons. Davenport and Bademosi barely registered in Miami.5
The headline return — two firsts and a second — became Jordan Love, Trey Lance, and Jevon Holland. Two franchise-quarterback bets and a Pro Bowl safety. Not bad for a left tackle.
The Six Years In Between
Tunsil was worth it, for a while. He made five Pro Bowls in six Houston seasons. The Texans paid him like it — twice. In 2020, a three-year, $66 million extension made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. In March 2023, a three-year, $75 million extension ($50 million fully guaranteed) did it again, at $25 million a year. He negotiated both deals himself.6
But the ground shifted. Watson's career in Houston imploded. The Texans bottomed out, drafted C.J. Stroud second overall in 2023, and rebuilt around him. And by 2024, the offensive line was a disaster again — Stroud was the league's second-most sacked quarterback (52 times), and the Texans allowed the fifth-highest pressure rate in football.187
Tunsil himself was a paradox. Pro Football Focus graded him the fourth-best pass-blocking tackle in the league (88.6) — he allowed just two sacks in 1,026 snaps. Over three seasons, his pressure rate (3.1%) was second among all starting tackles, behind only Tristan Wirfs.7 He was still elite at the thing left tackles are paid to do.
He was also the most penalized player in the NFL: 17 flags in 2024, including 12 false starts.19 And at 30, with two years left on a $25-million-a-year deal, he was expensive.
Act II: The Done Team (2025)
On March 10, 2025, Houston traded Tunsil to Washington. The Commanders got Tunsil and a 2025 fourth-rounder (No. 128). The Texans got a 2025 third (No. 79), a 2025 seventh (No. 236), a 2026 second, and a 2026 fourth.8
The reaction was disbelief. "Trading your franchise LT with your star rookie contract QB entering his third season (and when the majority of the rest of your OL was brutal) is a perplexing choice," wrote CBS's Chris Trapasso.7 Analyst Brett Kollmann noted Tunsil's elite pressure rate and added dryly: "But sure yeah he's super replaceable. Great trade."7
Houston's explanations came in layers. GM Nick Caserio, on SportsRadio 610, framed it as opportunism: "In the Laremy [Tunsil] situation, that was something we weren't certainly intent on doing, or that we were motivated to do. I think when we just looked at the situation, we felt that it was an opportunity in front of us that made sense."9
Head coach DeMeco Ryans was more emotional: "Trading Laremy was really tough," he said. "There's nothing easy about that because Laremy is such a great player. You put the tape on Sunday, he's arguably one of the best one-on-one pass protectors in the NFL."10
The deeper reason, reported by Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, was culture. "DeMeco Ryans feels like the culture he wants across the board is in place on defense but not on offense and that a toxic atmosphere in the offensive line room was a root cause," Breer wrote. "And while Tunsil wasn't a bad guy (he was actually well-liked), he wasn't the type of leader to turn the ship — and needed to be as one of its captains."11
NFL insider James Palmer added the financial logic: the Texans didn't want to hand a 31-year-old tackle another massive contract, worried his best days were behind him, and wanted new leadership in the room.12
It wasn't just Tunsil. Houston traded Kenyon Green, cut Shaq Mason, and signed Cam Robinson as a stopgap.2119 The entire offensive line room was being reset around Stroud's third season.
Washington's side was simpler. The Commanders were coming off a 12-win season and an NFC Championship appearance. Second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels was the franchise. GM Adam Peters explained it on the Pat McAfee Show: "when we had the opportunity to get Tunsil, which doesn't come around that often to get a blue-chip left tackle, one of the best tackles in the league, so we felt that was an opportunity we didn't want to pass up. We want to protect Jayden, he's the cornerstone of our franchise."13
Head coach Dan Quinn called Daniels with the news: "I said, 'Man, I love you, but you know who really, really loves you? Adam.'" Of Tunsil's game, Quinn said: "Not just the length and the size of Larry, but it's the feet. That's what makes him so challenging to go against."14
The league agreed with Washington. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler polled scouts and coaches on their favorite offseason moves; Tunsil was near the top. "He's still a top-three tackle for me," one AFC scout said. "Anything you can do to protect Jayden Daniels and load up while he's on his rookie deal is smart."15
Tunsil rewarded the faith. He allowed two sacks in 2025, and Washington signed him to a two-year, $60.2 million extension — $30.1 million a year, the richest tackle deal yet.16
What Houston's Haul Became
The 2025 return scattered across the league like the 2019 one did.
The 2025 third-rounder (No. 79) stayed in Houston. The Texans drafted Iowa State receiver Jaylin Noel, who caught 26 passes for 292 yards as a rookie and added 1,438 all-purpose yards as a return specialist.17
The 2025 seventh-rounder (No. 236) had already traveled — Denver to Philadelphia in the Albert Okwuegbunam deal, Philadelphia to Washington in the Jahan Dotson trade — before reaching Houston in the Tunsil deal. The Texans flipped it to Jacksonville on draft day.20
The 2026 second-rounder went to Las Vegas on draft day 2026. The 2026 fourth-rounder stayed in Houston.20
The 2025 fourth-rounder Houston sent back (No. 128) became Washington receiver Jaylin Lane.20
The Ledger
Two trades, six years apart, one player.
2019 — Houston buys: Tunsil is 25. The price is two first-rounders, a second-rounder, and two players. Miami is in a full rebuild. Houston is desperate to protect Watson's rookie deal.
2025 — Houston sells: Tunsil is 30. The price is a second, a third, a fourth, and a seventh. Houston wants a culture reset and cap relief. Washington is protecting Daniels's rookie deal.
The symmetry is almost too neat. Both buyers were protecting a young franchise quarterback. Both sellers decided the left tackle didn't fit what came next. The difference is what the market would bear: in 2019, a desperate team with no GM paid a historic price. In 2025, a team that had decided to move on took the best offer from a contender that knew exactly what it was buying.
Miami turned its haul into quarterbacks. Houston turned its haul into a receiver, a re-traded seventh, and two Day 2 picks. Washington got the best pass protector of the two deals' era — and paid him like it, again.
Tunsil himself said it best back in 2019, talking about his penalty problem: "Moral of the story is just I want to improve. I want to keep improving every year that I have."4 Seven seasons, five Pro Bowls, three record contracts, and two blockbuster trades later, the league still can't decide what he's worth. The two trades are the two answers.
Sources
- Pro Football Rumors: Laremy Tunsil trade history
- Sportsnet (AP): Texans acquire Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills from Dolphins
- The Ringer: The Dolphins Are Trusting the Process
- ClutchPoints: Tunsil reveals his main goal for next season
- Football Trade Trees: 2019 Texans–Dolphins Tunsil trade tree — full 2019 trade terms
- The Comeback: Tunsil's historic contract extensions
- SI: Texans' decision to trade Tunsil left experts confused
- Pro Football Rumors: Texans to trade LT Laremy Tunsil to Commanders
- Yardbarker: Texans GM sounds off on controversial decision
- SI: Ryans opens up about the Tunsil trade — "Trading Laremy was really tough"; denies toxic room reports
- SI: Insider exposes surprising reason for Texans' trade
- Yardbarker: Details emerge on Tunsil-Commanders trade
- SI: Peters explains Tunsil trade on Pat McAfee Show
- SI: Dan Quinn gets honest on Tunsil
- SI: ESPN reaction to Commanders' Tunsil trade
- NBC Sports: Commanders extend left tackle Laremy Tunsil
- Wikipedia: Jaylin Noel
- TSN: Texans QB C.J. Stroud working to become stronger, faster — Stroud was sacked 52 times in 2024, second most in the NFL (Next Gen Stats)
- A to Z Sports: Texans receive multi-year draft haul in Tunsil trade — Tunsil committed a league-high 17 penalties in 2024, including 12 false starts; Texans released Shaq Mason
- Football Trade Trees: 2025 Texans–Commanders Tunsil trade tree — No. 236's Denver–Philadelphia–Washington path and flip to Jacksonville; the 2026 second-rounder to Las Vegas; No. 128 became Jaylin Lane
- Yardbarker: Texans to sign veteran LT Cam Robinson to replace Tunsil — Robinson signed; Kenyon Green sent to Philadelphia
About this article: it was drafted with AI assistance from the Football Trade Trees database and public reporting, then reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Email [email protected].