(SportsRadio 610) - The DeAndre Hopkins trade will go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history. However, was it even the worst trade Jack Easterby and Bill O'Brien made?
Can a case be made that the Laremy Tunsil trade was actually a worse trade? Maybe so.
Here are the reasons why a case can be made that the Tunsil trade was worse than the Hopkins trade.
No. 1: The Questionable Impact and quality of Tunsil compared to the steep compensation
Tunsil is a really good left tackle, but not elite. His limitations as a run blocker and well-documented and there are a lot of solid left tackles in the NFL.
Is that worth two first-round picks and a second? I think you know the answer.
Texans won 11 games in 2018 with Julién Davenport at left tackle.
With Tunsil out of the lineup the Texans haven’t quite struggled. In fact, there have been times where they’ve ran the ball significantly better with him out of the lineup.
2019: 26-3 W vs Jacksonville. L vs Ten Week 17.
2020: 11-22-20 beat New England without him.
2021: 1-4 with him, 3-13 without him.
13-20 with, 5-14 without.
No. 2: The Alternative
The San Francisco acquired Trent Williams for a fifth and third-round pick a year after the Texans acquired Tunsil.
Williams has been a Pro Bowler both years in San Francisco and a first team All-Pro last season.
He is a better player that costed WAY less to acquire.
No. 3: If the 2nd would’ve hit
The Texans drafted Ross Blacklock with the No. 40 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft that they received in the Hopkins trade.
Here’s a list of guys they could’ve had:
Jonathan Taylor (41)
Antoine Winfield (45)
Chase Claypool (49)
Trevon Diggs (51)
Cam Akers (52)
AJ Espenesa
Hurts
JK Dobbins
Van Jefferson
None of these guys would’ve justified the awful Hopkins trade, but it could’ve looked a lot better.
No. 4 Cooks:
The Texans traded their own second-round pick for Brandin Cooks in 2020, which is about market value for a player of that caliber, and a good option as a WR 1 for a team not wanting to pay elite WR money. Cooks isn’t Nuk, but he’s a good player and has a favorable contract so there was a decent, immediate backup plan at the WR position.
No. 5: It was the right time to get rid of a WR
There’s never a right time to make a trade like the Tunsil trade and although the Hopkins compensation was pitiful there’s at least a trend around the NFL of teams trading receivers before paying them big and it’s near the age Hopkins was traded.
Below is the age of elite receivers when they were traded:
Hopkins 26, about to be 27
Tyreek Hill, 28
Stefon Diggs, 26
Davante Adams, 29
So while the trade was awful there’s at least a precedent of competent front offices trading receivers around that age to avoid paying big contracts
No. 6: From one bad contract to another
Tunsil fleeced Jack and Bill in contract negotiations.
On top of giving up an uncanny amount of assets Bill O’Brien and Jack Easterby also made Laremy Tunsil the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history.
Bill Barnwell wrote a column on it, here are a few nuggets on it:
Bill O’Brien did not negotiate a contract extension with Tunsil before trading that treasure chest of draft picks. By failing to check this fundamental box, O’Brien gave Tunsil more negotiating power than any player has had in decades. Tunsil didn’t even hire an agent for his negotiation this spring, because the situation was clear: If Tunsil left in free agency, O’Brien would likely be fired.
With unprecedented leverage, Tunsil demanded an unprecedented contract.
Before Tunsil signed his deal, the highest-paid tackle in football by average annual value was Philadelphia’s Lane Johnson at $18 million. O’Brien just handed Tunsil a $4 million increase per year on top of the position leader, or an increase of more than 20 percent.
No. 7: The current fit
The final 12 games of last season along with the absence of Tunsil early in the offseason leads to questions about Tunsil as a fit for where this organization currently sits.
It can’t be fun for Tunsil to be coming off consecutive four-win seasons given the state of the franchise when he arrived. Since then he has a front row seat for arguably the worst two-year stretch of NFL front office work ever. From Lovie Smith and Nick Caserio’s POV they’re trying to build a culture and probably need extreme buy-in from their best players, which Tunsil is.
Just a final reason for why a case can be made that the Tunsil trade was worse than the Nuk trade.
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