Battle Red Blog
Is it genius or simply insanity?
I refer you to a simpler time. It was circa spring of 2003 and ESPN was previewing the NFL draft. They were running ads with the question, “what does your team need?” On the screen was a beleaguered David Carr taking the snap from center with no guards and no tackles on the offensive line. A picture is worth a 1000 words and Carr had just come off of a season where he was sacked a franchise high 72 times. Oh, those were simpler times.
During a week when the Texans had already cut Shaq Mason, trading their best offensive lineman seems like lunacy. At face value I can’t disagree. I half-way expected to see a press release saying, “Houston Texans Executive VP and GM Nick Caserio petitions the league to switch to a five Mississippi blitzing rule as Houston experiments with a six wide receiver, two back, and one tight end set.”
However, I would be remiss to point out that I suggested this very thing a couple of weeks ago. So, far be it for me to go back on my own suggestion now and blow it all up. True, I did not necessarily anticipate them also cutting Mason, but the move also doesn’t surprise me. However, I will go against the majority of the fanbase and the masthead here and rundown why this deal makes sense.
The first mark against the deal is that you essentially traded two first round picks and a washed up lineman for Tunsil and Kenny Stills in 2019. So, how could you trade what for essentially the equivalent of a second and third rounder for Tunsil now? The teams did exchange fourth rounders with the Texans trading their 2025 fourth rounder and getting one back in 2026. They also get a seventh rounder this season, but that obviously is not a huge consideration.
Essentially, calling this a bad deal because of the 2019 trade is what many would lovingly call the sunken cost fallacy. Ostensibly, every deal exists on its own and should be graded on its own merit. The initial Tunsil trade was the second dumbest transaction of the Bill O’Brien era and that is only because the Deandre Hopkins trade was legendarily awful. The compensation you get now can’t be compared to the compensation you gave up then. You got pantsed on that deal. You cannot allow it to constrain you now.
Plus, you got five season’s worth of performance from the guy. Presumably, these were the best five seasons of his career. That is worth something in the bargain. A 25 year old tackle in his prime is worth more than a 30 year old tackle likely at the tail end of his prime. The Commanders are clearly going all in on competing the next two seasons while Jaden Daniels is on his rookie deal. It is highly possible that by the end of that two year run they will...
