How Trader Is Making Tunsil Trade Look Even Better

The Miami Dolphins will see old friend Laremy Tunsil up close Sunday when they face the Washington Commanders, and it wouldn't be a game against Tunsil if we didn't revisit the gigantic 2019 trade with the Houston Texans that brought the Dolphins a bounty of draft picks.

It's the gift that keeps on giving for the Dolphins — though it also would be fair to point out that Houston won two playoff games with Tunsil and Miami still is looking for that first playoff win since 2000 — and the latest example is safety Dante Trader Jr., who just might be the team's most impressive rookie this season.

And how getting Trader is the fifth round of the 2025 NFL, more than five years after the Tunsil trade, is like six degrees of separation (or, in this case, only three).

Let's follow the path:

-- The Dolphins selected Trade with a pick they obtained from the Denver Broncos in the 2022 trade deadline deal involving edge defender Bradley Chubb.

-- The centerpiece of that trade for Denver was a 2023 first-round pick that the Dolphins had obtained from the San Francisco 49ers in March of 2021 as part of a package for the third overall pick in that '21 draft.

-- That third overall pick in the 2021 originally belonged to Houston, but was part of the package the Dolphins got in the Tunsil trade.

We came close to having another fruit from the Tunsil tree based on all the speculation about a Chubb trade before the deadline this year, but that didn't come to pass.

So as it stands now, the current final tally after all the moves subsequently made involving picks from the original trade has the Dolphins having acquired 10 players for Tunsil, wide receiver Kenny Stills and nine draft picks — one first-round pick, one second-round pick, five fourth-round picks, and two sixth-round picks.

The 10 players the Dolphins acquired: Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Jevon Holland, Chubb, Trader, Channing Tindall, Erik Ezukanma, Noah Igbinoghene, Johnson Bademosi and Julien Davenport.

It should be noted the first- and second-round picks the Dolphins gave up in that series of transactions both were used to acquire Hill in the 2022 trade with the Kansas City Chiefs that saw Miami also give up two 4's and a 6, with the 2022 first-round pick an offshoot of the Tunsil trade and the other four picks being Miami's own selections.

IGBINOGHENE AND THE VALUE OF THE TRADE

Given all the players the Dolphins got as a result of the Tunsil trade, it's really hard to label it as anything but a win despite the failure to win a playoff game.

As always, the argument here is the Dolphins ended up making five draft selections on picks obtained as part of the Tunsil trade but didn't quite maximize those enough.

Waddle was a hit with the sixth overall pick in 2021, though the argument still can be made that All-Pro tackle Penei Sewell should have been the choice. Holland was a solid pick in the second round of that 2021 draft, but the Dolphins missed out on Landon Dickerson.

And then Igbinoghene, Tindall and Ezukanma were flat-out whiffs in the first round of the 2020 draft, and the third and fourth rounds of the 2022 draft, respectively.

The Dolphins will get a look at Igbinoghene as well as Tunsil on Sunday in the Washington game, which will be his first game against his former team since Miami traded him to the Dallas Cowboys in September 2023.

When the Cowboys played at Hard Rock Stadium in December 2023, Igbinoghene was inactive.

It's been a disappointing season for Igbinoghene, who has been relegated to a backup role after starting 10 games as the nickel corner for the Commanders in 2024. With injuries in the secondary, Igbinoghene played 35 snaps on defense in the team's 44-22 loss against the Detroit Lions last Sunday after playing only 10 in the previous four games combined.