The Washington Commanders shocked the NFL, not only playing well enough to make the playoffs in a season many pegged them to be last-place finishers in the NFC East, but also making a run to the NFC Championship Game. Yes, they fell short against the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, but you could tell, based on how the team and especially Jayden Daniels played that the future is bright in Washington.
For the Commanders to take the leap and become a team that can win the Super Bowl, they had to get their young star some additional help. It's safe to say that early on this offseason, GM Adam Peters has done exactly that.
The Commanders pulled off a trade for Deebo Samuel, re-signed Zach Ertz, and have now made the biggest move of all, acquiring Laremy Tunsil in a shocking deal with the Houston Texans, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport revealed that the Commanders received Tunsil and a fourth-round pick in exchange for a second and fourth-round pick in next year's NFL Draft plus a third-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
NFL trade grades: Who won the Commanders-Texans trade for Laremy Tunsil?
This is a stunner and an absolute home run for the Commanders. Tunsil has been a Pro Bowler in five of his last six seasons and in each of the last three campaigns. Sure, Pro Bowl nods might not mean a ton to the players, but Tunsil is objectively one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL. Of 141 offensive tackles, Tunsil's 76.5 overall grade, according to PFF, ranked 21st. His 88.6 grade as a pass blocker ranked fourth of those 141 offensive tackles. He's one of the best offensive tackles in the sport, particularly against the pass.
Tunsil isn't young, but at 30 years old, he's got plenty of good years left, and he's under control through the 2026 campaign at a reasonable $20.9 million cap hit. The Commanders managed to get him without giving up a first-round pick or parting with this year's second-round pick. It cannot be overstated how big of a win this trade is for Washington.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Texans. Houston's offensive line was subpar in the 2024 campaign, leading to C.J. Stroud getting sacked a whopping 52 times overall. There was reason to assume that the Texans were going to bolster the offensive line over the offseason to give Stroud a chance to bounce back in his third NFL season. This deal does the opposite, as the Texans traded their best offensive lineman.
Given that, why exactly did Houston go through with this deal? Sure, it's always nice getting draft pick compensation, and the Texans certainly did, but isn't this team supposed to be in win-now mode? The Texans are coming off a disappointing season, but with the right improvements and a bounce-back from Stroud, there was reason to believe they'd have a chance to at the very least be in the Super Bowl conversation. Trading Tunsil away and further weakening arguably their greatest weakness will only make it tougher for them to seriously compete.
The only way this trade would make any sort of sense would be if the Texans found a way to bolster their offensive line. With it being incredibly unlikely that they'll find a way to get an offensive lineman better than Tunsil, this deal is really hard to get behind.
Commanders trade grade: A
Texans trade grade: D+