The Houston Texans' decision to trade veteran Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders constituted one of the most surprising moves of the 2025 NFL offseason.
Tunsil had a difficult season in 2024 and was flagged for penalties 19 times, but Houston had a big problem protecting C.J. Stroud across the board. Still, it's hard enough to find good offensive linemen in today's NFL that it is rare to see a team trade a five-time Pro Bowler, especially one at left tackle, arguably the most important position on any offense other than quarterback.
On Monday, Tunsil spoke to media as a member of the Commanders for the first time and explained the reasoning behind the trade, as told to him by the Texans.
Per The Athletic's Nicki Jhabvala, Tunsil said the Texans informed him they were trying to keep their young core of linemen together. "It's a young man's game, and I've seen it for myself," Tunsil said.
The implication there is that Tunsil's contract would make it difficult to keep that young core together. The left tackle has two years remaining on his three-year, $75 million extension he signed in 2023. His cap hit for 2025 will be over $20 million. It's a lot of money to allocate to one player and Houston seems to have decided the organization is better off using that money elsewhere.
It is a significant bet to take with Stroud under contract for cheap, but one the Texans clearly felt comfortable making. Time will tell if it was the right one.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Laremy Tunsil Explains Why Texans Traded Him to Commanders.
