This is not going to be a referendum on the overall job being done by new Texans general manager Nick Caserio. Instead, just a review of how Caserio, who's been a director of player personnel in the NFL for over 15 years, turned a one-time pro bowl player into a 6th round pick and significantly hurt the team's salary cap in the process.
They traded for defensive end Shaq Lawson in late March. They traded away Lawson in late August. They used a starting linebacker to acquire Lawson. They received a future 6th round selection to get rid of Lawson.
March 22 - Texans trade McKinney and a 2021 7th round selection (231st overall) to the Dolphins for Lawson and a 2021 6th round selection (203rd overall).
McKinney finished 2020 on injured reserve and was set for $7 million base salary in 2021, though that along with his two remaining seasons in 2022 & 2023 including no guaranteed money. His deal was immediately re-worked by the Dolphins to lessen his cap hit in 2021. Lawson came to Houston w/ two seasons remaining on his deal at $7.9 million guaranteed in 2021 and $8.4 million (not guaranteed) in 2022.
April 1 - Texans used the 203rd selection acquired in the deal for Lawson in a trade package (203rd & 212th) to move up to selection 174. They then traded the 174th and 233rd selections to move up to the 170th spot. They used that selection to draft linebacker Garrett Wallow.
August 29 - Texans trade Lawson to the New York Jets for a 2022 6th round selection (from 49ers).
Lawson was invisible during training camp and equally so during the team's three preseason contests.
In the preseason opener, Lawson played 27 snaps (50 percent), recorded one tackle, late in the third quarter against the third-string Packers. The following week against the Cowboys, he had the most snaps of any Texans player in their front seven. He played 36 snaps (48 percent) and recorded three tackles and a quarterback hit. His quarterback hit came on a play late in the 4th quarter in which Lawson was actually penalized for illegal use of hands to the face - the penalty was declined since the Cowboys 4th string quarterback completed a 17 yard pass on 4th and 9 on that play.
In this past Saturday's preseason finale, Lawson's name appears in the 17-page gamebook just once - that one instance indicates he participated in the game. No tackles, no assists, no nothing.
Not long after arriving in Houston, he and the Texans converted $7 million of Lawson's salary into a bonus, which cleared $5.25 million in cap space for 2021.
Now that Lawson has been traded, the end result of that conversion for the Texans is a $1.7 million cap hit (dead money) in 2021 and that $5.25 million cap hit (dead money) in 2022.
If they had done nothing, but simply released McKinney, the team would have absorbed a $1.5 million cap hit this season. They'd have been hit with no dead money in future seasons - none.
Instead, Caserio dealt McKinney for Lawson
Caserio traded McKinney for a player that never took a snap for the team and cost them more a bigger cap hit this season and puts $5.25 million in dead cap on the 2022 season. Caserio was so confident Lawson was a difference maker he used McKinney, who might've been a cap casualty, to get him. Caserio was so busy signing player after player after player after player in free agency this offseason, he needed to lower Lawson's 2021 cap figure, which meant they'd just push it off in to next season. Many of those players will not ever play for the Texans.
Lawson, a former first round pick in 2016, will now be with his 4th team in six NFL seasons. His season high in sacks is 6.5. He had just four sacks last season in his one season in Miami. He's averaged less than one QB hit per game in his five seasons in Buffalo and Miami before his six-month stint in Houston.
One thing is for certain. The rebuilding process did not get any easier with this deal that clearly did not work.
But they do have a sixth round selection in 2022 to show for it.
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