Flores: 'There's no trade in place' for Tunsil - NFL.com

As we press towards the start of the regular season, rumors surrounding Jadeveon Clowney continue to spin.

The latest iterations of the Clowney-to-Miami rumors include Dolphins starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil, high draft picks and perhaps more.

After Thursday's preseason game versus the New Orleans Saints, coach Brian Flores brushed aside the gossip.

"There's no trade in place for him," Flores said following the game regarding the Tunsil trade rumors, via the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Flores' response isn't exactly an emphatic 'Not a chance.'

One of the best young left tackles in football, it's not a surprise that the Houston Texans would try to pry Tunsil from the Dolphins in any potential trade for Clowney. How the Dolphins would cope by trading away its most talented player remains a question without a good answer.

The Dolphins' offensive line is already a disaster. Take away the best player, and it collapses onto itself like a baby star that never got to blast light into the cold darkness of space.

Trading Tunsil would also further signal to the locker room that the Dolphins are in full-on rebuild mode and are playing out the string in 2019. Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald went so far as to cite an unnamed player who said Dolphins players "would revolt" if Tunsil were traded.

Brace for a potential uprising in South Beach.

The Dolphins have the 25-year-old under contract for the next two seasons at a bargain rate. With the dearth of left tackles throughout the NFL, would Miami be willing to part with one of the rising young studs? Trade Tunsil and they could find themselves in the exact same situation Houston sits in a couple years. Also, how would the Dolphins expect to evaluate their quarterback situation behind a Tunsil-less offensive line?

Even if there is "no trade in place," as Flores said, and none ever materializes, it can't be good for the relationship between Miami's brass and its best young player that the team's willingness to consider moving on has become public.

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