After joining the Washington Commanders following a trade from the Houston Texans, standout left tackle Laremy Tunsil just wants to do what he can to help his new team.
“I’m down to do whatever they want me to do,” Tunsil said. “If they need me to play quarterback and back up Jayden Daniels, then I can do that.”
That won't be necessary. The coaching staff would rather Tunsil play a big role in keeping Daniels upright.
On a video call with reporters Monday following the trade becoming official over the weekend, the 30-year-old who spent the past two seasons blocking for C.J. Stroud expressed excitement about doing the same for Daniels and believes it could get him his first All-Pro nod in his 10th NFL season.
“I can tell you this: I actually can’t wait to block for Jayden Daniels," Tunsil said. "He’s a baller, just from seeing him on TV and watching film. ... Just said a good person, a baller, so I can’t wait. He’ll make my job hella easy.”
Tunsil, now 30, was voted to the Pro Bowl five times in his six seasons with Houston after being traded there from the Miami Dolphins. He found this trade easier to swallow because of how the Texans handled it.
“I respect the Houston Texans just giving me a heads-up because when I was with Miami, I didn’t get the courtesy call from Miami,” Tunsil said. "I kind of woke up out of my nap and got traded. At least this time it was a little bit different.”
Tunsil also isn't bothered by the reason he was traded along with a 2025 fourth-round pick for a third- and a seventh-rounder this year and second- and fourth-rounders in 2026. He said Texans GM Nicholas Caserio and coach DeMeco Ryans were up front about needing to clear salary cap space to pay younger players.
“I truly understand,” Tunsil said. “There’s no hard feelings. At the end of the day, it’s a business. I don’t take anything personal. There’s no hard feelings against the Houston Texans.”
Against himself? Maybe. With 17 penalties for 95 yards, Tunsil was the most penalized player in the league last season, getting flagged so much he may have even lost count.
Improving in that area is one of the many things he wants to work on.
“Those 19 penalties I had last season was unacceptable, so that’s something I want to address, for sure: getting that number down or even having none,” Tunsil said. "I want to keep growing as a player, honestly, as a pass blocker, a run blocker. It doesn’t matter. I’m always trying to improve in each of those fields.”
Tunsil is one of several high-profile additions already made by second-year GM Adam Peters, who also acquired receiver Deebo Samuel from San Francisco and signed defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, safety Will Harris and cornerback Jonathan Jones.
“The more that you can surround this young core group with guys that have played at a high level, that work hard, that provide consistency, I think the more that they can see these examples and kind of mold it into their own games,” said veteran QB Marcus Mariota, who is returning to back up Daniels. “The more that we can bring guys in like that, whether it’s Laremy, whether it’s Deebo, the more that you can bring these guys in that have done it and played at a high level, I think that just raises the level of the young core that we have.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
FILE - Houston Texans offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil (78) walks off the field at the end of the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Jan. 11, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Maria Lysaker, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday explicitly linked the actions of Yemen's Houthi rebels to the group's main benefactor, Iran, warning Tehran it would “suffer the consequences” for further attacks by the group.
The comments by Trump on his Truth Social website escalate his administration’s new campaign of airstrikes targeting the rebels, which killed at least 53 people this weekend alone. U.S. officials said the strikes were carried out against more than 40 targets and more airstrikes were planned in the coming days. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of military operations.
Meanwhile, the Iranians continue to weigh how to respond to a letter Trump sent them last week trying to jump-start negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Houthi supporters rallied in several cities Monday after the strikes, vowing revenge against America and Israel over blocking aid to the Gaza Strip after its war on Hamas there. The Houthis' al-Masirah satellite news channel put young boys on air live, who chanted the group's slogan: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
“The Yemeni position is an irreversible position (regarding Gaza), so do whatever you (Americans) want, for we are men who fear no one but God," said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a Houthi leader who spoke to the demonstration in Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
The United Nations called for a halt to all military activities in Yemen and the Red Sea, urging “utmost restraint” and warning that “any additional escalation could exacerbate regional tensions,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday.
Describing the Houthis as “sinister mobsters and thugs,” Trump warned any attack by the group would be met with “great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there.”
“Iran has played ‘the innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control,” Trump alleged in his post. “They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, 'Intelligence.'”
And in a marked departure from the previous administration, Trump has given U.S. Central Command the authority to launch offensive strikes against the Houthis when it deems it appropriate.
The Biden administration had required White House approval to conduct offensive strikes like the ones over the weekend. It did allow U.S. forces to launch defensive attacks, including to take out weapons that appeared to be ready to fire.
Delegating the authority to the regional commander, said Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “allows us to achieve a tempo of operations where we can react to opportunities that we see on the battlefield in order to continue to put pressure on the Houthis.” He added that it also allows the U.S. to hit a broader array of targets.
The U.S. officials said Trump made the decision last week.
The weekend strikes targeted headquarters positions and drone sites where what the Pentagon identified as “key leaders” for the Houthis’ drone program were located at the time, said Grynkewich.
The Pentagon said there was no evidence that any civilians were killed in the attacks.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations delivered a strong rebuke Monday to Trump’s recent rhetoric about the Islamic Republic, saying Trump and U.S. officials are making “reckless and provocative statements” and threatened to retaliate if those words turn to actions.
In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said his country would “defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national interests under international law against any hostile action.”
It's unclear what sparked Trump's post. However, the head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard sought to separate the Houthis' actions from those of Tehran this weekend. The Houthis also launched drones and missiles targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, though none reached the ship as it continues flight operations in the region.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump added.
The Houthi rebels attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January this year when a ceasefire began in Gaza. The campaign also greatly raised the Houthis’ profile in the wider Arab world and tamped down on public criticism against their human rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent and aid workers.
The Houthis claimed there had been additional U.S. airstrikes overnight, though American officials did not immediately acknowledge them.
In Saada province, the Houthis' stronghold, the rebels raided a warehouse run by the World Food Program. A member of Yemen's exiled government first reported the Houthis had been taking supplies from the facility without the WFP's permission in the aftermath of the U.S. airstrikes. The United Nations agency later acknowledged the Houthis' actions to The Associated Press.
“WFP regrets the de facto authorities' decision to seize some of the commodities,” it said. “These commodities were intended for the most vulnerable food-insecure families. Only WFP and its partners have the authority to distribute them and ensure they reach the intended recipients.”
Yemen, at war since the Houthis seized Sanaa back in 2014, has been on the precipice of famine for years. But the U.N. in February suspended its operations in Saada over security concerns following the detentions of dozens of U.N. workers and others in recent months. A day later, the WFP announced one of its staffers died while imprisoned by the Houthis.
Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp in Washington, and Edith M. Lederer and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.
A Houthi military wears a vest showing a drawing of the leader of the Houthi movement Abdul Malik al-Houthi as he directs traffic during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold pictures of Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold pictures of Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold pictures of Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold pictures of Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi security officers stand next to a street billboard displaying a picture of Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Palestinian wait get donated food at a distribution center in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian girl struggles as she and others try to get donated food at a distribution center in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Houthi supporters chant slogans and hold pictures of Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi movement, during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
