diff --git a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyHandlerTestBase.java b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyHandlerTestBase.java
index 10c2d2c14d..8800f0108c 100644
--- a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyHandlerTestBase.java
+++ b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyHandlerTestBase.java
@@ -245,7 +245,6 @@ public abstract class NettyHandlerTestBase<T extends Http2ConnectionHandler> {
 
   protected ByteBuf grpcDataFrame(int streamId, boolean endStream, byte[] content) {
     final ByteBuf compressionFrame = Unpooled.buffer(content.length);
-    TransportTracer noTransportTracer = null;
     MessageFramer framer = new MessageFramer(
         new MessageFramer.Sink() {
           @Override