diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java
index 416fdd9be5c..036fde55e2c 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandler.java
@@ -124,12 +124,6 @@ class NettyServerHandler extends AbstractNettyHandler {
   private static final boolean DISABLE_CONNECTION_HEADER_CHECK = Boolean.parseBoolean(
       System.getProperty("io.grpc.netty.disableConnectionHeaderCheck", "false"));
 
-  /**
-   * A message that simply passes through the channel without any real processing. It is useful to
-   * check if buffers have been drained and test the health of the channel in a single operation.
-   */
-  static final Object NOOP_MESSAGE = new Object();
-
   private final Http2Connection.PropertyKey streamKey;
   private final ServerTransportListener transportListener;
   private final int maxMessageSize;
@@ -715,8 +709,6 @@ public void write(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise)
       gracefulClose(ctx, (GracefulServerCloseCommand) msg, promise);
     } else if (msg instanceof ForcefulCloseCommand) {
       forcefulClose(ctx, (ForcefulCloseCommand) msg, promise);
-    } else if (msg == NOOP_MESSAGE) {
-      ctx.write(Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER, promise);
     } else {
       AssertionError e =
           new AssertionError("Write called for unexpected type: " + msg.getClass().getName());
diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java
index 6651b42ee66..758ffeee5b1 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerTransport.java
@@ -160,18 +160,6 @@ public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
     channel.closeFuture().addListener(terminationNotifier);
 
     channel.pipeline().addLast(bufferingHandler);
-
-    channel.writeAndFlush(NettyServerHandler.NOOP_MESSAGE).addListener(new ChannelFutureListener() {
-      @Override
-      public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
-        if (!future.isSuccess()) {
-          // grpcHandler (NettyServerHandler) may not be in the pipeline yet on early negotiation
-          // failure, so connectionError() can remain null. Notify termination here with the write
-          // failure cause to preserve/log the original transport termination reason.
-          notifyTerminated(future.cause());
-        }
-      }
-    });
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java
index 7f958a2845c..0d5a9bab176 100644
--- a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java
+++ b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyServerHandlerTest.java
@@ -1347,25 +1347,6 @@ public void maxRstCountSent_exceedsLimit_fails() throws Exception {
     assertFalse(channel().isOpen());
   }
 
-  @Test
-  public void write_noopMessage_writesEmptyBuffer() throws Exception {
-    manualSetUp();
-
-    ChannelPromise promise = newPromise();
-    handler().write(ctx(), NettyServerHandler.NOOP_MESSAGE, promise);
-    channel().flush();
-
-    assertTrue(promise.isSuccess());
-
-    Object outbound = channel().readOutbound();
-    assertTrue(outbound instanceof ByteBuf);
-    ByteBuf buf = (ByteBuf) outbound;
-    assertEquals(0, buf.readableBytes());
-    buf.release();
-
-    assertNull(channel().readOutbound());
-  }
-
   private void madeYouReset(int burstSize) throws Exception {
     when(streamTracerFactory.newServerStreamTracer(anyString(), any(Metadata.class)))
         .thenAnswer((args) -> new TestServerStreamTracer());
diff --git a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java
index 90ca8f94c6c..80438532172 100644
--- a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java
+++ b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/ProtocolNegotiatorsTest.java
@@ -133,7 +133,6 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.logging.Filter;
-import java.util.logging.Handler;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.LogRecord;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
@@ -473,42 +472,6 @@ public void from_tls_clientAuthRequire_noClientCert() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
-  @Test
-  public void from_plaintextClient_toTlsServer_logsTransportFailureCause() throws Exception {
-    final AtomicReference<LogRecord> transportFailureLog = new AtomicReference<>();
-    Handler handler = new Handler() {
-      @Override
-      public void publish(LogRecord record) {
-        if ("Transport failed".equals(record.getMessage()) && record.getThrown() != null) {
-          transportFailureLog.compareAndSet(null, record);
-        }
-      }
-
-      @Override
-      public void flush() {}
-
-      @Override
-      public void close() throws SecurityException {}
-    };
-    Logger logger =
-        Logger.getLogger(String.format("%s.connections", NettyServerTransport.class.getName()));
-    Level oldLevel = logger.getLevel();
-    try {
-      logger.addHandler(handler);
-      logger.setLevel(Level.ALL);
-
-      ServerCredentials serverCreds = TlsServerCredentials.create(server1Cert, server1Key);
-      ChannelCredentials channelCreds = InsecureChannelCredentials.create();
-      Status status = expectFailedHandshake(channelCreds, serverCreds);
-
-      assertEquals(Status.Code.UNAVAILABLE, status.getCode());
-      assertThat(transportFailureLog.get()).isNotNull();
-    } finally {
-      logger.removeHandler(handler);
-      logger.setLevel(oldLevel);
-    }
-  }
-
   @Test
   public void from_tls_clientAuthRequire_clientCert() throws Exception {
     ServerCredentials serverCreds = TlsServerCredentials.newBuilder()