Getty Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The Houston Texans have a potential disaster on their hands. The 2020 season got off to a terrible start and only got worse as the year went on. Fortunately for them, they have a superstar quarterback in Deshaun Watson. As long as they have him, they’ll be relevant. However, they may have ruined that relationship.
According to a number of reports, Watson is very unhappy with team owner Cal McNair. Apparently, McNair promised Watson that he’d be involved in the search for a new general manager. The Texans recently announced that they hired Nick Caserio but didn’t actually involve Watson in the process.
While there’s been no report of a trade request quite yet, it’s clear that the quarterback has major problems with the Texans right now. If he demands a trade, Watson will be one of the biggest names to ever hit the trade market. There probably aren’t many teams in the NFL that wouldn’t be interested. The Las Vegas Raiders have been speculated as a potential fit. Jon Gruden is a big fan of Watson and while Derek Carr had a strong season, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for teams to land a top-five quarterback in the prime of their career. Plus, an old tweet from 2013 has resurfaced where Watson stated that he likes how the Raiders’ uniforms look.
I like how the Raiders uniforms look.
Obviously, the tweet was from a long time ago but the Raiders are littered with Clemson alumni. Clelin Ferrell, Trayvon Mullen, John Simpson, Tanner Muse and Hunter Renfrow all played on the 2016 National Championship team that was led by Watson.
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Watson Would Cost a King’s Ransom
Carr had a really good season and the Raiders should be comfortable with him leading the team next year. The idea of adding Watson will get many fans excited but it would cost Las Vegas a ton. Unless Houston is really high on Carr, whose brother was the first player the team ever drafted, then maybe landing Watson wouldn’t be too difficult. If the Texans look at Carr as a top-10 quarterback, perhaps Carr plus two first-round picks get the deal done.
However, Houston might not be that high on Carr. If that were the case, it would take at least three first-round picks and more to get Watson. Is Watson so much better than Carr that it would warrant the Raiders giving up all that draft capital? Probably not. Watson is excellent but he only led Houston to four wins in 2020. Obviously, that’s not all on him but he’s not winning a ton of games by himself. It’s doubtful that Watson could carry the Raiders’ atrocious defense to the playoffs. Taking up all of Watson’s cap hit while losing the ability to draft high-end defensive players would not likely lead to more wins for the silver and black.
It’s Highly Unlikely Watson Get Traded
The NFL is not like the NBA. Superstars aren’t getting traded very often, especially quarterbacks. Watson is understandably mad right now. They traded away his best wide receiver before the season and they’ve now made a critical general manager hiring without consulting him.
Despite those facts, cooler heads will likely prevail. Watson hasn’t even started his massive four-year contract extension that he signed in the offseason. He’s tied to the Texans until at least 2025. Houston isn’t about to give up its best player because he’s mad. While it’s exciting to think about all the different teams Watson could play for, it’s almost impossible to imagine he actually gets traded.
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