Another crack in the Deshaun Watson relationship with Texans and what’s next
Even when the Houston Texans are trying to say the right things, they seemingly make Deshaun Watson unhappy.
The latest is Watson recently divested his social media accounts of any Texans mentions. The quarterback, who has become a star with the Texans and signed a $156 million deal with the team in September of 2020, removed all mention of the Texans from his Twitter and Instagram accounts by Saturday.
The apparent reason for the change is Watson is unhappy, among other things, with the manner Texans general manager Nick Caserio referred to him during a Friday press conference introducing new coach David Culley.
“So organizationally, just want to reiterate our commitment to Deshaun Watson,” Caserio said. “He’s had a great impact on this organization, a great impact on a lot of people, a great impact on this team, and we look forward to the opportunity to spend more time with him here this spring once we get started.
“And we have zero interest in trading the player. We have a great plan, a great vision for him and for this team and his role on our team and we look forward to the opportunity to spend more time with him here this spring.”
That part about “the player” is the apparent problem. Caserio called Watson “the player” rather than by name.
Watson responded by removing the Texans name from his accounts. And on his Instagram account, which 1.56 million people follow, Watson is now referring to himself as simply “Athlete.”
And whatever you think of this cold war jockeying, it speaks to the dividing lines that are increasingly defined between the Texans and Watson.
The Houston brass spent much of this news conference last week talking about how there are plans for Watson and how they intend to have Watson. And Watson, on the heels of a trade request, spent part of his time after that presser deleting the Texans from his life.
All this begs the question what happens next?
And I believe there will be a point in which Culley will attempt to contact and meet with Watson to try to fix what is obviously broken.
Interestingly, Caserio referred to this meeting with Watson as happening in the spring rather than, you know, soon as possible. He spoke of getting a coaching staff for Culley together as the team’s next big assignment while the quarterback question is obviously much more important.
So barring a miracle connection between the men — one that bridges the wide gap Watson has with ownership and others within the Houston organization — I can see, for the first time, Watson being traded.
Why?
Because everything the sides are doing is now lining up for a divorce.
And because the unthinkable idea of trading away a franchise quarterback has now become plausible in Houston.
Let’s address the second part of that first:
The media in Houston is open to the idea that a divorce is coming. It’s out there now where it wasn’t early on when this saga seemed more like a crack than a full-blown split.
The Houston Chronicle’s John McClain, who has covered the Texans and Oilers for 45 years, is the dominant media voice in the market. And lately he’s talking about trade value and trade strategy rather than a possible healing of the relationship between Watson and the team.
His latest column is about how the Texans should get the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets into a bidding war for Watson.
His tweets on the subject have also started to tilt toward a trade being an eventuality.
And if McClain is thinking this way, my guess is the Texans are seriously considering this.
(Peanut gallery: Hey, Mando, welcome back from a well-deserved week off. You missed some really insightful Brian Flores news conferences from the Senior Bowl. Did you miss the news conference where the Texans reiterated their commitment to “the player?”)
Ah, yes, missed you, peanut gallery. Yes, I caught the whole commitment thought from the Texans.
And that’s exactly what I would expect them to say as they prepare to keep Watson ... and as they prepare to trade Watson.
The Texans, you see, are publicly going to build up Watson every chance they can. Whether they can keep him or not, it’s in their best interest to have his value around the NFL at a premium because it’s possible they will try to cash in on that premium.
So Deshaun Watson is awesome, according to the Houston Texans.
By the way, he is in fact pretty great, according to my eyes.
By making certain they say all the right things about Watson, the Texans can then sell high if they’re ultimately pushed to trading Watson.
So all the speech-making about how the team has plans for Watson should go in one ear and out the other for everyone. Because that’s the effect it has for most NFL teams.
The Texans have not engaged in trade talks for Watson. But if, ultimately, the Texans begin the exercise of trading their star quarterback, the question will be the price. And I can tell you right now, the price will be very, very, very high.
Based on what I’m hearing, the expectation is the Texans will ask for four first-round draft picks as their initial asking price with the idea of probably bargaining down to three first-round draft picks plus other inducements.
That’s the price commonly discussed among NFL people sitting on the sideline watching this drama unfold.
Three first-round draft picks-plus for Deshaun Watson.
The plus means the deal could also include players (starters) and draft picks from other rounds.
And this is not the space for discussing whether that’s fair or not.
It is relevant that the Texans, whose motivation will be to get the most for their quarterback, will be seeking a way to get a new quarterback out of the deal.
The Texans will want a QB on a current roster or a high enough draft pick to select a quarterback they value in the draft.
That suggests teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Dallas Cowboys should not be immediately eliminated from the list of potential suitors for Watson.
All those teams have high draft picks this year, or multiple high picks, or high picks plus a veteran quarterback to offer in exchange for Watson.
Watson, meanwhile, is known to have an early preference for where he would like to play.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 11:15 AM.
