5 teams that should try to pry Deshaun Watson away from the Texans
Someone needs to free Deshaun Watson from his Texans’ nightmare. Here are five teams that should be making calls to Houston.
The Texans have effectively squandered Deshaun Watson’s career to date. It’s time for him to leave Houston for a franchise more capable of helping him win a Super Bowl title. That means enterprising NFL teams should be making calls to see if they can pry Watson away from the Texans this offseason.
Houston certainly isn’t going to give their Pro Bowl signal-caller away for free. Their front office understands the value of a franchise quarterback in his prime. Any deal that successfully convinces the Texans to part with their most valuable asset is going to require a ton of draft capital to head in the opposite direction.
Even so, there’s nothing more valuable than a star quarterback in the modern NFL. Watson’s already proven he can play the position at a truly elite level. That makes moving for him well worth the cost. Here are five teams that should be moving heaven and earth to try to land Watson before the 2021 season begins.
5. Carolina Panthers
The Panthers aren’t convinced that Teddy Bridgewater played well enough in 2020 to establish himself as their franchise quarterback of the present. There’s no cogent argument to be made that Watson wouldn’t be a massive upgrade in Carolina.
The only real question about this deal is whether or not the Panthers have the requisite offensive talent to truly serve as an immediate upgrade for Watson. Having Christian McCaffrey in the backfield is a start. Add in high-quality wide receivers like D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson and it’s clear to see that Carolina is trending in the right direction.
Giving Matt Rhule and his offensive coaching staff a quarterback like Watson to work with would dramatically raise expectations for the Panthers immediately. It’s unlikely that Carolina wants to accelerate their rebuild with such a seismic move, but new owner David Tepper wants to win big. Moving for Watson would be a massive statement by the new regime.