Deshaun Watson desperately needs more help from Bill O’Brien

Based on how the 2020 offseason is going for the Texans, Bill O’Brien took Clemson HC Dabo Swinney way too serious about comparing Deshaun Watson to Michael Jordan.

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is one of the brightest young stars in the NFL. Following a Pro Bowl selection in 2018 in his first full year as a starter, Watson posted another great season where he had 3852 yards passing, 26 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, more than 400 yards on the ground and seven more rushing touchdowns.

To top it all off, Watson helped Houston to clinch an AFC South division title. Once he got to the playoffs, no one in Houston will ever forget his miraculous Wild Card performance against Buffalo.

In a year where things were trending up for Houston, all of that momentum came to a screeching halt this offseason when Watson’s head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien traded the quarterback’s favorite teammate and All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona for a broken-down David Johnson. O’Brien softened the blow by bringing in Brandin Cooks, but he is no Hopkins.

While Watson sure is great, let’s take a look at his supporting cast around him. Cooks and Johnson are solid, but both have yet to top their production from years prior. Will Fuller and Kenny Stills are the incumbent receiving options on the roster, but there is a lot more pressure on them in 2020. O’Brien also brought in Randall Cobb from Dallas, but he is far from the slot receiver we saw in Green Bay a few years back.

So here is the breakdown of Watson’s skill position players: a running back who is still in the league based off of a career-year four season ago, two new receivers that work best in the slot and have no rapport with Watson, and two guys who have played with Watson in 2019 who are nowhere near No. 1 receivers in the league.

Luckily for Watson, O’Brien has shown that he is not afraid to make a midseason move as he traded for former Dolphins Stills and lineman Laremy Tunsil during 2019. Due to the mistakes made by O’Brien, though, Houston has very little draft capital to work with going forward for a trade.

Whether or not O’Brien is testing Watson to do more with less is yet to be determined. What we do know for sure is that Watson is going to need these guys to step up or for someone else to come in and shoulder some of the receiving load in 2020 and beyond.