Should the Steelers get in the Deshaun Watson trade talks?

Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Deshaun Watson can single-handedly transform an NFL franchise’s hopes and dreams, but should the Pittsburgh Steelers make a move for him?

Unlike most of the teams concretely linked with Houston Texans superstar quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Pittsburgh Steelers made it to the postseason. And on the surface, long-time quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a solid season with over 250 passing yards per game, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Roethlisberger, however, was 19th in the NFL in QB Rating. Worse yet, only six quarterbacks out of 35 qualifiers had a lower yards per attempt average than Roethlisberger’s 6.3.

The Texans are publicly saying they will not trade Watson, but they can say whatever they want. Everyone around the league knows that Watson isn’t going to stick with a team that has failed to support him and has serious leadership questions. But because Watson is a franchise quarterback who was second in the NFL in QB Rating last season, he will still command top dollar despite clearly having no future in Houston.

So Pittsburgh would have to mortgage their future on Watson. They would have to trade multiple first-round picks for Watson, and that’s just the starting point. The Texans could easily play all the interested parties against each other and get a star player – or two – out of the deal on top of the picks. It’s a steep price, but it’s a price other teams will be willing to pay.

The Steelers should be more willing to trade their future for Deshaun Watson than most

Interestingly enough, the Steelers, on paper, should be one of the teams most willing to give up the picks necessary to pry Watson away from the Texans. Watson is a sure-fire star who carried the Texans organization over the past couple of years. He put up elite numbers last season with nearly 5,000 passing yards, a completion percentage of 70.3, a league-leading 8.9 yards per pass attempt and a meager seven interceptions.

If the Steelers were to trade for him, they probably wouldn’t be able to make a first-round selection in the next three years. First of all, they are already a playoff team, so they would have a late pick anyway. With Watson, they wouldn’t need to worry about drafting a quarterback, and they’d be a better team with Watson upgrading on Roethlisberger, who may retire. Therefore, they could very well have a bottom-five first-round pick in each of those three years.

The Steelers offense has a lot of potential. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and Eric Ebron are all very talented pass-catchers who surpassed the 500-yard mark in 2020. Yet out of those four leading receivers, only Chase Claypool averaged 8.0 yards per target. Everyone else was at or under the 6.5-yard mark.

Watson represents an upgrade of 2.6 yards per pass attempt. If the Steelers attempt 40 passes per game (they averaged 41 per game last season), then that’s a difference of over 100 yards per game in productivity from the offense.

All three of the above wide receivers are under the age of 25, and they all had at least 60 receptions for the Steelers. With an arguable top-five quarterback in Watson at the helm, they could explode as playmakers and become one of the league’s most productive wide receiver trios. Throw in James Washington as a fourth option, and the Steelers could be in business with a star-studded defense behind them.

Pittsburgh would have to trade a key player on the defensive side of the ball to make this move happen, but as long as they hold onto their true franchise players Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt, they should still be in good enough shape defensively to win a Super Bowl.

The Steelers can’t win it all with Roethlisberger at quarterback, since he was one of the league’s least-efficient passers in 2020. His time as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback is over, and the Steelers probably understand this harsh truth. If they have a chance to acquire Watson without significantly hurting their defense, they need to take it, because Pittsburgh already has enough young stars on both sides of the ball to “win now” with Watson, and, at 25, he could help elevate the notoriously-stable Steelers organization for the next decade as their new leader.

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Of course, as much as the Steelers can dream of a present and future with Watson leading them to deep playoff runs, a trade may never materialize if Roethlisberger’s plans stand in the way. That is the bigger question mark here than draft capital or trade chips. But if the stars align, this franchise needs to make a serious push for one of the league’s most efficient passers.