Report: What NFL Teams Think Will Happen With Deshaun Watson
Because of all the recent chatter surrounding Aaron Rodgers, it’s easy to forget that there were rampant Deshaun Watson trade rumors earlier this offseason.
At the time, we kept hearing that Watson wanted out of Houston, but the Texans had no desire to trade the young quarterback. Now, they might be changing their tune.
On SportsCenter earlier today, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler asserted that the feeling on Watson has shifted in league circles. Teams now figure Houston will eventually deal their 25-year-old signal caller.
“Teams I’ve talked to around the league are taking notice that the Houston Texans seem to be slowly moving on from Deshaun Watson, because they have their bridge quarterback in Tyrod Taylor and they have their developmental draft pick in Davis Mills — a quarterback I’m told that they’re very high on with his instincts, his smarts and his big arm,” Fowler said, via 247Sports.
“And so, a couple months ago, the Texans were turning down everybody who was calling about Deshaun Watson. Carolina was willing to give them the world. They said, ‘No.’ They’ve been far less committal recently. They don’t know when Watson is even going to be cleared to play. The league will consider putting Watson on the commissioner’s exempt list later this summer if his case is still going on.”
Of course, the key portion of Fowler’s comments is the part referring to Watson’s off-field issues. The 2017 first-round pick is currently being sued by more than 20 women claiming sexual misconduct.
Recently, ESPN’s Adam Schefter speculated that Watson could miss the entire 2021 season. That was right after Houston used the No. 67 overall pick in the third round to draft a quarterback–Mills from Stanford.
“It’s just part of the team-building process,” Texans GM Nick Caserio said at the time. “What we tried to do was evaluate the players on the board and go through our process. There were several players we were discussing in that range. When it came time to pick, we felt it was the best decision for our team at the time.”
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