I write sports themes at times on a few Facebook groups and I emailed a copy of this article to a FB friend who writes for USA today so I thought I would share it here as you never know if someone may be searching for sports info and this can be a help. I just love to write, period. So this may not fit my Mike-the-Pharmacist brand, but I had fun writing it and so you may enjoy. If you follow football, the quarterback carousal is a big deal each year and I find it a fascinating subject- which team will change their quarterback, which team will draft one, which one will slyly try to get out of the contract of a guy they thought was their guy only to find out he wasn’t. My big fascination with the NFL is from a leadership standpoint, so I usually see a lot of good lessons in the world of Pro Football.
So as a Pharmacist and Buffalo Bills fan, I present my thoughts on the Houston Texan Dehsaun Watson saga.
Vexin’ as a Texan
For those who don’t know football, you usually don’t see a situation where a team drafts a young Superstar, signs him for a $100 million plus deal, see him almost lead you to a Superbowl a year ago, and then one year later you have alienated him from your team, and he is demanding a trade.
Enter Deshaun Watson, the talented Clemson QB who was drafted by the Houston Texans in the same draft as Patrick Mahomes.
These guys are electrifying, dynamic, exciting. I remember seeing his magic last year as the Texans overcame a 16 point half time deficit to defeat my team, the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round. The next week they were up 24-0 I believe to the KC Chiefs- only to see a gigantic Patrick Mahomes comeback. This year things fell apart as the coach traded some key players because of personality conflicts, but Deshaun had anther MVP type performance that would have been noticed if he was back in the playoffs. Just a few weeks ago, they upset him by not giving him a say in the hiring of their new GM and it escalated from there to the point he has asked to be traded.
Just days ago, there was a huge trade of QB’s already- established veteran Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions going to the LA Rams for fallen-from-grace QB Jerod Goff. The Rams gave up multiple picks but were desperate to get a QB they can win with. That trade increased the compensation that Houston could expect from a Watson deal.
A lot of people have expressed the opinion that no team will dare trade for Deshaun Watson at Houston’s exorbitant asking price – currently something like 6 draft picks in the first 3 rounds, some young defensive studs, a couple of Infinity Gauntlet stones, and an NHL expansion team – but who would have expected anyone to offer 2-3 number one picks for Matthew Stafford either?
I think some desperate GM will be willing to pay- the question may be will Deshaun be willing to accept it? Remember he has a No Trade Clause.
Deshaun doesn’t seem to have a lot to look forward to in the near future in Houston as they have very little draft capital and hence the only way they can rebuild is to get a boatload of picks – which they would only get by trading him.
Hence the Catch-22.
The team he goes to will be losing those same picks and so they will essentially mortgage their future to get him! So his new team could be….a lot like his old one!
The only win-win that I see for him is to go directly to a team that is only a franchise QB away that is willing to sell the future farm to instantly become a contender- teams like New Orleans- maybe San Fran – Indy.
I doubt even a Chicago/Denver/Carolina/Minnesota/ WFT/New England would be just a QB away.
The Jets and Miami will be much improved next year – if they don’t lose their draft picks.
So it is for sure going to be interesting.
For LA to trade for Stafford believing he is their missing piece is not a sure thing at Matthew’s age. For Watson to be available is about as sure a thing as you can expect- and hence there will be teams willing to pay.
It will be interesting if what teams will have left — not just what teams will give up – will be what entices Deshaun to view a change of scenery as a better option than seeing what happens in Houston.
As it sure seems he has already seen enough.