Given Deshaun Watson’s no-trade clause, Saints should push for trade

Deshaun Watson may want out of Houston, and the Saints should make a push as a team that could be a preferred destination for the superstar.

The Houston Texans and Deshaun Watson have a shaky relationship right now, and without a first-round pick, the hope for the franchise’s future with Watson isn’t there. The Saints could be a potential suitor if he’s traded.

The thing keeping Watson and the Texans at bay right now could be the no-trade clause in his contract. That helps ensure that he’s not dealt to a team like the Jets where he’d just get further wasted.

That’s where the Saints come in.

Drew Brees is 42 and on the brink of retirement. While he’s not made his final decision yet, it’s expected that the future first-ballot Hall of Famer with a broadcasting career already lined up with NBC.

Now, Watson’s contract would be difficult for Mickey Loomis to work with. The Saints are already dead last in available cap space for the upcoming offseason. Watson signed a four-year, $156 million deal, so the dead cap space that would be incurred if he was cut is astronomical.

The Texans certainly have no plans to do that. One of the best passers in the game, the Saints wouldn’t just pay for Watson in less cap space, but they’d also have to do deal with the draft capital ramifications that come with adding one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

With three three-game stretches in which he threw for over 300 yards, Watson ended the season as the league’s passing leader.

A player with his caliber of talent should be able to lead a team to more than four wins. However, after the Texans dealt DeAndre Hopkins this past offseason, Watson’s surrounding talent was drastically reduced. He did the most with what he had.

That said, the Saints have won 11, 13, 13, and 12 games in the respective last four seasons. They’re among the league’s best teams, so there’s no reason Watson would deny a trade to the Big Easy.

A contender must pay the price, and teams like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and several others should be looking to field some type of offer for Houston. With the Saints the least likely to pull it off, if Watson knows they’re interested, he could hold out for them to make the right offer.

Now, that’s all highly unlikely, but with the Saints needing a quarterback and Watson on the market, it’s at least something for fans to dream about while Brees takes his time to decide on whether he’s planning to return or not.