New Orleans Saints should reach out to Texans about Deshaun Watson
The New Orleans Saints are in search of a long-term quarterback and a very good one is being made available in a trade. After a long battle, the Houston Texans are apparently finally on board with trading Deshaun Watson.
Reports surfaced over the weekend that Watson planned to show up to training camp despite not wanting to play for Houston and the legal issues that have been surrounding him this offseason. The important aspect of Watson showing up to camp is that the NFL clearly hasn’t found enough evidence of any wrongdoing to put him on the commissioner’s exempt list.
This means that now is the time for the Texans to sell and if any team should be dialing up Houston, it’s the Saints.
The #Texans are now willing to listen — and have been for some time — to trade offers for star QB Deshaun Watson, multiple sources tell me and @RapSheet. But the price is high for a player of his caliber, and should be. It’d likely take at least three first-round picks and more.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 26, 2021
The civil lawsuits make this a tricky situation and it’s certainly a risk to trade for Watson.
Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk,
"Multiple teams had hinged any serious interest on Watson in Watson getting the 22 civil lawsuits against him resolved. Those cases are still pending, and the criminal investigation sparked by some of those same complaints has not yet been closed. Also, even if the NFL has not placed Watson on paid leave yet, that immediately could change based on new allegations or evidence."
The New Orleans Saints need to throw their hat into the ring for Deshaun Watson.
At this point, it’s difficult to envision the Texans getting three first-round picks, as Tom Pelissero mentions is the asking price, due to the lawsuits. Once that gets cleared up and we have more answers about everything, then sure, Watson has proven he’d be worthy of at least three first-round picks.
The Saints don’t have a ton of draft capital to work with but one of their biggest holes moving forward is at quarterback, so trading for Watson would fill that major hole. Watson is coming off a year in which he led the league in passing yards and it’d be a no-brainer for New Orleans to target him if the lawsuits weren’t a factor right now.
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Be that as it may, the Saints should definitely reach out and figure out if they’d be able to swing a deal for the former Clemson signal-caller. Watson would give the Saints their quarterback of the future so there’s no harm in inquiring about the cost to land him.