Texans reporter: WFT hasn't come up 'one time' in Watson talks originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The following paragraphs are about to act as a whole lot of rain on top of the Deshaun Watson-to-Washington parade. Sorry in advance.
Ever since Watson first made it clear he’d like to leave the only franchise he’s ever known, fans of the Burgundy and Gold have been clamoring for his acquisition. Hypothetical trade packages have been presented, the Photoshops have been Photoshopped and so much content (including the video at the top of this story) has been created to discuss and debate Watson’s fit in Washington.
But then there’s this: During a Tuesday interview on the BMitch & Finlay show, longtime NFL reporter John McClain, who’s covered the sport for 45 years for the Houston Chronicle, explained to the hosts that Ron Rivera’s club isn’t really relevant in the Watson discussions as of now.
“I have not heard Washington come up one time,” McClain said on 106.7 The Fan, revealing that “at least five” have called the Texans about the QB.
He did follow that up with this caveat, though.
“I never heard Arizona come up one time with Arizona, either.”
In other portions of the interview, McClain laid out what he believes it would require to pry Watson away from the Texans. In his mind, a competitive offer must contain at least three first-round picks and two second-round picks, as well as an additional starter, perhaps.
And as steep as that sounds, he had an easy deflection ready for anyone turned off by that sort of compensation.
“You’ll get a great quarterback for maybe a decade,” McClain said.
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Now, back to Washington’s supposed non-involvement. Why not at least punch in a phone number and get in touch with the AFC South organization?
If McClain’s hunch turns out to be true — and Watson ends up being dealt for such a valuable collection of assets — it’s just flat-out difficult to envision Washington being able to keep up with other competitors. Maybe Rivera and Co. have done their initial research and come away with the same conclusion, and therefore decided that they won’t be running in the Watson race despite outsiders claiming they must try.
The Jets, for instance, draft so much higher than the Football Team this year, and in McClain’s opinion, they’d still have a ways to go even with Watson, meaning their future draft selections will be precious, too.
In fact, Peter King recently suggested that including Chase Young might still not entice Houston enough — and that’s Chase Young we’re talking about!
Things could always change and Washington could begin to pursue the superstar passer, or they could be a dark horse who’s already doing so much like Arizona was with Watt. The more likely scenario, however, is that Watson is simply out of their price range, so they’ve chosen to not even step into the store.