Trading Deshaun Watson is absurd. Even writing that sentence is ridiculous. The Texans, however, are a dumpster fire of a franchise.
Since Bill O’Brian became General Manager he has made some of the worst trades in NFL history. On August 31st 2019 he traded two number ones (one of those picks turned into number 3 overall), a second-round pick and two players for tackle Larry Tunsil, receiver Kenny Stills, 4th rounder and a 6th rounder. This trade alone has the potential to be a modern-day Herschel Walker trade.
March 16th of 2020 Houston trades DeAndre Hopkins and a 4th rounder for David Johnson, a second-round pick and 4th round pick. Ouch! I’ll list the receivers in NFL history that have been traded for a first-round pick (no particular order): Percy Harvin, Roy Williams, Joey Galloway, Peerless Price, Keyshawn Johnson, Randy Moss, Brandon Cooks twice, Amari Cooper, OBJ. Hopkins is better than everyone on that list except for Moss.
Those are just highlighted deals. A complete history can be found here
It’s not just football decisions that are terrible either. It has been well documented how the front office is an enormous clusterfuck.
Congratulations you are the 2016-2018 Brooklyn Nets in basketball. Your terrible and don’t own any picks.
Not to kick a franchise while you’re down, but you are 18 million dollars over the cap next season and according to overthecap.com you will have the least amount of cap space in 2022.
There is a solution. You have one asset. Trade him and start over. Complete teardowns aren’t typical in the NFL, however, if you look at recent history it shows that it can work. The Cleveland Browns went in full Moneyball mode by trading every asset they had and traded down in the draft to acquire more picks. Cleveland used those picks to land top five picks: Myles Garret, Denzel ward, Baker Mayfield, and acquire pieces such as Jarvis Landry, and OBJ to fill out the roster. The Browns made it to the Divisional Round of the playoffs and nearly beat the defending Super Bowl champs. Is it crazy to think that the Browns could win the AFC North next season?
This is the template the Texans have to follow in order to be successful.
If the Dolphins offer Tua, #3 overall and next year’s number one-take it.
If the 49ers offer Jimmy G, and two first-round picks-take it
If any other team in the NFL offers you at least two first-round picks for Watson you take it.
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Take those picks and immediately trade down. Acquire as many picks as possible.
Team X has a bad contract? Take him for a pick
Team Y wants one of your veterans? Trade him for a pick
The Texans were horrible this year with Watson. Couple that with a messy salary cap situation and no picks you have no future. Face the music and bottom out.
To paraphrase the Mandolorine: THIS IS THE ONLY WAY
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