Deshaun Watson officially requests trade from Houston

[DrDawkinstein]

28 minutes ago, SCBills said:

I’d be more sympathetic to Watson if he was halfway through his deal and the Texans fell apart after he signed it, but he signed it last year.   

 

While I mainly side with Watson, this is a good and true point.

 

I looked up when he signed his new deal, and it was WELL AFTER they traded Hopkins away. So he should have known at that point. But I am still giving him some benefit of the doubt that he really was trying to be a good, loyal employee and team mate, and probably thought that if he signed it would help bring some stability to the organization. Which normally it should and would, but now he sees how truly incompetent McNair is, and things have changed. Things change, and not always for the better. None of us would want to work for such an employer.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

26 minutes ago, mannc said:

Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?  If Watson. gets traded, will you admit that he had leverage?  

 

And why are you backing Texans’ management, anyway?  They have burned that franchise to the ground and appear to be terrible people, to boot. Deshaun Watson is one of the bright young stars of the sport who by all accounts is a great guy.  So why the hate?  

 

The old GM is gone. They have a new GM now. And a new coach. The new GM and coach have not burned anything to the ground. I'm sure both would like to start off their careers with a franchise QB.

[DrDawkinstein]

24 minutes ago, mannc said:

Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?  If Watson. gets traded, will you admit that he had leverage?  

 

And why are you backing Texans’ management, anyway?  They have burned that franchise to the ground and appear to be terrible people, to boot. Deshaun Watson is one of the bright young stars of the sport who by all accounts is a great guy.  So why the hate?  

 

The amount of anger and bitterness towards Watson instead of McNair in this thread is really strange.

 

Watson has been a consummate professional, employee, and team mate up to this point. We ALL know the Texans are horribly managed, and things have gone from bad to exponentially worse in a very short time there.

 

Watson never demanded to be part of the GM/Coach hiring process. McNair went out of his way to tell him he would be, and then never followed through.

 

And the race/social justice garbage is just that. Garbage reasons people want to see where they dont exist so they have an easy way to dismiss and hate Watson. Makes no sense why they would side with management over Watson, but folks really want to for some reason.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

4 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

I looked up when he signed his new deal, and it was WELL AFTER they traded Hopkins away. 

 

Wow! Didn't realize that. Figured it was before that trade. That doesn't make me have much sympathy for Watson. 

[DrDawkinstein]

39 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Time to sell the team if you forced yourself into trading a 25 year old franchise QB.  Short of trading for Mahomes, Allen, or Herbert there’s no face-saving trade you can make here.  You either gotta reconcile or make him sit.  
If Watson hates the place so much, why did he sign on a long term extension?  

 

I think everyone in Houston and plenty of folks around the league would love to see McNair sell the team, and know that HE is the main problem, and it will likely not get better while he is still around.

 

Like I said upthread. I can only assume Watson was trying to be a good, loyal employee and team mate, and probably thought that if he signed it would help bring some stability to the organization. Which normally it should and would, but now he sees how truly incompetent McNair is, and things have changed. Things change, and not always for the better. None of us would want to work for such an employer.

 

It wasnt like re-signing with the Texans was his only way to get paid, and this was some money-grab. He could have easily gone to Free Agency, and probably gotten paid MORE on the open market. (Although that probably would have also started a nasty Franchise Player war, like we have seen play out with other Texan players).

3 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

Wow! Didn't realize that. Figured it was before that trade. That doesn't make me have much sympathy for Watson. 

 

Ehh, see above. Cant fault him for trying to help right the ship. Remember, the Hopkins trade was bad, but things got even worse well after that. Watt and players trying to fight BOB in practice didnt happen until after Watson's deal was signed.

Edited January 29, 2021 by DrDawkinstein

[SCBills]

5 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The amount of anger and bitterness towards Watson instead of McNair in this thread is really strange.

 

Watson has been a consummate professional, employee, and team mate up to this point. We ALL know the Texans are horribly managed, and things have gone from bad to exponentially worse in a very short time there.

 

Watson never demanded to be part of the GM/Coach hiring process. McNair went out of his way to tell him he would be, and then never followed through.

 

And the race/social justice garbage is just that. Garbage reasons people want to see where they dont exist so they have an easy way to dismiss and hate Watson. Makes no sense why they would side with management over Watson, but folks really want to for some reason.

NFL fans aren’t NBA fans.  There’s obviously some crossover, but not everyone wants to see players sign a contract, literally months ago, and then force their way out of town.   Cryptic twitter posts like he’s a high school recruit don’t help.  
 

The irony of fans of Diggs saying this, I know.  But he’s not a QB. 
 

Most are acknowledging that the Texans FO messed up as well... but by all accounts, they want to repair the relationship.  Watson doesn’t.  
 

Edited January 29, 2021 by SCBills

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, SCBills said:

NFL fans aren’t NBA fans.  There’s obviously some crossover, but not everyone wants to see players sign a contract, literally months ago, and then force their way out of town.   Cryptic twitter posts like he’s a high school recruit don’t help.  
 

Most are acknowledging that the Texans FO messed up as well... but by all accounts, they want to repair the relationship.  Watson doesn’t.  

 

The person-in-the-wrong always wants to "repair the relationship" when the abused finally stands up for themselves.

 

They had plenty of opportunity to repair the relationship, even came up with their own idea to let Watson be heard in the hiring process. And then once again went back on their word.

[mannc]

9 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

The old GM is gone. They have a new GM now. And a new coach. The new GM and coach have not burned anything to the ground. I'm sure both would like to start off their careers with a franchise QB.

Watson’s quarrel is with ownership, not with the GM.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

5 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Ehh, see above. Cant fault him for trying to help right the ship. Remember, the Hopkins trade was bad, but things got even worse well after that. Watt and players trying to fight BOB in practice didnt happen until after Watson's deal was signed.

 

BOB is gone though.  Fired early in the season in fact. They didn't let him linger. 

 

 

[Richard Noggin]

10 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The amount of anger and bitterness towards Watson instead of McNair in this thread is really strange.

 

Watson has been a consummate professional, employee, and team mate up to this point. We ALL know the Texans are horribly managed, and things have gone from bad to exponentially worse in a very short time there.

 

Watson never demanded to be part of the GM/Coach hiring process. McNair went out of his way to tell him he would be, and then never followed through.

 

And the race/social justice garbage is just that. Garbage reasons people want to see where they dont exist so they have an easy way to dismiss and hate Watson. Makes no sense why they would side with management over Watson, but folks really want to for some reason.

 

Bootlickers gonna lick.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

2 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

You lose a ton of value at that point if you are the Texans. Watson is coming off a season where he led the league in passing yards and had a top 5 QB rating of ALL TIME

 

You think after Watson sits a year and proves he is never coming back teams will offer more? They know you have to dump him and the offers will get lower. Trade him before FA and cut your losses

The difference between Adams and a top 5 safety is also huge

You'll get the same value. What team is going to say well since he sat a year I don't think I want your your young top 5 QB anymore.

 

Hard part would be the distraction. Everyday the same questions. 

[SCBills]

4 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The person-in-the-wrong always wants to "repair the relationship" when the abused finally stands up for themselves.

 

They had plenty of opportunity to repair the relationship, even came up with their own idea to let Watson be heard in the hiring process. And then once again went back on their word.

He signed his contract 5 months ago.  This hasn’t been some years long abuse.  
 

Listen, I don’t care enough about Texans FO vs Watson to keep going on about this, but I don’t think Watson is some victim.  He sees the team he signed a $160M contract to lead is trash, will likely remain trash, and he wants out.  It is what it is.  

[mannc]

23 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

Depends on the parameters of the trade.  If he has to repay the signing bonus and doesn't get to pick where he goes...

 

And I wouldn't call it hate.  I just think he's being childish and using any excuse he can find because the team had a losing season and they used a lot of resources in trying to get and help him.  Again all of this was known back in September when he accepted the huge new deal, and he went onto have a career year.

 

 

Well, Watson reportedly has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he doesn’t have to accept a trade he doesn’t like.  
 

As a lawyer, maybe I’m just cynical about contracts.  They aren’t sacred; good upstanding people try to negotiate their way out of or around them all the time. And at any rate, Watson’s not really trying to get out of his contract; he’s trying to convince the Texans to trade their rights under the contract to a different team, where his performance will still be subject to the terms of that same deal.  
 

Watson has a long history of being a good guy and a good teammate; the McNairs, not so much.  I’m giving Watson the benefit of any doubts in this pissing match.

[DrDawkinstein]

8 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

BOB is gone though.  Fired early in the season in fact. They didn't let him linger. 

 

 

 

But BOB wasnt the only or even main problem. He was just a symptom. The main problem is ownership. Watson see that now. And it isnt changing.

 

6 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

It's all so confusing at this point. So his preferred destination is the Jets and their decades long track record of mismanagement. And that doesn't even get into the issue of Wood Johnson personally being a friend/supporter of Trump. Which from the outside would seem to be an issue for Watson.

 

No one knows his preferred destination. The Jets are only mentioned by the media because they have the picks to get him. For all we know, he would stop a trade to the Jets.

1 minute ago, mannc said:

Well, Watson reportedly has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he doesn’t have to accept a trade he doesn’t like.  
 

As a lawyer, maybe I’m just cynical about contracts.  They aren’t sacred; good upstanding people try to negotiate their way out of or around them all the time. And at any rate, Watson’s not really trying to get out of his contract; he’s trying to convince the Texans to trade their rights under the contract to a different team, where his performance will still be subject to the terms of that same deal.  
 

Watson has a long history of being a good guy and a good teammate; the McNairs, not so much.  I’m giving Watson the benefit of any doubts in this pissing match.

 

As a businessman, this is also exactly how I feel about them as well. And is probably influencing my feelings too.

[mannc]

9 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

It's all so confusing at this point. So his preferred destination is the Jets and their decades long track record of mismanagement. And that doesn't even get into the issue of Wood Johnson personally being a friend/supporter of Trump. Which from the outside would seem to be an issue for Watson.

I hate to break the news to you, but if NFL owners ran the Electoral College, we’d be settling in for Four More Years right about now.

[Wayne Cubed]

Stop the press Doc and WEO are in agreement.

[Richard Noggin]

17 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

It's all so confusing at this point. So his preferred destination is the Jets and their decades long track record of mismanagement. And that doesn't even get into the issue of Wood Johnson personally being a friend/supporter of Trump. Which from the outside would seem to be an issue for Watson.

If you believe that Mortensen is connected (as the guy who broke all this in the first place), then he seems to have indicated on Twitter that Watson is NOT interested in playing for the Jets. 

 

They discussed it on WGR yesterday: when Schefter floated four teams Watson could go to, including the Dolphins but NOT the Jets, someone tweeted back, "You forgot the Jets." To which Mortensen jumped in and said, "No he didn't." 

 

So, make of it what you will. Any player with concerns about ownership should stay far away from the Jersey Jets.

[RiotAct]

31 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The person-in-the-wrong always wants to "repair the relationship" when the abused finally stands up for themselves.

 

They had plenty of opportunity to repair the relationship, even came up with their own idea to let Watson be heard in the hiring process. And then once again went back on their word.

“The abused” 😂

[TheFunPolice]

I bet he goes to SF. 

 

Out of conference, the NE guys running the Texans know Jimmy G, and SF could include a player to sweeten the deal. 

 

Texans never have to face Watson to get to the Super Bowl (not really an issue but to their thinking it might be)

[DrDawkinstein]

16 minutes ago, TheFunPolice said:

I bet he goes to SF. 

 

Out of conference, the NE guys running the Texans know Jimmy G, and SF could include a player to sweeten the deal. 

 

Texans never have to face Watson to get to the Super Bowl (not really an issue but to their thinking it might be)

 

Very good idea. And Jimmy's contract has 2 years remaining, but almost nothing in dead cap if Houston decides to move on.

[ndirish1978]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The amount of anger and bitterness towards Watson instead of McNair in this thread is really strange.

 

 

You're missing the real point. Whenever you read someone criticizing Deshaun just hit the translate button and read the intent behind it "this sucks, we finally have the best QB in the division with little competition, I don't want someone that's as good as Josh or better playing us 2x a year."

 

I don't care about Deshaun Watson, his politics or his feelings either way. I would like him to sign somewhere other than the AFC East. If he signs here, I will hate him as I have hated many others. That is all. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by ndirish1978

[Big Blitz]

Watson is going where Watson wants to go.  

 

Name all the hypotheticals you want.  It doesn't matter.  If it isn't Miami it's not happening.  

 

 

 

The only solution I can MAYBE see Watson accepting would be Arizona.  

 

AZ would have to trade Murray.  

 

Houston gets a QB at least the fans could be happy and somewhat excited about bc Tua ain't it.  Jimmy G ain't it.  Darnold ain't it.

 

Arizona upgrades QB and reunites Hopkins with him.  They'd be idiots to not do this.  

 

Both guys traded out of conference.  

 

This is the only plausible alternative to Miami.  

 

That's it.  

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, ndirish1978 said:

 

You're missing the real point. Whenever you read someone criticizing Deshaun just hit the translate button and read the intent behind it "this sucks, we finally have the best QB in the division with little competition, I don't want someone that's as good as Josh or better playing us 2x a year."

 

You're close, but I'm not sure it's only that. It's nice you're giving folks that much benefit of the doubt though.

[ndirish1978]

1 minute ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

You're close, but I'm not sure it's only that. It's nice you're giving folks that much benefit of the doubt though.

 

To be fair, I read about 2% of the posts and then just inserted my own feeling in the response.

[Doc]

37 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

Watson is going where Watson wants to go.  

 

Name all the hypotheticals you want.  It doesn't matter.  If it isn't Miami it's not happening.  

 

 

 

The only solution I can MAYBE see Watson accepting would be Arizona.  

 

AZ would have to trade Murray.  

 

Houston gets a QB at least the fans could be happy and somewhat excited about bc Tua ain't it.  Jimmy G ain't it.  Darnold ain't it.

 

Arizona upgrades QB and reunites Hopkins with him.  They'd be idiots to not do this.  

 

Both guys traded out of conference.  

 

This is the only plausible alternative to Miami.  

 

That's it.  

 

Then he's not going anywhere.  

[Punching Bag]

2 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

While I mainly side with Watson, this is a good and true point.

 

I looked up when he signed his new deal, and it was WELL AFTER they traded Hopkins away. So he should have known at that point. But I am still giving him some benefit of the doubt that he really was trying to be a good, loyal employee and team mate, and probably thought that if he signed it would help bring some stability to the organization. Which normally it should and would, but now he sees how truly incompetent McNair is, and things have changed. Things change, and not always for the better. None of us would want to work for such an employer.

 

And the fact that he will get to keep the signing bonus he just got had nothing to do with it. 

[Rico]

5 hours ago, Negan said:

I'd let him rot on the bench and not trade him, too bad 

I’m inclined to agree, but I haven’t read the whole thread. If he refuses to report, can mgmt sue him to recover bonus $ already paid?

[SCBills]

If Watson wants out, someone didn’t give Culley the message.   That guy seems pretty convinced Deshaun is going to be his QB.  

[Returntoglory]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

Watson is going where Watson wants to go.  

 

Name all the hypotheticals you want.  It doesn't matter.  If it isn't Miami it's not happening.  

 

 

 

The only solution I can MAYBE see Watson accepting would be Arizona.  

 

AZ would have to trade Murray.  

 

Houston gets a QB at least the fans could be happy and somewhat excited about bc Tua ain't it.  Jimmy G ain't it.  Darnold ain't it.

 

Arizona upgrades QB and reunites Hopkins with him.  They'd be idiots to not do this.  

 

Both guys traded out of conference.  

 

This is the only plausible alternative to Miami.  

 

That's it.  

OR , He could go nowhere.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Ehh, see above. Cant fault him for trying to help right the ship. Remember, the Hopkins trade was bad, but things got even worse well after that. Watt and players trying to fight BOB in practice didnt happen until after Watson's deal was signed.

 

Whaaaat?  I mean, say more about this?

 

31 minutes ago, SCBills said:

If Watson wants out, someone didn’t give Culley the message.   That guy seems pretty convinced Deshaun is going to be his QB.  

 

Linky?

[mannc]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

 

Then he's not going anywhere.  

You apparently have a lot of inside information...What’s your source?

[SCBills]

13 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Whaaaat?  I mean, say more about this?

 

 

Linky?

 

 

[FireChans]

1 minute ago, SCBills said:

 

 

Hardball time. 
 

Then again, a famous Houston team once stated they had no urgency to make a trade.

[BaaadThingsMan]

If I'm Houston I absolutely refuse to trade him and if he sits I'd blackball him.

[Doc]

19 minutes ago, mannc said:

You apparently have a lot of inside information...What’s your source?

 

Because they're not going to let him dictate where he goes.  That is, if they do trade him.  

[NewEra]

2 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

Watson is going where Watson wants to go.  

 

Name all the hypotheticals you want.  It doesn't matter.  If it isn't Miami it's not happening.  

 

 

 

The only solution I can MAYBE see Watson accepting would be Arizona.  

 

AZ would have to trade Murray.  

 

Houston gets a QB at least the fans could be happy and somewhat excited about bc Tua ain't it.  Jimmy G ain't it.  Darnold ain't it.

 

Arizona upgrades QB and reunites Hopkins with him.  They'd be idiots to not do this.  

 

Both guys traded out of conference.  

 

This is the only plausible alternative to Miami.  

 

That's it.  

Next time you have a beer with him, ask him if he has room for any more friends.  I’d love to be his friend too

[RoyBatty is alive]

30 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Whaaaat?  I mean, say more about this?

 

 

Linky?

Watt and players  trying to fight with BOB is a wild exaggeration.  And the Link came from Culleys opening remarks at his intro press conference.

[BaaadThingsMan]

5 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

Because they're not going to let him dictate where he goes.  That is, if they do trade him.  

This is true. Unless Caserio is not smart.

[RoyBatty is alive]

5 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

Because they're not going to let him dictate where he goes.  That is, if they do trade him.  

 

Sure about that?

 

The no-trade clause means Watson can veto ANY trade if he so chooses...so in other words, yes he can pick where he wants to go OR he cans sit out.

[NewEra]

I’m really confused as to why everyone says Watson has all the leverage.  
 

He’s under contract.  If he doesn’t play, he doesn’t get paid.  
 

His signing bonus would be in jeopardy I assume?  What does it mean when his contract states “73 million guaranteed at signing”.  Did he get paid 73 mill already and maybe have to pay it back?