Shattered trust: How Deshaun Watson lost faith in the Houston Texans Oh, ****. Deshaun Watson had just finished a workout in a small gym on a cloudy day in Atlanta when his quarterback coach, Quincy Avery, saw the news. Just 24, Watson was coming off the most accomplished season of his young career in 2019. He made the Pro Bowl for the second consecutive year, collected his first playoff win in the Texans’ overtime thriller against the Bills and the following week helped Houston jump out to a 24-point lead against eventual Super Bowl-champion Kansas City, all signs that bigger and better things might be in store. Then Avery picked up his phone. “Oh, ****,” he said across the gym. Watson, wearing shorts and a simple black T-shirt, looked at his phone. The Texans had traded all-everything receiver DeAndre Hopkins, Watson’s best weapon, the receiver he had first met on a recruiting visit to Clemson years ago, the receiver he once said he had “trust and loyalty” in — and Watson had found out about it on social media. Avery turned his phone on Watson, video rolling. “When you finish a workout and try to figure out why your phone exploded,” Avery captioned the three-second clip on social media. Watson just glared. Watson was angry about the trade, which represented the first major crack in the relationship between him and the team, but less than six months later, shortly before the first game of the season, he agreed to a $156 million contract extension — the second-richest deal in football. On a Zoom call with reporters and friends, Watson, tears welling in his eyes, thanked owner Cal McNair, coach and general manager Bill O’Brien and executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby. “For the McNair family, OB, Jack to just trust in me, believe in me — I’m their guy, I’m their quarterback — is the biggest thing that really touches me,” Watson said before his voice cracked. Back in his hometown of Gainesville, Ga., Watson’s family crowded into view of a single webcam. They told him there was only one thing left to do: win a Super Bowl. Instead, the 2020 season ended with Watson further from the Lombardi Trophy than ever before. A series of decisions made since Easterby’s arrival in April 2019 — in many of which O’Brien had a significant say, and all of which McNair signed off on — played a part in the Texans going 4-12 despite Watson performing like a top-three quarterback. More importantly, the turmoil led Watson to ask for a trade, his trust in the organization shattered. Watson considers his stoic demeanor part of his DNA, something he says he picked up while watching his mother battle cancer, when she could be frustrated and down but didn’t show it. Watson says he’s determined to handle himself the same way, so given time, he could move on from the Hopkins trade. Once, when O’Brien and his All-Pro receiver clashed, Waston said the best solution was “to sit in the middle and watch it from afar,” rather than pick sides. Still, the trade was the strongest evidence yet of the instability that has hurt the Texans’ efforts to build around Watson. The general manager who traded up to draft him No. 12 overall against team consensus, Rick Smith, stepped away after Watson’s rookie season to care for his sick wife. The GM who replaced Smith, Brian Gaine, was fired after a little more than a year despite the Texans winning 11 games. Easterby’s arrival had preceded Gaine’s ouster by about two months, and together Easterby and O’Brien took control of the front office, with the former assuming the lead on contract negotiations following the dismissal of Chris Olsen, the team’s longtime cap expert. “At a certain point, don’t you stop and say, ‘Do we need to fire all these people because they are not getting along with the head coach and Easterby?’” a league executive said. “It’s weird.” The duo had little experience with their new duties, and it showed. In a league with flexible finances, the Texans attempted to justify the Hopkins trade by saying they couldn’t afford to make him the league’s highest-paid receiver — that it would make their roster too top-heavy. But the Texans were only in that position because of other O’Brien and Easterby moves, most notably the rushed decision to trade two first-round picks, a second-round pick and more to the Dolphins for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and receiver Kenny Stills just before the 2019 season. It was a precedent-breaking price for a tackle, and in the offseason that followed, the team not only had to pay Watson but also Tunsil, who had enough leverage to sign a deal worth $4 million more annually than the next closest tackle.
League executives with other teams said the Texans shopped Hopkins for months — and his demand for a top-of-the-market extension limited his trade value, leading the Texans to eventually accept an underwhelming return: expensive and declining running back David Johnson, a 2020 second-round pick and a swap of fourth-round selections. Hopkins had three years remaining on his old contract, so the Texans could have called his bluff on a holdout, but O’Brien and Easterby didn’t view Hopkins as a culture fit and were wary of a contract dispute bleeding into training camp while teammates inked big deals. It bothered Watson that the team hadn’t communicated with him about the trade, which was quickly and overwhelmingly pilloried as one of the worst in NFL history. Both Lindsay Jones of The Athletic and Bill Barnwell of ESPN handed out “F” grades. CBS Sports dubbed the move a “blunder.” Some of the criticism bordered on mockery. One NFL player ripped the Texans as buffoons. Another suggested the NFL should look into drug-testing general managers and coaches. After nearly a week of harsh criticism and no public comments from team brass regarding the trade, the Texans sent an email to reporters titled “2020 Offseason Notes,” the contents of which spanned 58 bullet points across six sections and were consistent with Easterby’s messaging. The memo included the phrasing “smart, tough and dependable” three times to describe players; O’Brien began using the phrase after Easterby’s arrival, and it was incorporated into highlight videos. The section on the Hopkins trade mentioned that the pick Houston acquired from Arizona was “only 18 spots lower than” the pick Minnesota acquired for receiver Stefon Diggs, in addition to the following bullet points: Acquired very valuable 2nd round pick in 2020 (40th overall). Area of the draft where you still get ‘first round talent’ but the contract is less money. Will bring a very talented, young and cheap player to Houston for the next four years This is the deepest wide receiver class in years. Acquiring Arizona’s 2021 fourth-round pick was important part of deal that nobody talks about. Should be a much better draft pick than the fourth-round pick we gave up this year. Needed more draft capital for 2021 since we don’t have a first or second round pick. Arizona is in a very tough division so the pick has a chance to be pretty high. David Johnson will be our starting running back and a key part of the offense. He is a tough, smart, dependable player and we needed a RB after letting Carlos Hyde leave … Arizona’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee in 2019 while not playing the role he desired — very high character and good teammate … Played for two different head coaches and two different offenses the last two years which impacted production and both were first-time head coaches. A few weeks later, O’Brien made his first comments on the Hopkins trade on a conference call with season-ticket holders. O’Brien immediately went on the defensive, at one point spelling out how every move was made with the team in mind. “Capital T, capital E, capital A, capital M,” he said. “We don’t think about one player. … We think about the future.” Not long after the Texans drafted him in the first round in 2017, Watson reached out to Jason Roland, a Houston barber whose clients include Texans and Rockets players. Roland liked Watson right away but also sensed some initial distance. “He doesn’t open up to a lot of people,” Roland said. “It takes time for him to open up. I see it as a trust thing. But once he trusts you and you’re in his circle, you’re good.” Michael Perry, his quarterback coach in high school, says Watson donated his Pro Bowl check to the high school where Perry coached even though it wasn’t the high school where Watson had played. And when Watson wrote about his life for The Players’ Tribune, he included a section about what Perry meant to him. Other schools tried to recruit Watson away from Perry and Bruce Miller, the head coach at Gainesville High, but Watson never considered leaving. “One thing about Deshaun,” Miller said, “if he feels like you’re loyal to him, he’ll be loyal to you.” “It’s like an unspoken rule,” said Nick Schuessler, who backed up Watson at Clemson. “Once you garner his trust and can prove your loyalty, Deshaun will be the best friend you ever have.” On the field, Watson endeared himself to Houston with his breathtaking plays and displays of affection for his new city. In his rookie season, he donated his first game check to three Texans cafeteria workers affected by Hurricane Harvey. In his second season, he rode a bus 12 hours, from Houston to Jacksonville because the Texans worried how the air pressure from flying would affect his bruised lung and banged-up ribs. He wore a tour hoodie for Travis Scott, a Houston native, that day. Later that season, he told The Ringer he was doing everything he could to “bring joy and excitement to this city.” Watson did that through seemingly impossible moments, like the time he threw a touchdown pass even though he couldn’t see out of his eye because he had just gotten kicked in the face or when he spun and bounced off two Bills defenders to set up the winning field goal in overtime. The playoff miracle against Buffalo, in particular, revealed a truth that fans and teammates alike had come to believe: The Texans were never out of it as long as Watson was back there.
“He’s the future of this team and this city,” said J.J. Watt, the face of the franchise for the past decade. “We have to do whatever we possibly can to make sure that he’s in the best position to have success and to lead this place to success not only this year, not only next year, but for the next 10 years.” In the aftermath of the Hopkins trade, Watson expressed his frustration to coaches and management, and the Texans promised changes. During contract negotiations last offseason, O’Brien told Watson’s camp that the quarterback would be more involved in the team-building process moving forward, sources said. And to further appease him, the team accepted his agent’s request to include a no-trade clause in the four-year extension. For the time being, the relationship was salvaged. On the day Watson finalized the deal last September, he went to get his hair cut. Roland texted to ask Watson where he was, and Watson said he was outside, in his car, on the phone with Cal McNair. Not too long after Watson took a seat, the news announcing his massive new deal flashed across ESPN. Watson bashfully dropped his head, “Like, ‘Yeah, but I’m still low-key,’” Roland said. “He has a small circle for a reason because there’s trust,” Roland added. “Somebody like that, you break their trust, you just deflate ’em. You crush ’em. And it’s hard as heck to get back.” As the season went along, Watson started to lose faith in the direction of the organization. There were several warning signs in the first few weeks alone: an opening-night loss to the Chiefs that only proved that Houston’s roster overhaul had done nothing to shrink the gap between the two teams. A blowout loss to the Ravens in Week 2. A mid-practice argument between O’Brien and Watt in Week 3. O’Brien taking back play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Tim Kelly in Week 4. And a loss to the Vikings that dropped the team to 0-4 — all with the only true franchise quarterback in team history. By that point in the season, the mismanagement of the Texans’ roster was obvious. After trading a second-round pick for Brandin Cooks, whom Easterby identified as a good culture fit, Houston was the only team with four receivers counting for at least $6 million apiece against the cap. One of them, Kenny Stills, was such a nonfactor that the team cut him after he caught 11 passes in 10 games. The team’s duo of receiving backs, David and Duke Johnson, was hardly a factor in the passing game — and collectively accounted for nearly as much cap space as all of the team’s corners. As for that “very valuable” second-round pick the Texans acquired in the Hopkins trade: The team didn’t use it to dip into a deep pool of receivers. With Notre Dame receiver Chase Claypool still on the board, as well as defensive rookie of the year candidate Antoine Winfield Jr., the Texans picked Ross Blacklock, a defensive lineman from TCU who played just 23 percent of the defense’s snaps. Houston’s maneuvering left some offensive skill positions overstocked at the expense of a defense that ranked 30th in efficiency. A source close to Watson likened the Texans’ team-building approach to “a kid in a video game,” changing strategy on the fly. If that was the case, then firing O’Brien four games into the season — after empowering him with the general manager title and allowing him to trade away a star receiver — was McNair rage-quitting on the season from the owner’s box. “You have an owner that is seen as inexperienced, and it’s reinforced by the hiring of Easterby and giving him the status that he did,” a longtime executive from another team said of McNair, who took control of the team from his late father in 2018 after six years as the team’s COO. “If that had been a 15-year owner, you might say, ‘OK, this guy has made good decisions here and here, so we will give him the benefit of the doubt.’ Cal doesn’t get that.” Not even from his quarterback. Sources said after O’Brien lost his job so soon following the roster overhaul, Watson questioned the Texans’ plan — if they had one at all. When the team was 1-6, McNair said in a radio interview with a team employee that he hadn’t given up hope on the playoffs, and that pandemic-related crowd reductions made a wild-card team’s path to the Super Bowl easier than ever. The trade deadline was the day after McNair gave that interview, and though the Texans flirted with the Packers about a potential deal in which they would give up receiver Will Fuller, Houston ultimately stood pat. While Easterby acted as interim general manager, team sources said the Texans were hypersensitive to the perception of “losing” any trade. A couple of weeks after the deadline, the Texans scored just seven points in a road loss to the Browns. As the wind whipped off Lake Erie, making it hard to throw, Houston came up empty on a fourth-and-goal play that could have swung the outcome. On the flight home from Cleveland, Watson watched another game: Bills at Cardinals. Eleven seconds remained, and Arizona had the ball at Buffalo’s 48-yard line, down four points. The Cardinals’ play call sent only one receiver to the end zone, and after quarterback Kyler Murray juked a defender and sprinted left toward the sideline, his pass landed above three defenders and into Hopkins’ huge hands. The NFL named this its Clutch Moment of the Year. Watson called it just another Hopkins play. “No surprise,” he said.
The losing, especially the close defeats, wore on Watson, who won state championships in high school, a national championship at Clemson and never missed the playoffs in an NFL season he finished. After a goal-line fumble blew the Texans’ upset bid against the Colts in Week 13, Watson sat on a bench while other players mingled and headed to their locker rooms. A towel covered the quarterback’s head. “This **** hurts,” he said that day. “I’m tired of losing.” In his season-ending news conference in January, Watson said the Texans needed “a whole culture shift,” adding the team had “too many different minds, too many different ideas and too many people who think they have this power, and it’s not like that.” One source characterized it as “a direct message to Cal McNair” telling the owner to move on from Easterby, who is responsible for directing the team’s culture and has amassed increasing influence, as detailed by Sports Illustrated in December. Watson also said the team needed patience as it began a journey toward a Super Bowl with a new general manager and coach. The day before, he’d spoken to McNair by phone and endorsed keeping offensive coordinator Tim Kelly on staff. Based on previous conversations and public statements by McNair, Watson had the impression he’d be involved in the Texans’ search process. That didn’t happen. The Texans’ search committee — McNair, team president Jamey Rootes and Jed Hughes of the search firm Korn Ferry — interviewed four general manager candidates and three head-coaching candidates. But Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy, of whom Watson had spoken highly, was not included in that group. Neither was the general manager the team ultimately hired, longtime Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, although the Texans had already vetted him. Houston tried to hire Caserio after firing GM Brian Gaine in 2019, but after New England threatened tampering charges amid rumors that Easterby recruited Caserio at a Patriots Super Bowl ring party, the Texans dropped the pursuit. That created a power vacuum filled by O’Brien and Easterby. When starting his GM search, McNair said that person would determine Easterby’s role. Soon after the season, Easterby alerted McNair that Caserio, a friend with whom he shares an agent, could end up taking the Panthers’ open GM job. Instead, the Texans embarked on a “new search,” as McNair put it — and hired Caserio themselves. Just as with Hopkins, Watson found out about the big move on social media. He posted a cryptic, since-deleted tweet that evening: “Some things never change …” In an effort to minimize drama, McNair said during Caserio’s introductory news conference that he understood Watson’s point of view before embarking on the search process. But that didn’t stop Watson from ignoring the Texans’ calls and eventually requesting a trade — one that, if completed, would rank among the most high-profile transactions in NFL history. The Jets and Dolphins are two rumored preferred landing spots for Watson, whose no-trade clause gives him leverage. But a source said the quarterback is open to other teams and is aware that any trade with New York would limit the Jets’ ability to build a quality roster around him. For now, the Texans are not engaging in Watson trade discussions with other teams, even while the possibility of Watson sitting out games looms over them. McNair said as recently as Feb. 12 that the team’s stance won’t change. There’s debate over how much influence a player should have on a team’s hiring process, especially when it comes to vetting general manager candidates, but most team executives fault McNair for letting this mistake — a miscommunication at best and an unkept promise at worst — poison his team’s future. In the end, Houston landed arguably the most qualified GM candidate while becoming the only team to hire a Black head coach this offseason, a point of emphasis in the league — yet the organization still managed to further alienate its franchise quarterback. After the final game of the season, Watson and Watt walked off the field, side by side. The Texans had just lost to the Titans, their fifth consecutive defeat, to wrap up a miserable 4-12 season. Watson had thrown for 365 yards and put up 38 points. Watt had two more tackles for loss and played in all 16 games for just the second time in the past five years. As had been the case too frequently, it wasn’t enough. Over the years, Watt and Watson had become Houston icons. The Texans never made the playoffs until Watt showed up; they couldn’t aspire for more until Watson arrived. The previous season was one of potential and promise, with Watson putting the Texans on the doorstep of their first AFC Championship Game. But the 2020 season was a disaster from any angle. As they headed for the locker room, Watson tapped Watt twice on the backside. Watt turned, and for a moment the pair stopped on the field. “I’m sorry,” Watt told him. “We wasted one of your years.” In the coming weeks, one of them would ask to be released and the other one would ask to be traded. Their time together in Houston was soon to be over, and as they neared the exit, Watt turned to Watson to repeat himself. “I’m sorry.”
Oh no!! they traded their best receiver!! Goes on to sign mega extension, thanking everyone, then have his best passing year ever. Don't get me wrong, that trade was dumb as ****, and the return was ridiculously stupid... but it does help show top tier WRs are overrated in terms of team win impact. Which is part of the reason I don't mind the Tunsil trade, even though they gave up a lot of assets. After QB, most of your money on offense should go to the OL. Of course, they went on to overspend on the WR position anyway, and Cooks costs a lot, too... But we've been over all this about Watson, his timing, his confusing now statements, etc. Imagine being upset that you learn about stuff on social media, in 2021.... and btw, only to use social media in the most passive aggressive way possible to conduct your own campaign. Does DW think its ok to do stuff through social media or not?? I'm confused?? As John McLain just noted (lol, not that he has much of a clue), if they can get the opportunity to draft Zach Wilson and get a bunch more back, they'll trade DW... if not, they'll hold him. Holy ****... we have people still complaining that Obrien was fired?? they think firing him was a "rash" move. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... omg, this is hilarious. And DW, too? Lol. I don't know NFL cap that well, so don't know if this is true or not... but another leverage point for Texans if it is. I wouldn't reduce ask back in trade, but getting the same back, or maybe one less 2nd or something, while asking DW to do this, if it creates a lot more cap space, that'd be nice.
dEsHaUn WaTsOn nEeDs tO hOnOr hIs CoNtRaCt those same people think the Texans are being run 'well' and have faith of the team vision and direction. some people just prefer the blue pill.
call out some avatars of people you think that DW should both honor his contract AND think the Texans are run well. I haven't seen a single person in here say that, though i wouldn't be shocked if there is one or two, but not many if any.
You yourself certainly seem to be inspired in destroying Watson for not wanting to be here while turning a blind eye to the zealots running around with snakes in their hands masquerading as NFL executives as one of the main reasons - holding Watson to the CBA while guys like Stafford get to call their shot and receive no backlash. While there is an unqualified chaplain running around trying to install a contrived morality system. Is JJ a quitter too? Im sure the team would have kept him and payed him and did the "right thing" if he doesnt request HIS trade right? In the world of non guaranteed contracts players EARN their big pay days - as did Deshaun. If a franchise wants to keep their "star" then they need to treat him like one or risk losing his services - its common sense that goes beyond a paycheck. Player empowerment is here to stay. Franchises are on notice and the Houston Texans will be a prime example of what NOT to do.
I just asked you to name some avatars that thought DW should honor his contract AND the Texans were well run... you implied there were those...
Sure - You, Bobby and Raining 3's from this board stand out as 'regular' contributors who have the steel blue blinders on extra tight. Each fan site has a handful of company liners. Good to see the overwhelming majority of those invested in this situation have common sense though so there is that.
It's actually very simple I don't think a guy can ever be a MVP type of QB when you think he can become unmotivated that's something that no NFL QB should ever be associated with. You then go on and say he was unmotivated because of the o-line and coaching and that's why I used Watson because he had a terrible o-line and bad coaching, this happens all the time in the NFL and if Wentz gets unmotivated because of that he can't ever be great NFL QB. So you think because a QB who was drafted #1 who only had one great season and got benched and traded cannot be a bust, that's the definition of a bust.
At the time of my post, Watson hadn’t done anything outside of posting glamor shots with his model girlfriend while on vacation...none of his posts (and he was posting plenty throughout the week) even referenced HOU. His only Houston reference was about shipping a luxury car to the city. If you actually read through my posts, you’ll see that I have been a big Watson supporter and critic of the Texans. I am glad the restaurant that he co-owns is offering to help our city’s first responders, (though again Watson is not quoted in the article nor has come out to say anything supportive outside of that). I also agree that Cal (and all of the city’s sports teams) should be doing more. I was simply making an observation...i know DW has done a lot of charity work, I was simply making a comment that I wish he was at the forefront of this mess—as a leader—and not ignoring the catastrophe and instead posting pics of luxury cars and beaches.
I don't know Raining 3s. But neither @Bobbythegreat nor i have ever pretended like the Texans are well run. The Texans not being well run and DW not living up to his contract can both be true. It's not our fault you get in a tizzy everytime someone has the gall to suggest a dude that JUST SIGNED a mega extension, CRYING WITH THANKS for the ownership he now doesn't like, actually I don't know, try and be a little more professional about it. Same with the organization.
Not answer his phone.... that's an easy one. Negotiate through social media - even though he apparently doesn't like when stuff is done through social media. Obviously the dynamics are way different here than a "normal" job, but even with a superstar salesperson as an example, it would highly unprofessional for that person to not communicate with their bosses/employer.
He can be an MVP candidate AND THEN become unmotivated, which is the case here, I think. I don't know why this is so hard to understand for you. I then said MAYBE he didn't play well because he was unmotivated due to external factors and not only because he's a "bust," according to you. His numbers and his play might never reach 2017 Wentz, but that doesn't mean he's hot trash from here on out. He went #2 to the Eagles back in 2016. Had a really good rookie season, followed by his 'MVP candidate' year, followed by 2 solid seasons of play before being hot garbage, this year. That's 4 seasons of good, 1 season of bad. If you think 4 seasons of solid play means he's a bust, that's on you. A bust wouldn't have even 1 season of good play, much less 4. A bust wouldn't have been traded for a 3rd round pick + 2nd round pick, in which the 2nd rounder could convert into a 1st round pick. A bust wouldn't be wanted by any NFL team - the Colts just traded solid assets for Wentz.
If the team was well run, they'd have fired BOB the second session he was here once they realized he was the worst coach in the NFL. Of course, that's not the main problem here.... but that's all the Watson apologists want to talk about to deflect from what their hero is doing.
We don't know that he is ignoring the Texans calls. A lot has been "reported". Plus we don't know what conversations led to that place if that indeed is the case. It's the offseason They can get to him in many other ways. He hasn't said anything or done any "negotiations" through social media. Nothing. If a salesperson is on PTO, on vacation, it is perfectly acceptable to not answer the phone. It's the offseason. Your analogy doesn't work for you.
