What is Deshaun Watson's endgame?

Short and true.

 

Maybe you're right in the end, but there's a grass-in-always-greener element in the moment. The Jets situation might suck - but he *knows* he hates the Texans situation. And don't discount the impact of personal betrayal - the Jets owner may be a dipshit, but he's not a dipshit that lied to Watson and pissed him off. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

 

Actually the more important question is, What is Cal McNair's end game?

 

Remembering to breathe through his nose.

 

For next season, the Dolphins are absolutely a better team with Watson at QB instead of Tua, Smith, whomever they sign with the extra cap space, etc. Tua would have to make a massive leap this offseason to make that not be the case. Long term, yes, it could bite the Dolphins or any team that trades for him in the ass.

Teams spend years, sometimes decades, looking for a franchise QB. When the opportunity exists to get a young one in his prime, they are going to take it, long-term consequences be damned.

 

Which is y the Texans front office is dumb as fk. Spent years looking for a franchise qb just to choose religion over winning.

 

I’m aware that there has never been a team that has traded a 25-year-old franchise QB already signed to a large contract. That’s because other teams don’t have incompetent ownership that drove their most important player away by breaking his trust. Most NFL owners know a franchise QB is worth his weight in gold from a revenue perspective, even if the team isn’t a playoff or Super Bowl contender. Cal McNair is the exception to the rule.

I also agree with you that there is a definite long-term risk for any team interested in acquiring Deshaun Watson because they are losing the short-term draft capital necessary to build around him in a sport with a hard salary cap. I’m sure the fact Watson is no longer on his rookie deal will slightly downgrade the offers the Texans receive, but I doubt it affects them that much. At some point, any team that finds their franchise QB in the draft is going to have to give them a huge contract extension before they enter free agency. It’s just the nature of the business in the NFL.

 

This is BS.

Most ownership in the NFL is incompetent. Plenty of teams have had franchise QBs and hired total moron GMs who have wasted rosters and done stupid move after stupid move. Most NFL QBs have no say in who the GMs are.

You guys are building a huge case on "breaking his trust" when the only thing that is alleged to have happened to break that trust was directly refuted by the owner. Watson hasn't spoken on the issues. Him thinking Cal is an idiot is believable and probable. Him being outraged about not being kept in the loop on a GM hire when he left the country and didn't return Cal's calls is not.

Shoot the Green Bay Packers go through yearly drama with Aaron Rodgers.

 

And yet, none of those situations are bad enough for the QB to want to leave.

That's not at all what's being alleged, though. Watson not returning calls was *after* the hire. And it seems to go far deeper that than, with them not even interviewing multiple coaches the players were interested in.

This isn't like Watson is acting crazy and we can't explain it. The fans largely had the exact game reaction about the GM hiring process, Easterby's influence, the ignore-the-search-firm element, the take-a-private-jet-to-go-get-Jack's-bestie part, etc. Watson just has the power to do something about it and say no, while fans are left to rationalize "it wasn't that bad".

It's also not a coincidence that former players are openly blasting the organization, and that Watt has implied the same stuff. This isn't Watson going rogue.

 

Watson wants nothing to do with this organization, and many places will give him a better shot than staying with this trash ass organization...the Texans are a useless franchise

 

Or they just haven't tried it before. It's just crazy to believe that the Texans following a bad process but actually hiring someone really well regarded in the league is so much worse in people's minds than the garbage that has happened around the league for years. Aaron Rodgers has way more room to be pissed at GB management than DeShaun does.

Cal has disputed this. Watson hasn't said anything directly. Cal specifically said that he understood DeShaun's views going into the process and did not have the impression Watson needed regular updates. People were saying the Texans wouldn't interview Watson's guy and then it pivoted to they actually were on the verge of hiring Watson's guy until a late night prayer session.

That story is all over the place.

I don't think he's acting crazy. I think fans are spinning crazy narratives.

I think Watson's position is pretty easy to figure out. He realized this organization isn't going to win, he doesn't like the ownership and he thinks/knows he has the power to flex his way to a better situation and he's going to do it. He's part of a new generation of athletes.

I do not think the organization has done things well. They are incompetent.

 

You are right that there is a lot of incompetent ownership in the NFL, but there is a difference when said owner tells a player that he values his input on certain hires but goes back on his word the first chance he gets. Cal McNair made the decision to give Watson a chance to have input concerning the head coach and GM search. He needed to honor that. Initially, he did, but once Jack Easterby saw the writing on the wall if McNair followed through with hiring Omar Khan, things changed.

It was reported before the end of the season on ESPN that Deshaun Watson was going to be part of the group that would have input in the search for a new GM and head coach for the Houston Texans. After the season immediately ended, Watson made public comments that the team needed a culture change, and on Dec. 3, he said he wanted the team to re-sign Will Fuller, but other than that, no unhappiness on his part was reported by any major media outlet.

Watson’s tweet where he said I was at 2, but took it to 10 occurred on Jan. 15, eight days after the Texans officially announced the hire of Caserio, who was not on the list provided by Watson nor Korn Ferry, the search firm hired by McNair to oversee the process. Also, Caserio formerly worked for the Patriots, which meant the culture change Watson requested wasn’t going to happen. We now know that happened because Jack Easterby found out the Texans were going to hire Omar Khan for the position and talked McNair out of it. Also, the Texans’ season ended on Jan. 3, but it took until Jan. 12 for the organization to request an interview with Eric Bieniemy while other teams had already done so. They also never requested an interview with Robert Saleh, another head coaching candidate on Watson’s list.

The very next day after Watson’s tweet, Jan. 16, John McClain published an article announcing to the world that Cal McNair had no intentions of firing Jack Easterby. I don’t believe Watson’s tweet and the timing of that article being one day apart is a coincidence.

 

A lot of what you are posting as fact is, in actuality, speculation. The Khan story is wild fantasy. It doesn't make any sense that he wasn't kept in the loop, his candidates were interviewed, but he is also mad because they were on the verge of hiring his candidate and then backed out.

 

Yes, this exactly.

DW had his opportunity to strong-arm the franchise in a way that would have helped both him and his team, the fans, etc., 1-2 years ago. Instead he thought about his contract.

That's fine and all... but it is what it is.

He's just being a baby.

 

Exactly!!!

I get he may feel lied to about being involved in the GM search, but the Packers hired a new coach, and then subsequently tried to move on from A-Aron by drafting an overrated replacement QB, an unneeded RB, and a FB, and he still smirked, and took them to the NFC title game 2 years in a row.

I have no problem with him wanting to be involved in who's gonna be hired, but some of the things being reported, aren't nearly as bad as what's leaked from other teams for years.

Just recently we know of the Sex Scandal with Dan Snyder, the Jets hiring a terrible Adam Gase and bringing him back for another year, the Panthers and their sexual harassment, plus the Dolphins owner fining players who knelt....but now all of that pales in comparison to not being kept in the loop on a GM hire? I'm not saying he's not mad, I do believe he is, I just think there may be a little more to this story from his perspective that we won't know until later....

 

Well as a Houston sports fan that sucks. Still want to keep Watson and let him sit out an entire season if he wants to and tank his career.