The Houston Texans are walking a fine line with Deshaun Watson and the locker room after the DeAndre Hopkins trade.
The Houston Texans might have gambled more than what they were looking for after trading away DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for pennies on the dollar. Bill O’Brien might have just opened up Pandora’s Box and unearthed a much bigger problem in his hand.
There always existed external friction between O’Brien and the Houston fan base for his controversial decision making as a head coach. However, the Texans could now be facing friction from within between the players and their head coach.
Since assuming the official duties as the general manager, O’Brien would be responsible for personnel decisions that would include signing, trading, and waiving players. There would no longer exist any blame that could be placed on the front office, O’Brien would be praised and criticized alike for any decision he would make moving forward.
Unfortunately for him, quarterback Deshaun Watson appears to be unsettled, to say the least with Hopkins being traded by O’Brien, and quoted some iconic
The Texans were in dark times before they drafted Watson, and they could very well be in that place once again if they don’t take care of internal affairs.
Watson is entering the fourth year in his rookie scale contract and could be a free agent as soon as in 2021 if the Texans opt on not exercise the fifth-year option in his deal. Before trading Hopkins, goodwill existed between Watson and O’Brien. Now, however, there seems to be a lot of uncertainty up in the air regarding Watson’s future in Houston.
It won’t matter what quantity of money O’Brien offers Watson if he no longer wants to remain with the Texans. From the looks of it, O’Brien has a tough road ahead of him in mending the relationship he used to have with his quarterback if he wants to avoid letting him leave in free agency or through trade.