5. Can Houston lock up Deshaun Watson to a new mega-deal?
Perhaps the better question is “when” the Texans will lock up Deshaun Watson to a new deal, as opposed to “if.”
Many fans are still reeling from Bill O’Brien’s questionable decision to trade DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth-round pick for David Johnson and two picks (second and fourth round). Even if the trade looks better this season — or further in the future down the road — than it does today, it does make one wonder just a bit as to whether there’s a method to O’Brien’s madness.
For example: He couldn’t possibly allow Watson to slip through his fingers and sign elsewhere … right???
There’s no question that the 24-year-old superstar deserves to receive a shiny (and lucrative) new mega-deal. If O’Brien and the Texans aren’t willing to give it to him, there’s sure to be no shortage of teams elsewhere around the league that would be falling all over themselves trying to get him inked.
Watson’s arrow is decidedly pointing up. Despite tearing his ACL midway through a phenomenal rookie season, he has shown no signs in the two subsequent seasons of any lingering concerns around the injury.
He continues to rush for well over 5.0 yards per carry and take off with the football in his hands whenever he deems it necessary, and his completion percentage through the air has been rock-solid in each of the past two years.
CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin reports that Watson is expected to garner more than $40 million guaranteed per year in a new deal. Various theories suggest his contract could be worth a total of $200 million or more and last for four or five seasons in length, which would dwarf Russell Wilson’s current deal atop the pantheon of quarterback contracts.
After exercising the fifth-year option on Watson, the clock is certainly ticking to get a new pact in place.