Houston Texans: How to navigate from current doom to Champagne room
The Houston Texans must sell the farm, and that includes Deshaun Watson
This is a very tough topic to write about. If these sexual assault allegations are true and Watson is convicted for them, then Watson may be suspended for a long time or even face a rare ban from the league.
It could be the worst football punishment in the state of Texas since the SMU death penalty. So what could be the other option if no trade partners are found? The Texans may be staring down the barrel of cutting Watson.
If Watson was to be cut right now, OverTheCap’s salary calculator shows that move would put the Texans roughly $25M over the salary cap limit. While that is a big problem, if the team is selling the farm, it won’t be the absolute worst thing that can happen.
The benefit of cutting Watson is what it does for the franchise down the road, and just take a look at the numbers from OTC’s calculator below:
Keeping Deshaun Watson- cap space
- 2021: $10,645,155
- 2022: $9,783,255
- 2023: $98,912,520
- 2024: $194,738,167
- 2025: $224,000,000
Cutting Deshaun Watson- cap space post-June 1st cut
- 2021: -$25,457,102
- 2022: $33,983,255
- 2023: $141,312,520
- 2024: $232,138,167
- 2025:$256,000,000
Just look at the difference in cap space between these two situations. It’s going to come down to the decision of his cases, but let’s talk straight football here for just a second. Would it be worth keeping a disgruntled player around for that much longer when there could be a clear upside as to just letting Watson go wherever he desires? It could be a gutsy power play by the Texans.
As a reminder, here’s what OTC says about post-June 1st cuts:
"When a player is cut on or after June 1, only the current year’s prorated bonus and guaranteed base salaries (if they exist) count against the current cap year. All other such cap money is accelerated against next year’s cap."
That cap space is solely based on cutting Watson alone. Who knows what the cap will look like a few years from now with the decisions that will be made with Laremy Tunsil, Whitney Mercilus, and Bradley Roby. These are the next players on the roster with the biggest cap hit. Prime free agents are going to be coming up, and trades could also be made.
The bigger issue may lie above the personnel of the field, and that is of the front office.