Houston Texans rumors: Four teams still in mix for Deshaun Watson

According to one NFL insider, there are three teams that are still in the mix for Deshaun Watson.

Matt Lombardo, FanSided’s own NFL insider says that the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, and Miami Dolphins are all still in the mix. On the Stacking the Box Podcast, Lombardo details how he has made calls, texts, and other efforts to his sources enquire more about what is going on with a trade that the NFL world has been waiting to see for the latter part of a year (the Watson talk starts around the 2:15 mark in the tweet below).

Lombardo also referenced that Cole Thompson of Sports Illustrated made the comment that the Washington Football Team is also in the mix for Deshaun Watson as well. That’s four teams once again- it’s almost like this saga is back to where it was at the start of the season.

Additionally, Lombardo says that from his sources that a deal is not imminent, contrary to what was said earlier in the week that Watson could be traded to the Miami Dolphins.

Houston Texans are playing themselves by not taking the offers when they get them

Ever since Watson first made it clear that he didn’t want to play for Houston, the Texans reportedly had offers for Watson. While those were never truly discovered to be real. those rumored offers were probably the best the Texans were going to get.

Over and over at Toro Times, we have expressed the fact that if you’re not going to build with Watson, it’s better to trade him for something rather than nothing. Even if the compensation is a gift card with seven cents on it and half a pack of Juicy Fruit, there’s no easier way to escape this situation.

The Texans could cut Watson, an idea we explored as well:

"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 space2021: $10,645,1552022: $9,783,2552023: $98,912,5202024: $194,738,1672025: $224,000,000Cutting Deshaun Watson- cap space post-June 1st cut2021: -$25,457,1022022: $33,983,2552023: $141,312,5202024: $232,138,1672025:$256,000,000"

It’s just another thing that Lombardo also mentioned in the podcast- that the uncertainty of Watson’s future is hurting what gets offered to Houston.  Because of Nick Caserio missing on selling high, the rate of any return is going to be less and less. All of this can be heard within the first 15 minutes of the podcast linked above.

Houston Texans trade ideas for Deshaun Watson

Since there are four rumored teams still in the mix for Watson, here are some trade proposals:

Houston can’t get enough offensive linemen to help keep their new franchise QB upright.

This would be the defensive version of an upgrade for the Texans.

Another quarterback comes to Houston in case Tagovailoa wasn’t the most desirable.

Heinicke comes home to Houston (that’s right!) and the Texans pick up a great young linebacker in Jamin Davis.

These are only projected trades given the excellent information from Lombardo’s podcast above. Hopefully, the Texans can get a deal done, as it’s key to starting the true rebuild the Texans really want and need.

The NFL trade deadline is going to be one of the most fun to watch in years come November 2nd.