Report: Texans coach Lovie Smith wants Deshaun Watson resolution ‘as soon as possible’

Texans head coach Lovie Smith gave his opinion on the Deshaun Watson saga.

MMQB reporter Albert Breer spoke with Houston Texans head coach Lovie Smith and he had some interesting and truthful comments on the ongoing saga involving quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Breer in his weekly MMQB column had a nice, in-depth interview with Smith after he became the head coach of the Texans earlier this month, and for once it feels like the Texans weren’t giving a canned answer, but rather an honest opinion from an veteran NFL head coach who knows what it takes to have a championship caliber football team as he’s done before with the Chicago Bears.

Remember the 26-year-old Watson was inactive this past season for all 17 games as Davis Mills and Tyrod Taylor were the two starters under center for the Texans. The previous season before Watson wanted a trade and lawsuits happened – Watson was the passing leader in the NFL, but the Texans finished with a 4-12 record that season.

In ’21 the Texans finished with a 4-13 overall record without Watson as the starting quarterback, but that resulted in David Culley being fired as the head coach, and allowing Smith to be hired as the new Texans head coach.

That said, Watson is still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL when he’s on the field as he has amassed career totals of 14,539 passing yards with 104 touchdown passes in four seasons on the field since ’17.

Breer quoted Smith in the MMQB column with the following comments on the situation involving Watson and when he would like to see a solution:

"“As soon as possible. I’m not running away from the question, but as soon as possible. There are things that need to be taken care of before the football part comes into play. We’re patient, we’ve waited an entire year and I just feel like this offseason, it’ll come to an end and we’ll get it solved and it’ll be good for both parties, whatever that might be.”"

In all honestly it doesn’t feel like the best quarterback in the history of the Texans franchise – Watson – will ever return to the franchise as the starting quarterback. Smith is correct in his thoughts of wanted a resolution “as soon as possible” with Watson, because it will be best for the Texans and Watson to move along.

Houston Texans: What kind of trade would Deshaun Watson even accept?

In trading Watson – and Watson accepting a trade which is important too – the Texans will get his contract off the books, they can move forward with the plentiful gain of players and draft picks in a trade, plus Watson will get his fresh start too, and the relationship can be put in the rearview mirror.

But as the MMQB column also talked about with Watson, his off-the-field issues will probably need to be solved before anything happens with a trade or roster move when it comes to Watson.

What is best about the column and interview by Breer is hearing a fresh take on everything by Smith as he was apart of the team this past season as the defensive coordinator and now as the head coach he’s saying what’s on his mind.

The Houston Texans have a lot of steps ahead of them moving forward to get back to where the once were –  just a few short years ago they were leading the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs – but that team is all but gone. If the Texans can fix some spots on their roster, and win the close games moving forward, who knows what can happen with this team? Remember the AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals were the worst team in the NFL a couple seasons ago.

That said, Smith is right in a solution needs to be made on Watson’s tenure with the Houston Texans, and once that happens, all of us will know what directions the Texans can take to be a contender once again, and that’s what is most important for the franchise for ’22 and beyond.