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The Texans want what they want in a potential trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson. If they don’t get it, they’ll be paying him $10.54 million for 2021.
As one league source described it on Sunday, Houston are playing a game of “chicken” regarding a potential Watson trade. If no one blinks, and if the Texans don’t reduce their demands, they’ll be stuck paying him to not play this season.
Watson, we’re told, hopes a trade will happen. The Dolphins continue to be the frontrunners to land him. But three first-round picks and two second-round picks won’t get it done. The question becomes whether and to what extent the Texans will accept less, and whether the Dolphins (or someone else) will meet the Texans in the middle.
The biggest unknown as it relates to the Texans is who’s making the call? G.M. Nick Caserio may not mind a money-for-nothing season with Watson, if it helps Caserio get what he wants in March 2022. Ownership may feel differently.
However it plays out, the Texans are getting dangerously close to the point where decisions must be made. The decision is whether they’ll take whatever they can get now, or whether they’ll pay him $10.54 million to not play this season and hope to get more later.
