One of the biggest questions of the NFL offseason revolves around Deshaun Watson and where he’s going to be playing in 2021. After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Texans, Watson has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to return to Houston for a fifth season. Not only has he requested a trade, but he’s also erased the Texans name from each one of his social media profiles.
Although Texans general manager Nick Caserio has insisted that his team won’t be trading Watson, the fact of the matter is that he might not have a choice. If Watson does leave Houston, one intriguing landing spot could be in Las Vegas with the Raiders.
Sure, the Raiders already have Derek Carr, but that’s something that could potentially change this offseason. An interesting report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week suggested that quarterback-needy teams around the NFL might call the Raiders to try to acquire Carr and, if that happens, the Raiders could turn around and package the compensation from the Carr trade with more compensation in a potential deal for Watson.
So could Watson actually end up in Las Vegas?
In what can only be described as fortuitous timing, Gruden did an interview the day after the report from the Review-Journal came out. The Raiders coach joined the “Cris Collinsworth Podcast with Richard Sherman” this week and he had some interesting things to say about Watson. During a conversation that started with the three guys talking about the Matthew Stafford trade that sent Jared Goff and two first-round picks to Detroit, Gruden was asked what kind of compensation it might take to land Watson.
“You know, that’s a great question. I personally look at this like a fantasy world here,” Gruden said. “They have a new GM [Nick Caserio] in Houston who comes from New England, he just went through a year in New England without Tom Brady. I think he has a pretty good idea how important Deshaun Watson is to the Texans.”
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Basically, Gruden doesn’t think the Texans will want to give up their franchise quarterback and if for some reason they do, it’s going to take an absurd amount of first-round picks to pry him loose.
“I don’t think there’s any way in the world they trade Deshaun Watson and if they did, the compensation is going to kind of be like the Rams, you’ll have to give up seven number ones, you’ll never draft again,” Gruden said.
One interesting thing about Gruden mentioning that it would take seven first-round picks to land Watson is that the Review-Journal suggested that the Raiders might be willing to give up four. If Vegas could get two first-rounders in a trade for Carr, they’d offer those two on top of two more first-rounders to try and land Watson.
Despite the reported interest, Gruden continued to insist that he thinks Watson will remain in Houston.
“I just think there’s a lot going on,” Gruden said. “Deshaun’s a great player, he’s a great kid and I’m sure he’s very emotional right now, for a number of reasons on and off the field. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him that he’s going to be a great quarterback for a long time in Houston. He’s already signed that contract, and he’ll be a big part of that rebuild.”
If Watson doesn’t end up in Las Vegas, he’s going to end up somewhere else and if you want to check out a list of 13 possible landing spots for the Texans quarterback, be sure to click here.
