TRADE DEADLINE
All the reasons the Texans should take the trade and run
Nov 2, 2021, 11:43 am
The Texans should move on from Deshaun Watson. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.
Deshaun Watson after a Houston Texans game
On Sept. 4, 1972, robbers dropped through a skylight at the Montreal Museum of Art – like a real-life Hollywood movie – tied up three guards and stole a rare Rembrandt painting worth millions of dollars.
Not Deshaun Watson millions … but still a fortune. The painting has never been recovered. It's up in the air whether Watson's NFL career can ever be recovered.
I wonder, when thieves steal a valuable painting, what next? I'm guessing the art thieves didn't take the painting for the walls of their luxury country estate appointed with rich Corinthian leather. The thieves need to find a buyer, who'll pay pennies on Rembrandt's dollars to take the painting off their hands. Then the new owner must keep the painting under wraps, it's stolen property. It's not like the owner can flip the painting like Chip and Joanna Gaines or use it to impress guests at a dinner party. The Rembrandt has been rendered worthless to everybody except its secret owner.
The Rembrandt is Deshaun Watson, on paper worth $156 million, but really worthless, at least this season. The owner is Cal McNair. Fans and the media used to ask, how come Hillbilly Cal rarely speaks publicly? Now we know – he's a boob who most recently had to apologize for dropping a racist comment at a fun golf event.
The Texans' reported asking price for Watson is three first-round draft picks plus other assets. Here's what the Texans' asking price should be:
Three first-round draft picks plus other assets … or best offer.
The Texans need to get Watson off their books and out of Houston by 3 p.m. today – the NFL's trade deadline. Watson's legal problems are well documented: 22 civil suits and 10 criminal complaints alleging sexual misconduct. Following the Watson case is like binge watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
The civil suits could go away with the stroke of a pen on some heavy money orders. The criminal complaints are another story. If a grand jury indicts Watson and he stands trial, while unlikely, Watson might be pre-occupied for several years. He could become a registered sex offender with his home address made public on the Internet. That's what you call a hard sell.
Having Rusty Hardin as Watson's lawyer isn't the guaranteed win or stay out of jail card it once was. Last week, Hardin was in court defending a client accused of negligence, gross negligence and vicarious liability in a case involving an injured worker at Bush-Intercontinental Airport. The jury found Harden's client guilty and the client was ordered to pay $352 million in damages.
You can get two Deshaun Watsons and a kicker for that kind of money.
The Texans were rumored to have a deal nearly in place to trade Watson to the Miami Dolphins last week. But the Texans reportedly upped their asking price at the last minute, believing that Watson's civil suits might be settled soon. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross reportedly wants Watson's legal problems gone before finalizing a trade.
Here's what the Dolphins' hometown newspaper, the Miami Herald, had to say about a possible trade for Watson:
"The Miami Dolphins need a lesson in denouncing bad behavior more than they need Deshaun Watson." That's not exactly the Welcome Wagon for Watson.
If the Texans can find a team willing to roll the dice on Watson they should take the trade and run. Watson is cryptocurrency, his value could increase next off-season, but it also could go down the toilet.
Does Texans management even realize this team is a flat out embarrassment to Houston? Talk show callers hate owner McNair and despise his puppet master Jack Easterby. First year coach David Culley has that Tom Coughlin befuddled look on the sidelines, making questionable, and since they're losing, dumb calls. He is the Bizarro version of Bum Phillips' famous quote about Bear Bryant: Culley can take his'n and lose to your'n, and then he can turn around and take you'n and lose to his'n.
The Texans have lost seven straight games and their fans have plain stopped caring. NRG Stadium looked like a ghost town last Sunday with the Texans hosting an attractive opponent, the Los Angeles Rams. Season ticket holders are dumping their seats for as low as $12. Or they're eating their tickets because nobody's buying.
Around the country, the Texans are either the worst team in the NFL or darn close to it, with a $156 million alleged sexual predator banished from their game day roster.
And still the Texans act like they're holding all the cards, sticking with their sky-high trade demands for Watson. For the sake of the team, the fans, the city and the Harris County jury pool, the Texans need to move on from Deshaun Watson. Today could be their last best chance.
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Josh Allen has never said a bad word about Stefon Diggs. As the Buffalo Bills prepare to face their former star receiver in a visit to Houston on Sunday, he insists the two went their separate ways on good terms.
And the quarterback wasn’t changing his stance a week ago, not wanting to ruffle any feathers when asked about the early season success the Bills have enjoyed with their spread-the-ball motto on offense.
He later explained that he spoke out after reading comments on social media in which people were attempting to twist the “everybody eats” motto into something being directed at Diggs.
Allen understands why Buffalo facing Diggs for the first time since a blockbuster trade sent him to Houston this offseason is a big deal. He raved about his former teammate.
“I’ve got a lot of love for him. I still do,” Allen said. “The things that he did for me in my career, and the things that he did in a Buffalo Bill uniform won’t be forgotten anytime soon, especially from me … (but) going into Year 7, I understand the business, and the aspect of what this league is, and again, I’m just trying to focus on what we got going on in this building.”
Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowler, is second on the Texans with 25 receptions for 233 yards. He has two receiving touchdowns and had the first rushing score of his career last week against the Jaguars. He spent the last four seasons in Buffalo, where he had more than 1,100 yards receiving each year, highlighted by an NFL-leading and career-high 1,535 yards in 2020.
He didn’t address Allen directly this week when talking about his time in Buffalo. Diggs did say his tenure with the Bills was “amazing” but that he’s solely focused on his future now and not interested in rehashing the past.
“A lot of other people are going to feel a way or have a lot to say about X, Y, Z, and I’m not mad at it,” he said Wednesday. “Football is a very emotional sport. I go in there and wear my heart on my sleeve, and I won’t stop, but for me, I block out the noise.”
“Nobody is going to run the routes but me,” he continued. “Nobody is going to watch the tape but me. I try not to get back into the back and forth about the opinions or how people feel. I’ve got a job to do; I try to get it done.”
Diggs has helped the Texans to a 3-1 start and Allen hasn’t missed a beat without him. The Bills also are 3-1, though they’re looking to bounce back after a 35-10 loss to the Ravens last week.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans certainly knew how talented Diggs was when he arrived in Houston but said he has been pleasantly surprised to see his passion for the game.
“He loves football … you see it in the way he practices, the way he plays the game,” Ryans said. “He loves ball, he plays with effort and that is all you want.”
The blame game
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady was still kicking himself for calling a trick play that backfired, squelching any chance of a Buffalo rally in the loss to Baltimore.
After opening the second half with a TD to cut the deficit to 21-10, the Bills faced second-and-7 at the Baltimore 44, when receiver Curtis Samuel took a direct snap and pitched the ball to Allen. The Ravens weren’t fooled and forced a fumble, which led to a TD six plays later.
“I probably can’t say it on Zoom,” Brady said when asked to sum up the call in one word. “There’s no excuses. I can give the justification of why it was on the call sheet, but at the end of the day, the timing was not what it should’ve been and it was costly.”
Nico’s start
While much of the focus this week has been on Diggs facing his former team, the star of Houston’s offense so far this season has been another receiver. Nico Collins had a career-high 12 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown against the Jaguars for his third 100-yard game this season. He leads the NFL with 489 yards receiving and is the first player in franchise history with more than 450 yards receiving though the first four games.
“He’s a strong, physical, fast, and big receiver,” Ryans said. “That’s an easy target for C.J. (Stroud) and Nico has showed up every time that we needed him.”
Feeding Samuel
In the Bills’ “everybody eats” motto on offense, Samuel has had difficulty finding a regular place at the table. The eighth-year player who enjoyed his best season in Carolina under Brady as the Panthers coordinator in 2020 has been limited to eight catches for 48 yards. More curious is Samuel has been on the field for only 68 of a total of 230 offensive snaps.
“We’d love to get him going and whether or not Khalil is in or out this week,” Allen said, referring to receiver Khalil Shakir, who is nursing a right ankle injury. “So we’re going to be calling on his number, and he is going to have to step up, make some plays, which we’ve got no doubt in his ability.”
Update: Shakir has been ruled out (ankle) for Sunday's game.