What is wrong with Watson's contract?

the behavior of Watson's camp has been bizarre from the beginning.

it's incredible that this situation has been going on for a year now...and nothing has been resolved

Panama Red said:

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What is wrong with Watson's contract?

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Nothing's wrong with the contract, it's the way he's being handled that is just a nightmare. Any other player's management would have nipped this thing in the bud, asked Buzbee how much $$ to get this to all go away, and then gotten their client traded and spun it all as Houston being a toxic environment. They'd go to the new team's management and say, our guy like getting glute massages quite frequently, so let's get an assistant equipment manager or whatever who is going to be in charge of legally sourcing that talent for him so we don't have a repeat of Houston on our hands. Then you set up some fluff pieces with the local media and the team website, hire someone to run DeShaun's social media, and get back to being a mega-star in the league.

Instead, they've cast DeShaun as a guy who clearly isn't all that crazy about playing football because he just voluntarily took a year off from it in what should be the absolute apex prime of his career. He is out there talking about teams he'd like to play for like he's the reigning MVP who happens to be a free agent, and doesn't seem aware that his image is swirling the bowl. He's been a Pro Bowl level quarterback and certainly could be again, but he seems incredibly unaware of the times he is living in. Any team that trades for him will have massive scrutiny of their morals, what they want their franchise to represent, and what their policy is on women being harassed in the workplace.

Meanwhile an entire NFL season has gone by with teams addressing their quarterback needs without him being part of the discussion. Your leverage with the Texans is gone because Mills wasn't that bad as a rookie, so they've got no need for you. You look around the league and try to figure where you fit into the rankings of best QB - who's ahead of DeShaun? Throwing it out there in no particular order, you can say Rodgers, Burrow, Herbert, Mahomes, Allen, Murray, Stafford, Prescott, Jackson are all better than Watson right now.

You've got young guys in NE (Jones), Miami (Tua), NY (Jones), Chicago (Fields), Lawrence (Jax), Wilson (NY), Lance (SF) whose teams look committed to them, only Jones with the Giants seems on the edge of getting replaced.


Even the Texans, and I say this with my fingers crossed, aren't stupid enough to trade Watson inside their own division, so the Titans (Tanny) and the Colts (Wentz) are out

You would assume Ryan is close to retirement age. Cousins has the mondo contract. Bridgewater, Winston, and Darnold/Newton are all rent-a-wrecks at this point. I don't really know who Heinicke even is.

That drops us down to Carr, Wilson, Hurts, and Mayfield as starting QBs who might have worn out their welcome. Wilson's going into his 11th year and surely has a no-trade clause. Mayfield I guess would be interesting. Hurts is like Watson except he can't throw for ****, and if the Texans actually consider trading for David Carr's little brother, they should just go on and turn on all the gas grills at NRG and light a match.

There's also Pittsburgh and Tampa with Brady and Roethlisberger retiring. It may be naive on my part, but tradition and excellence for those two franchises makes me think neither one of them wants to touch Watson; hard to replace the GOAT of the league in Brady or the GOAT of the your franchise's last 20 years in Big Ben with this guy.

So, not a lot of choices for Mr. Watson at this point. But he still seems to think he's running the show.

Same agent as Jalen Ramsey, which should tell you all that you need to know (if you didn't already). Other than Watson's transgressions, he's one of the main reasons why this has all gone down like this. He fancies himself as one of these super agents that can blow up and build teams like they do in the NBA.

helloimustbegoing said:

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Mayfield I guess would be interesting.

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No, it absolutely would not..

The crazy thing is we get these stories of "Deshaun would consider playing for X Team" like the legal stuff is just perfunctory.

Uh, no. He needs to settle these cases, which is not a unilateral to-do list like it's painted out to be. There are human beings and Buzbee on the other end of that which has already shown to be extremely unpredictable.

It's kind of an indirect slap in the face to the alleged victims - football media just expects they'd be content and walk away so long as Watson wants that to happen.

boy09 said:

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helloimustbegoing said:

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Mayfield I guess would be interesting.

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No, it absolutely would not..

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I just meant from the point that both teams might be interested in the deal.

Suspension is coming for sure. And someone will give up multiple first round picks still.

BMX Bandit said:

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Suspension is coming for sure. And someone will give up multiple first round picks still.

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You think a team will do that before knowing the length of the suspension?

Yes. Why wouldn't they? It's not going to be multiple years. If I had to guess, I think most teams pray believe he's looking at 6-8 games

The bigger issue is when that suspension starts, and we won't know that until these cases are all resolved. That's what the teams are waiting on

BMX Bandit said:

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Yes. Why wouldn't they? It's not going to be multiple years. If I had to guess, I think most teams pray believe he's looking at 6-8 games

The bigger issue is when that suspension starts, and we won't know that until these cases are all resolved. That's what the teams are waiting on

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Why wouldn't they trade multiple first round picks for a guy with an unknown league suspension and possible criminal charges to be their QB and face of the franchise? That question seems to answer itself. And the fact that no one has apparently been willing to do just that over the past year seems to support me.

And I'm just not following the point that teams are more concerned about when the suspension is served over the length. The suspension will go into effect immediately upon the league handing it down and the team that trades for him knows that. If you trade for Watson this spring, it's a pretty good bet that he will likely not be available some portion of the upcoming season. IMO, projecting the timetable is no more difficult than the suspension length.

Because they aren't trading for him for one season. It's for a career.

If criminal investigation over, and they trade for him on draft day, and he sits out half of 2022, they won't care.

What they don't want is trade for him on draft day, then uncertainty of suspension still out there. Does it start in November? 2023?

Watson is not going to do any jail time for this.

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And the fact that no one has apparently been willing to do just that over the past year seems to support me.

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Offers have been made, but this doesn't support you. I'm saying teams are waiting for this civil action to end to make the "mega offers". We aren't there yet

BMX Bandit said:

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Because they aren't trading for him for one season. It's for a career.

If criminal investigation over, and they trade for him on draft day, and he sits out half of 2022, they won't care.

What they don't want is trade for him on draft day, then uncertainty of suspension still out there. Does it start in November? 2023?

Watson is not going to do any jail time for this.

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And the fact that no one has apparently been willing to do just that over the past year seems to support me.

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Offers have been made, but this doesn't support you. I'm saying teams are waiting for this civil action to end to make the "mega offers". We aren't there yet

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I'm not sure we're even disagreeing at this point. My original post that started this was that the Texans won't get market value until this stuff is resolved. You seem to be saying the same thing.

JCA1 said:

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BMX Bandit said:

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Because they aren't trading for him for one season. It's for a career.

If criminal investigation over, and they trade for him on draft day, and he sits out half of 2022, they won't care.

What they don't want is trade for him on draft day, then uncertainty of suspension still out there. Does it start in November? 2023?

Watson is not going to do any jail time for this.

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And the fact that no one has apparently been willing to do just that over the past year seems to support me.

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Offers have been made, but this doesn't support you. I'm saying teams are waiting for this civil action to end to make the "mega offers". We aren't there yet

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I'm not sure we're even disagreeing at this point. My original post that started this was that the Texans won't get market value until this stuff is resolved. You seem to be saying the same thing.

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Agree with this. There's a pseudo-suspension in place currently until the legal issues get resolved. I would suspect the NFL has unofficially said to not play Watson while all of this is ongoing as they don't want that press.

Once the legal issues get resolved, he'll get the official suspension. The question is when the official suspension concludes, which can't be determined until the unofficial one concludes.

They may not be able to get market value until it's over unless the team that trades for him believes that have some insight on when Deshaun will be able to play. That said, a lot of franchises are desperate for a QB like him so it wouldn't surprise me if the Texans did get "market" with all the uncertainty.

JCA1 said:

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EastTX_Ag said:

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Is that even a pre-existing position? Feels like the Rooneys doing the league a solid.

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he's also the line backers coach

IMO when the time comes and they trade DW he might pull one first rounder, one second, and one third. Something like that….. I believe a lot of y'all are giving him way too much trade value at this point. All the baggage, an "official" suspension coming in addition to the time he's already missed, etc. that's a lot of ??? For someone who's not exactly a young qb anymore as well as the time lost in development, not participating in practices etc. Hell, he was good at times with the Texans but he wasn't no Rogers, Brady, etc. not a consistent top 5 qb.

The year off definitely didn't help his lack of timing in the pocket.

Special hearing has been scheduled for Monday afternoon in Deshaun's case, most likely to delay it until all 22 complaintants have been deposed. Apparently DeShaun's side doesn't want him talking until all of them have first.

https://www.khou.com/article/sports/deshaun-watson-hearing-to-delay-deposition/285-4f8daef0-4a79-45ef-9096-0963077fea05

Again, despite having a legendary lawyer, DeShaun doesn't seem to grasp that Buzbee can have this thing go on for years if he really wants to and if DeShaun won't pay up to get it to go away, and no NFL team is going to agree to anything until they've seen all the details and have a end result to decide if it's worth trading for him or not.

I know Cletus McNair can't see this as anything but a business deal, and I would hate getting nothing in return, by man it would be satisfying to cut his ass and take a big PR dump on him too.

Wonder if maybe Watson and his camp want to be cut.

Maybe they're OK with this dragging out until his new salary kicks in and it then becomes too expensive for the Texans to keep him.

He gets cut then settles everything and now he's free to go wherever the hell he wants with whatever guaranteed money he got from the Texans.

But it is still cheaper to keep him on the roster and not play than pay the remainder and take the dead cap hit. Nick is smart and if there are no suitors, he will cut him if there is some clause in his contract that nullifies the remainder.

Sounds like we are in for another few months of the same... which is to say, nothing material is going to happen.

Yeah I don't know all the cap ramifications and all that.

I was just going off the fact that it's doable to keep him around and not play for his $10mm salary but probably not once his new contract kicks in at it costs $35-40mm.

But yeah...Another lengthy timeframe with nothing new.

Just not sure which side benefits from that.

I need someone to call this # like they have no idea what's going on with Watson and try to book him for an event.

Contact AthleteSpeakers today at 800-916-6008 to book Deshaun Watson for a keynote speech, virtual meetings, corporate appearance, grand opening, product announcement, moderated Q&A or for an exclusive meet and greet.

helloimustbegoing said:

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I need someone to call this # like they have no idea what's going on with Watson and try to book him for an event.

Contact AthleteSpeakers today at 800-916-6008 to book Deshaun Watson for a keynote speech, virtual meetings, corporate appearance, grand opening, product announcement, moderated Q&A or for an exclusive meet and greet.

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Huh?

if I'm reading the data correctly...

Watson's 2022 salary is 100% guaranteed at $35 MM.

but the last 3 years of his contract are not.

however a prospective trade partner is not planning to cut Watson --- and they have to be prepared to take on a massive contract thru 2025. That is why there are fewer teams interested than expected

Dead cap if cut before June 1 is $51.2M and after is $40.4M, which is the same as his cap hit of $40.4M if he's on the roster.

At some point, Texans will have to decide whether he is a worthless asset or not weighing the legal with potential suitors. He becomes very cheap to cut starting in 2023. If there are no trade partners before June 1, it seems to me given its the same cap hit to keep or cut, and it may just be better for the Texans to move forward without him.