Patriots: Latest Deshaun Watson trade rumor is really bad news for New England
It appears as if Deshaun Watson has chosen his top trade destination, and it’s not the Patriots.
Patriots fans, we already braced you for this. Yes, the possibility that you could easily be the worst team in the AFC East when the 2021 regular season arrives. The Buffalo Bills aren’t going anywhere, the Miami Dolphins have one of the most promising young rosters in the NFL, and … the New York Jets? Wait? What? What about them?
Funny you ask, because a report just surfaced about their likelihood to land Texans star quarterback Deshaun Watson, who allegedly wants out of Houston and will likely demand a trade, if we’re to believe the top NFL insiders.
The latest buzz suggests the Jets are atop his preferred destinations because of their decision to hire former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as their head coach. Man oh man.
“(DeShaun) Watson told people the Jets are his top preference among the teams he’d like to be traded to because they hired Robert Saleh to be their coach and Watson values Saleh so much he wanted the Texans to interview him for their vacant head coach job.” ... https://t.co/ZnOxOKKMDO
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) January 23, 2021
Instantly, regardless of how you look at the bigger picture, the Jets become better than the Pats, who have no quarterback at the moment and a depleted roster on both sides of the ball to boot. New York has endless problems themselves, but adding a top-five player in the league at the premier impact position changes everything.
Throw in the fact the Jets have multiple first-round picks in each of the next two years, they could theoretically trade for Watson and still have leftover selections that will allow them to successfully add top talent to their roster. With 19 draft picks total in 2021 and 2022 and $66 million in cap space to spend this offseason, it’s hard to argue that the Jets won’t leapfrog the Pats in the blink of an eye if they land Watson.
https://twitter.com/incarceratedbob/status/1351558530424336384?s=20
The Patriots were once a logical connect-the-dots situation for Watson due to the franchise’s links to the Texans’ front office, but at this point Bill Belichick doesn’t have enough draft capital to make it happen given all of the other concerns surrounding the roster.
Sad times in New England for sure. We’re sure watching Tom Brady in the NFC Championship Game tomorrow won’t help, either.
