© Kyle Terada | 2020 Sep 13
According to longtime NFL reporter John McClain, here’s what the Houston Texans want in return if they are going to entertain the possibility of trading Deshaun Watson: Two first-round picks, two-second round picks and two young defensive starters.
Let’s begin by saying that the Texans should not and probably will not trade Watson. It’s something they’ll only do if he refuses to play, a possibility that does seem to be on the table. He’s 25 years old, under contract through 2025 and incredibly talented. He was ranked as the third best quarterback in the league this year by PFF, behind only Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. His 4,823 passing yards led the NFL.
But let’s assume Watson holds out, and refuses to play another snap for the team. Would the 49ers be willing to pay that price? Maybe they would, but if it includes the services of Nick Bosa, the answer would be no according to former quarterback and close friend of Kyle Shanahan, Chris Simms.
“I have a hard time thinking that they would give up Nick Bosa,” Simms told NBC Sports Bay Area. “Again, rookie year Bosa, what they’ve seen from him, they can’t give up on him. They are not going to give him away to anybody. Nick Bosa, even after his rookie year, was arguably in the conversation for best defensive player in football not named Aaron Donald. After his rookie year. So I don’t imagine that, especially with that defense’s scheme that they are playing there in San Francisco. Things aren’t going to change. That pass rush is very valuable to how they want to run that defense and the pass rush especially.
“In some ways, Deshaun Watson to the 49ers makes sense. In a lot of ways, where I look at Watson, I don’t think it’s the Jets of the world and the poor team that are going to be in the race for Deshaun Watson. One, he has a no-trade clause. I don’t think he’s going to go to one of those teams. What is he going to say, ‘OK, I’ll go to the Jets so I can be in the same crappy position I was in with the Houston Texans and now they’ve traded away all their assets to get me so we can go 4-12 every year like I did in Houston. I don’t see that. I do think it will be a team like the 49ers where we just talked about — they are set up already, the only thing they need is a little depth here and there. But the frame of the team is already big time and in place and ready to win a Super Bowl. But you have to balance out, yes you’re going to have to trade three first-round picks or something like that. I don’t think Nick Bosa is an option, but yes it will take two- or three-first round picks and two big-time players for a guy like Deshaun Watson.”
Bosa, 23, won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2019, and was on his way to winning the Super Bowl MVP award before Patrick Mahomes took over. Bosa’s 2020 season was ruined due to injury, but there is every reason to believe that he enters the 2021 season as the most talented pass rusher in the NFL.
If Super Bowl LV taught us anything, it’s the importance of a dominant pass rush. Super Bowl LIV taught us that too, until the 49ers defensive line ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. If they’re healthy in 2021, perhaps that unit is even more valuable than a player like Watson would be.