I’m totally on the idea of the Minnesota Vikings trade for the disgruntled Houston Texans fullback Deshaun Watson. Quarterbacks of his caliber rarely come available, especially after the first year of a contract extension.
Watson and the Texans’ situation has become increasingly volatile. The Texans owners said they would seek his input when appointing a new general manager and head coach, and did not do so, leading to Watson’s trade question.
With his departure imminent, Bill Barnwell of ESPN came up with 17 trading proposals ($) that were from the least to the most likely. The 10th trade he listed was a three-way deal between the Vikings, Texans and the New England Patriots.
Minnesota would trade the 14th and 90th overall picks in 2021, their first round in 2022 and their first round in 2023 to Houston, and QB Kirk Cousins to New England.
Houston trades their 2023 fourth round and Deshaun Watson to the Vikings.
And the Patriots traded their 2022 fifth-round pick, 2023 fifth-round pick, and QB Jarrett Stidham to the Texans.
Sure, some of you see the Vikings giving up too much here, but I do not think it’s a massive overpayment.
Last year, Minnesota penetrated the bees week 1-5 and finished 7-9 mainly because injuries hampered an already inexperienced defense. With the return of players like Danielle Hunter, Michael Pierce, Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr – plus the advancement of rookie Cameron Dantzler and Jeff Gladney from last season – they could once again be a top 10 unit in the league.
Despite the offense that finished the top-5 in yards per game last season, the start of 1-5 is due to the offense that often puts their defenses in precarious positions. Cousins was gruesome to start the season and applied ten interceptions in the first six games.
While the malevolent QB cleared his game in the second half of the season, this is not the first time we have seen a slump. Yes, Cousins is criticized more than he deserves for his contract, but he tends to play two to three times an expensive play that makes you wonder what he was thinking.
When the news of Watson’s dissatisfaction with his current situation surfaced, I predicted it would take the first three rounds and compensation to tackle the Cousins contract to land Watson. I would more than like to give it up to acquire a franchise player.
When was the last time this franchise had a steady top-5 QB? Minnesota has not had a long-term solution since the days of Fran Tarkenton. They signed Cousins to fulfill the role, and although he was durable and gave a sense of stability, he is not one of the best players in his position.
Watson would add another dynamic player to the Vikings offense that has playmakers at every level. Cousins cannot prolong the play if the bag collapses; Watson does it with ease. Given the state of the Vikings’ offensive line, it’s essential to have a quarterback who can expand the games by rolling out of pocket, something Case Keenum regularly did during their 2017 13-3 season.
With Watson at the center, the Vikings could move down from Mike Zimmer’s first series. Last weekend it was clear that the teams that made it to the championship games won by using the run-up to set up an aggressive passing game. The leading rusher of both games was Buffalo Bills full-back Josh Allen, who ran 88 yards. The leading running back was Leonard Fournette, who was only 55 yards on the ground.
Cousins must be in a first team and act outside the game to succeed. The first philosophy drove Stefon Diggs out of the city in the off-season and Justin Jefferson could do the same if the Vikings did not adapt to it.
Watson has never had a setback in Dalvin Cook’s ability in Houston. He would benefit from having weapons like Adam Thielen and Jefferson work on the outside – a luxury that was taken away from him in Houston when they traded Deandre Hopkins in the off-season.
This trade package makes sense for the Texans. They would recount the choices they lost from Bill O’Brien’s bad trade earlier this year and give new GM Nick Caserio and their new coach a draft capital to work with. It would also set them up for a complete rebuild, which is hard to justify with Watson in his prime.
And it became clear that the Patriots are still a win-now team, even though they finished 7-9. Their special teams and defense are still elite, but the only thing they missed this season was a reliable quarterback. As the Cam Newton experiment in Foxborough turns out to be, it makes sense to follow a quarterback with a low-floor quarterback with limited ceiling. Someone like Cousins.