Deshaun Watson’s time with the Houston Texans could be over

It was around this time last year that the Houston Texans held a 24-0 lead against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. I think it’s fair to say that everything has truly gone downhill from that point.

After that 51-31 humiliation, the Texans did the unthinkable and traded DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals and gleefully took on David Johnson’s $10 million salary. Head coach Bill O’Brien clearly was unfit to be a general manager but the damage was already done, and it got him canned after an 0-4 start.

Instead of turning over a new leaf after O’Brien essentially did whatever he could to wreck a playoff caliber roster, the Texans have fully revealed themselves to be the most dysfunctional franchise in the NFL.

There’s no new head coach, Deshaun Watson is fuming over the way management and ownership has treated him, and there’s now a very real possibility that Houston does the unthinkable and loses its franchise quarterback after just five seasons.

Watson did sign a four-year, $156 million contract extension the previous offseason to at least assure himself of financial stability with his rookie contract expiring. He led the league in passing yards and threw 33 TDs to just 7 INTs on a squad that went 4-12. At 25 years old he’s already won a playoff game and if not for an unfortunate ACL tear in practice, likely would’ve put up an all-time great rookie season in 2017.

The stories of friction between Watson and Texans ownership and management are pouring out by the day and it seems like barring a miracle, a break-up could be on the horizon. I don’t know about you, but Cal McNair and Jack Easterby seem to be closer to movie villains than anything else.

There are plenty of teams who would absolutely jump at the opportunity to trade for Watson, and ideally the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams won’t be in the running if/when Watson leaves.

As an aside, the Seahawks are at the Houston Texans in the 2021 season.