Mr. Scot

He's a first found pick who's looked so bad that he's now third string behind an undrafted free agent. Why would we want him?

Reliable sources have confirmed that we did offer the number eight pick, and more. I'm guessing this particular Twitter just mixed up which team had what pick.

The Lions were reportedly willing to try and accommodate him but they weren't going to take a lesser deal to do it. Stafford didn't really have any leverage to force them to do anything they didn't want. The Rams stepping up their offer really helped everything fall into place.

You can read the full story of the negotiations in the link. It says Stafford preferred the Rams but didn't decline or nix going to Carolina. Peter King and others have also confirmed that Stafford had a preference (King saying he was "more keen" on the Rams than the Panthers and others) but nobody's said anything about him not wanting to come here. PFT isn't always wrong but they're not the best source. Breer is a far superior source for anything behind the scenes.

It's PFT. Albert Breer has a whole lot more detailed report of what went on behind the scenes. He confirmed that Stafford to Carolina was about to happen until the Rams beefed up their offer.

I think that's a reach. He preferred the Rams or 49ers, but that doesn't mean he "didn't want to come here". He was willing to go anywhere except New England.

McClain and Breer have way better sources than Florio does. Both say the Texans are likely gonna take this to the mat. Funny thing is that McClain is actually arguing they should trade him. But at the same time, he acknowledges that they're "adamant" it's not going to happen. Breer actually thinks some other NFL owners might privately encourage McNair not to give in because of the precedent it would set.

Valid. Having that franchise guy doesn't solve everything if you don't build around him.

No argument. He was good. Just better at making noise than making plays.

Not sure why people are talking about an agenda behind this tweet. There isn't one. Breer was just mentioning a thing that happened. You don't necessarily need to approach everything somebody puts out there with "Well, what are you trying to say?"

Not sure if you'd call it a lie, but Florio did turn out to be way off on this one.

Valid. Admittedly it's also fair to point out that as a player, McClover's bark was significantly worse than his bite. As to the story, I could see somebody in the locker room going up to Burns and saying "Hey man, your brother said the team should get rid of me. What's that about?" But I doubt that merits more than a shrug and a "Well, you know how he is" in response.

McClain and Breer have both confirmed that the Texans are already getting offers but aren't responding. They're not even returning teams' calls to say "thanks, but no thanks". As to McClain, the reason why he came up with a trade offer is because it's what he thinks they should do.

I don't. Per a couple of different reports, teams have already been calling the Texans to make offers. The Texans haven't been responding or returning those calls. They're serious about holding on to him.

Breer confirmed what McClain had said previously, that teams are calling the Texans with offers and the Texans aren't responding or returning those calls. They're dug in right now.

C) The notion that Watson is doing everything he can to get to Carolina is a fan fantasy.

Wow

Turns out we came pretty close... Wouldn't have been all that bad a deal either.

A few more details from a couple of sources... In his latest MMQB, Albert Breer confirms that we did indeed offer the #8 pick...plus a later pick. Also says that ours was the highest draft pick offered (which makes sense because nobody above us was chasing him). Added that it was down to us or Washington before the Rams stepped up their offer. Peter King added that although Stafford was open to going anywhere except New England, he did prefer Los Angeles or San Francisco. King also believes we may have been willing to add Bridgewater to the deal but isn't dead certain.

I've seen a couple of different sources say he did.

Is it September yet?

Actually I've read numerous tweets and news items about our offer. It was already pretty much confirmed that we had offered the number eight.

We didn't offer seven picks. We offered the number eight. They just got mixed up who had what pick. What more we offered on top of that? Unknown.

I think that's kinda the point.

Speculation is fun, guys. But if you seriously think the Texans are gonna accept a deal based on "hey, we think these players are pretty good" then I'd say you might want to prepare for disappointment.