Mr. Scot

If there's a fight between McNair's brain and his ego, I'm putting a hundred on the ego. Hell, I'd put fifty on his spleen.

McClain has said that if nothing happens by this year's draft, it ain't happening this year at all. The Texans aren't interested in trading for next year's draft picks.

I didn't know John Fox posted on message boards. For the record, the team has said repeatedly they're looking for long term contention, not a quick fix.

They've already indicated it would take the biggest trade package in history. There's no "up" to go from that threshold.

Key issue in the whole thing is that McNair absolutely doesn't want to do it. Even if Caserio and Culley were on board, they'd still have to convince McNair. And per McClain, that would require "an unprecedented deal", basically "more than anyone has ever traded", and even then they'd still have to talk McNair into it. That's a big reason why I'm doubtful it happens. If we were just talking about getting Caserio / Culley to relent, that'd be one thing. If McNair digs his heels in, then we're talking about his ego and him having to admit he lost the battle. Basically, that ain't happnin'

From the McClain article... Deshaun Watson and the Texans have two options each when it comes to the quarterback’s trade demand. Watson can continue to let agent David Mulugheta work behind the scenes to pressure general manager Nick Caserio to trade his client, including leaking to the national media how miserable his client is and how determined he is to get out of Houston because his relationship with the team is irreparable. If the Texans refuse to trade Watson, he can tell them he’s willing to sit out or retire, which few would take seriously because he’s a great quarterback in the prime of his career with a $156 million contract that’s set up him and his family for a lifetime of luxury. As for the Texans, they can call Watson’s bluff and remind him and Mulugheta they negotiated in good faith the four-year extension that averages $39 million a year. They can reiterate how much they love and value Watson and that he’ll continue to be their quarterback as long as he’s under contract through the 2025 season. Or Caserio can field a multitude of offers from quarterback-desperate teams, listen carefully to their proposals right up until April 29 — the first day of the draft — and engineer what could be the biggest trade in NFL history. ... The Texans have known Watson wants out since Caserio was hired. It became official Thursday when the trade request was leaked to the national media, and the Texans knew it was coming. Their response is and will be that Watson is their quarterback, he’s under contract, and they have no intention of trading him. That’s what they’re telling teams that inquire about Watson’s availability. That will be their response until somebody makes them an offer they can’t refuse. This isn’t going to end soon. There’s no hurry. The draft is three months away. Training camp is six months away. ... If they reach a point where they believe it’s in the Texans’ best interests to trade Watson, Caserio will have to persuade chairman and CEO Cal McNair to let him pull the trigger on what should be an unprecedented deal.

McClain confirmed they were ready to go that route if it happened. Texans will play waiting game with Watson

This is where your reasoning goes wrong.

Honestly don't think so. McClain indicated that if Watson were to threaten to sit out, etc. that the Texans were prepared to call his bluff. He added further that there was only one team that might be able to push a trade in this scenario, and it's the Jets. Though he added that it would require "more than anyone's ever paid for a quarterback trade in NFL history".

According to John McClain, they're prepared for that, and they mean it. The only scenario he sees where they relent on this is if someone brings them an offer bordering on the ridiculous.

No.

I think about the only thing we can definitively say is he won't go to a team within the same division. I'd agree they would ideally want him in the NFC, but if an AFC team makes a better offer than an NFC one, I don't know that the Texans would care enough about it to take less.

Falcons are in position to pick one of the better quarterbacks available in this draft if they want to.

I remember when people were talking up his signing as evidence that "Marty 2.0" was improved (Oy). Definitely not a fan of his, but with all the rebuilding that we're already set to do, have to admit it's possible we've got another year of him coming up.

I don't really think the Texans are going to go to Watson saying "Okay man, where do you want to go?" and then call that team. They're going to try to field the best possible offer for them first, then see whether he's willing to accept it. Mentioned earlier, I don't think it's absolutely necessary that he only has one or two preferred destinations. He might just have certain parameters that could fit a lot of teams.

Albert Breer's writeup covers several different aspects of the game and the week leading up to it. How and why the Senior Bowl is happening amid a pandemic There's a decent amount about the Panthers and Matt rule. Here's the part that's most pertinent. So who are the potential long-term beneficiaries of that effort? Really, it’s all the players and teams. But more than anyone else, it’s the Panthers and Dolphins, who, because they’re coaching in the game, brought traveling parties of around 60. In a year when any sort of personal interaction with the draft prospects is going to be at a premium, Carolina and Miami will have been in meetings and at practice with nearly 70 of them each. Conversely, one NFC executive said to me that “the idea my head coach isn’t going to be face-to-face with any one of these guys before the draft is unfathomable.” That’s why, when Panthers coach Matt Rhule went to his staff with the idea of coaching in Mobile, despite a draining first year in Charlotte, the guys were on board. “We’re still building a roster,” Carolina defensive coordinator Phil Snow said over the phone Wednesday. “It’s important at every position that we evaluate properly for this draft and the following draft. ... We talked about it, said, ‘Hey, let’s go do this thing.’

I remember that story. Pretty sure all of us admitted we'd have been crying like little children if that happened to us

No, but a lot of people are banking on him wanting to play here being a deciding factor. Frankly, given that there's more than one team in position to make a way better offer than us, it'd probably have to be. And yeah, it could be true. I just haven't seen any real evidence that it is.

We don't really even know that Watson's going to have one preferred destination. He may find three or four different places acceptable. If so, after that it's just a matter of choosing the best offer. But hey, it's possible that behind the scenes, he's kicking, screaming, pounding the table and threatening to hold his breath until he turns blue if they don't trade him to Carolina. I just don't think it's all that likely.

We appreciate that.

From Aaron Reiss, Texans reporter for The Athletic... Where could Watson land? Reiss: Only where he wants, as the $156 million contract extension he signed before the start of this season possesses a no-trade clause. A limited number of suitors could drive down the price for Watson in the trade market, but so long as there is more than one bidder, the Texans should still be able to flip him for a huge haul of assets. What's next for the Texans? Reiss: Team officials are adamant that they do not want to trade him, so McNair, Caserio and Culley will try to repair the Texans' relationship with Watson. But if they don't make progress toward that by the 2021 NFL Draft, the team will face a big decision: Deal Watson and begin the rebuilding process with a ton of high picks, or wait until the season to see if Watson is willing to exercise his only leverage, which is sitting out games. If he is indeed willing to give up game checks, the Texans will have to wait until the following offseason to deal him. Trading him at midseason, when they won't know the slots for the 2022 first-round pick(s) they'd be receiving, is the worst-case scenario. Link This doesn't sound like something that's gonna be over quickly.

That the Panthers are interested and willing to aggressively pursue trade talks has been confirmed by more than one established source. Outside of Watson's social media account liking a post about him going to the Jets, there hasn't really been much from his end. As far as rumors, I'm pretty sure I could go to twenty different NFL message boards and every one of them would have somebody who knows somebody who knows he wants to come to their team, and they probably all have an equal amount of credibility (i.e. not much). Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not. Maybe he ends up here. Maybe he doesn't. Right now, I'm not buying either Watson's or Stafford ending up here... ...but you never know.

What year?

See above. For whatever this kid knows, I seriously doubt he's better connected than Jones, and Jones says he doesn't know whether Watson wants to play for the Panthers or not. I suppose it's possible for a high school kid with a website to know something that an established reporter doesn't, but I'm kind of skeptical.

Roaring Riot is pretty well established. And more to the point, he was proven right. The source here is apparently a high school kid.