Jay Roosevelt

Unless you're the owner...

There really isn't a comparison to the type of trade offer it'd take to get Watson because there isn't another example of a team trading 25 year old elite franchise QB. This deal - whoever makes it - will become the new standard for 'blockbuster' trades in the NFL.

I'd go McCaffrey, 1st rounders in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and Donte Jackson as my opening offer. I'd rather not mess with our WRs.

Who cares if we're a "playoff team" if we're 1-and-done because we have no QB? We could fill all those holes with Pro Bowlers and still not be legit Super Bowl contenders with Teddy Bridgewater at QB. Just look at the Bucs; 7-9 with the same core team in 2019, Super Bowl champs with Tom Brady. Fill the hole at QB first. Otherwise, nothing else really matters.

Why do you just assume the OL has to be garbage if we get Watson? Our cap situation will improve SIGNIFICANTLY next year and we always have the option of restructuring some contracts to create cap space for this year. There's no reason we can't re-sign Moton, draft another tackle in the 2nd round, and sign a couple of solid veterans for a year or two. Not saying we wouldn't have to continue to build the OL after that, but it's not like we'd have the worst OL in football either.

@Verge What do you think of Liam Eichenberg from Notre Dame? I wouldn't be upset at all if we took a shot on him in the 2nd round, but I wonder if he could actually sneak into the late 1st? He seems like a pretty solid OT option for us, if a bit 'boring' as a prospect.

I'm curious as to what the armchair GM's here who are against trading for Watson think is going to happen if we continue to play it conservatively and just stock pile draft picks. How long do we wait before addressing QB? Mac Jones at #8? Hope we're bad enough to get the #1 pick next year? Draft someone else in the 2nd or 3rd round or later and hope we get the next Russell Wilson or Tom Brady instead of the usual backup or washout teams get with QBs after the 1st round? Ride with Teddy until he's ready to retire? The Rams haven't had a 1st round pick since 2016 and won't have one again until at least 2024, and yet since 2017 they're 43-21 with a Super Bowl appearance and will go into next season as a legitimate contender to get back there. Despite what conventional wisdom may say, there are more ways than one to build a winner. To be so disliked by so many on this board, it seems Jerry Richardson's philosophy of team building remains in vogue with many people here. How many 1st rounders did Marty Hurney hit on? Pretty much ALL of them, and yet what did we really win during his tenure(s) as GM? One NFC title + 2 division titles in 15 years between his 2 stints as GM. The Rams have done exactly the same since 2017 and they've done it without a single 1st round pick during that time. Look, I'm as big a fan of CMC, D.J. Moore, Brian Burns, and Derrick Brown as anyone. We've had a great run of 1st round picks, but the truth is the value of a true elite franchise QB eclipses all four of those guys combined. That's not to say I'm advocating trading all of them as part of a Watson deal (you want to keep enough talent around him that you're not in a total rebuild on offense) but what I am saying is we could draft 3 players of comparable talent with our next 3 1st rounders and unless one of them is a top-tier franchise QB (let's be honest, QBs are always a crapshoot) then we'd still be worse off come 2023 than we would be with Deshaun Watson under center. And that assumes we hit on our next 3 picks in the 1st round. Sure, they could all be CMC or Brian Burns, but they could also be Shaq Thompson and Vernon Butler. There's just no way of knowing what we'd be getting, but there is a way to land a franchise QB: trade for Deshaun Watson. I'm sure we won't be the only team interested, but we MUST try and every signal the organization has sent this offseason indicates that we absolutely WILL try.

You fix the f***ing OL as quickly as possible. Our cap situation gets MUCH better next season. Plus, the cap can always be manipulated. Franchise, then extend Taylor Moton. Draft a tackle in the 2nd round. Sign a solid veteran guard for a year. Restructure some contracts to make it work. This really isn't rocket science.

I've always thought we should move Moton to left tackle. I see no reason why, if we're going to pay him big money, we shouldn't do it now. I think he can be just as good on the left side as he's been on the right.

At this point I'd just assume trade up for Justin Fields or Zach Wilson.

I would have been pissed if we'd have given up two 1st rounders for a 32 year old Matthew Stafford. Trading next year's 1st to move up and get Justin Fields or Zach Wilson is a MUCH better plan, IMO.

It... is what it is?

Stafford isn't even that good. He's Teddy Bridgewater with a stronger arm.

I think a lot of folks here have an inflated sense of how valuable draft picks are vs. an elite franchise QB. Draft picks are only as valuable as the players you pick with them. Short of hitting on a franchise QB with one of the 1st rounders we'd be giving to Houston, Watson's value far exceeds the players we'd get with those picks, save for some kind of miracle run of drafting that rarely ever happens in the NFL. I, for one, don't think it'll take quite as much to acquire Watson as many seem to. The 3 1st rounders thing seems to be assumed, but is just speculation. Watson's desire to get out does reduce the leverage the Texans have in trading him, as does his no-trade clause and the fact that he has to agree to the team he's traded to. It wouldn't surprise me if the eventual trade - by us or another team - looks a lot more like the Khalil Mack trade to Chicago than something that includes 3 1st rounders and a big name player.

Deshaun Watson.

Parsons strikes me as another Reuben Foster; not interested.