Where will Deshaun Watson go? This is the all-consuming question the NFL world will be obsessed with for the next month and a half until the new league year begins in March. That is likely when there will be a resolution between the Houston Texans and their disgruntled quarterback. Even as the organization desperately tries to fix what they broke, several insiders are reporting the same thing.
Watson wants out and it’s only a matter of time before he formally requests a trade. Already several teams are gearing up to make a potential run at the 25-year old Pro Bowler. The Chicago Bears are one of them. SM reported multiple times that GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy view Watson as the top target of any veteran QB on the market and plan to make a strong push to get him.
A lot of this may hinge on the quarterback himself though.
Watson has a no-trade clause in his contract. This means he would have to waive it in order to be traded. So he has some control over which team he goes to. That means the Bears not only have to present Houston with an intriguing trade package. They have to convince Watson that coming to Chicago would be in his best interests. Is it? Former safety Ryan Clark believes so and said as much on ESPN’s Get Up program.
What makes this so interesting is Clark hasn’t exactly been bashful in his criticisms of the Bears in recent months. He’s the same one who didn’t think Allen Robinson was a true #1 wide receiver and called their roster as a whole overrated. So when he has a strong feeling that Watson should go to Chicago, it certainly says a lot.
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Deshaun Watson still has an ax to grind
A lot of people are nervous that Watson will scratch the Bears off his list from the start. Why? This team bypassed him back in 2017 in favor of Mitch Trubisky. That kind of disrespect can stick with certain players. Is it that big of a deal? Probably not. Pace could easily clear that up with a phone call. Also, the fact the Bears are prepared to give up a king’s ransom of picks and tens of millions of dollars to acquire him sends a pretty clear message.
Besides the more important relationship would be with Nagy. He’s one of the most personable coaches in the league who speaks quarterback. He runs a Chiefs-style offense. Something Deshaun Watson made known he wanted to play in given the interest he had in Eric Bieniemy. Not to mention he’d be greeted as a hero in the third-largest market in the U.S. with a sizable African-American population.
So it’s not like the Bears have nothing to offer.
It is more that they have a ton of competition for the star QB and the odds aren’t in their favor. That won’t stop them from doing everything within reason to get him. It’ll come down to a strong sales pitch and plenty of luck.