Rich Eisen: Texans’ Front Office “Out Of Their Minds” Regarding Deshaun Watson

Rich Eisen has been the face of the NFL Network since its inception. Few people have their fingers on the pulse of the league the way he does. So when he says Houston should trade Deshaun Watson, people should sit up and listen.

On a recent edition of The Rich Eisen Show, the journalist turned TV personality dove into the situation the Seattle Seahawks are in with their franchise quarterback, Russell Wilson. This of course segued into Eisen laying out what’s going on with the Houston Texans and franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson. For those who have been living under a rock for the last several months, a rumor leaked and then it became publicly known that Watson’s camp has asked for a trade. After the news hit the streets, the general consensus is the signal-caller has played his last down in battle red.

New Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio has drawn his own line in the sand, allegedly ignoring any and all trade requests for Watson. But, as Eisen details, sooner or later, the Texans’ front office is going to have to snap into reality.

While giving up a player like Deshaun Watson and then watching him take another team to the Super Bowl is an absolute worst case scenario, the Texans have no one to blame but themselves for this mess—as long as Jack Easterby is part of the organization and team owner Cal McNair is still doing Cal McNair things.

As Eisen states, there’s a Door A, which now seems more illusion than tenable reality, and a Door B. Earlier this week, we laid out some potential trade packages that don’t totally suck for the Texans, but the lack of movement here is starting to feel awfully familiar. For those with short memories, Houston had a stand-off with another star player just a few short years ago and ultimately waited too long to trade Jadeveon Clowney in what became one of the worst trades in recent NFL memory (until the disgraceful DeAndre Hopkins trade surpassed it and took the crown).

Right now, at this very moment, Houston is standing on the precipice of repeating past mistakes. While a 25 year old phenom quarterback will always demand more trade compensation than an edge rusher with injury question marks, a “late winter/early spring 2020 Watson” is worth more to trade partners than a “post draft 2020 Watson.” If the Texans trade Deshaun Watson, it’ll easily be the worst deal in franchise history.

Like any disaster, the stare-down has to end sooner or later so all involved can heal, rebuild, and get back to living life. Dragging this on because of some illusory notion that Watson is going to suddenly fall back in love with Texans is a fool’s errand. Nick Caserio needs to open up the bidding, wait for a team to show up with the biggest wheelbarrow full of draft picks and starting caliber talent, take the deal, and move on.

The king is dead. Long live the king.