On April 27th, the Houston Texans made a franchise-altering move in trading up with the Cleveland Browns to draft quarterback Deshaun Watson.
In doing so, the stopped a fellow NFL team from doing the same. The Arizona Cardinals were at pick No. 13, Houston got Watson at 12. The Redbirds wanted the future Pro Bowler, as their then-coach Bruce Arians was a public fan of him predraft.
Now coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — the Texans’ next opponent — Arians wasn’t shy in saying his intentions with working out Watson pre-draft. He wanted to draft him to make him the successor to Carson Palmer in the desert.
“Would have been drafted in the next pick,” said Arians to Tampa Bay media on Tuesday.
Arians’ Cardinals wound up taking linebacker Haason Reddick.
Arians left at the end of that season and ended up joining Greg Gumbel and Trent Green’s play-by-team for the NFL on CBS, even calling one of Watson’s games in Week 13 of 2018 versus the Cleveland Browns.
On Saturday, on a new team, Arians will get to coach against the quarterback he once thought he’d get to groom.