Former NFL quarterback Carson Palmer believes Deshaun Watson should be careful for what he wishes as he desires to leave the Houston Texans.
The ex-Cincinnati Bengal, Oakland Raider, and Arizona Cardinal joined “The Jake Asman Show on SportsMap Radio” Friday and opined that the three-time Pro Bowler needs to realize his trade could impact his new team’s ability to surround him with talent.
“For Deshaun, it’s a little bit double-edged sword: if you want to go somewhere, they might have to give up three, four, who knows how many first-round draft picks and that inevitably is going to reflect on his career for the next three or four years if he doesn’t have first-round picks on his new team he’s going to,” Palmer said. “So, it is a bit of a double-edged sword from Deshaun’s standpoint. You want somebody to be willing to give up enough to get you out of there, but you also don’t want them to mortgage the entire organization and then be put back in the same exact scenario in his new team that he was in Houston where you just don’t have very much talent around you and you got to carry the load on your shoulders.”
Palmer knows of what he speaks. In 2011, the Raiders traded a 2012 first-round pick and a 2013 second-round pick to the Bengals for Palmer’s services. Oakland subsequently didn’t have as many picks to accumulate the necessary talent to keep the Raiders competitive. After an 8-8 finish in 2011, the Raiders slumped to 4-12 in 2012.
The three-time Pro Bowler believes Watson can thrive with the right situation.
Said Palmer: “If you put him around or put a team around him that some of these younger quarterbacks have, like Patrick Mahomes, even the weapons Brady has. The sky is the limit for Deshaun.”
If Watson’s new team gives too much, he could face the same problems with talent deprivation with the new franchise that has plagued him in Houston.
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