The Seattle Seahawks are far from the only team that’s interested in trading for Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
According to a report by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers have already made offers to Houston and they are scheduled to meet with him.
The #Saints and #Panthers have made offers for #Texans QB Deshaun Watson and are likely to meet with him soon, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. Other teams also are involved. Watson has a no-trade clause and wants to meet with teams before formally waiving it anywhere.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 13, 2022
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts are also in the market, but Houston is unlikely to deal Watson to another AFC team. That narrows down his options to four NFC squads that are looking for a new starting quarterback this year. That includes the Panthers, Saints, Buccaneers and Seahawks.
Carolina has been pursuing Watson for a while now, but their roster will take a serious hit in any trade. They also have questions at head coach with Matt Rhule, who has only two years of experience and a reputation of being in over his head at this level.
New Orleans has salary cap issues (again) and won’t have Sean Payton to sell – instead the defensive-minded Dennis Allen will be their head coach next season. The Saints also don’t have any offensive weapons outside of Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara.
The Bucs have a lot to offer Watson, including a brilliant offensive coach in Bruce Arians and a strong roster that’s made two consecutive deep postseason runs, including a Super Bowl win. However, their team was set up to contend in 2020 and 2021 and they will likely lose several key contributors to free agency this week.
Seattle doesn’t have an offensive wunderkind on-staff. However, Pete Carroll’s track record is as impressive as any outside of New England and he can sell Watson on playing with D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett – the best receiver combo he could possibly wind up with this season outside of Chris Godwin and Mike Evans in Tampa.
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