Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is not expected to be on the Texans this next season, as he has requested a trade. Considered one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, there will be many interested teams.
While it would seem highly unlikely the Arizona Cardinals would entertain thoughts of dealing for Watson, we have laid the reasons why they should do it in this article.
While Watson is clearly better than Murray currently, there are many reasons why they should not do it.
Financial reasons
The Cardinals have less than $9 million in salary cap space currently, based on estimations of a $176 million salary cap. Kyler Murray counts $9.76 million. But if they were to trade him, it would create $11.8 million of dead money, meaning they would lose a little more than $2 million in cap space.
Watson’s contract would count $10.54 million against the cap for the Cardinals, meaning it would require more than $12.5 million in space to acquire him. It is always possible to maneuver within the cap but it doesn’t make sense financially.
Also, while Murray is not yet the quarterback Watson is, he is still rising and the Cardinals have controlled QB costs for two or three more years. Watson’s cap hit jumps to $35 million in 2022.
Talent surrounding him
Watson would seemingly elevate the quarterback play, which in turn elevates the performance of the team, but considering the number of questions at different positions, the situation here with the Cardinals might not be any better in terms of talent than with the Texans. Yes, there are some true stars on both sides of the ball, but with significant needs at several positions, is Watson’s play enough to make up for it?
Lack of draft capital
The Cardinals are already down two picks in this year’s draft, having dealt their fourth-round pick as part of the deal for receiver DeAndre Hopkins and their sixth-round pick to acquire Markus Golden.
In addition to sending Murray to the Texans, it would take multiple draft picks.
For a team that needs to add talent around the quarterback, sending draft picks away won’t make them better.
Watson limits the talent the Cardinals can add
The Cardinals have a two or three-year window with a low-cost quarterback and they have built the roster around that. Watson’s cap hit in 2022 and 2023 make it such that the Cardinals cannot add talented veterans because of the cost.
The Cardinals aren’t just a quarterback away
Especially considering the uncertainty of this offseason, just replacing Murray with Watson isn’t going to make the Cardinals suddenly a top Super Bowl contender. As good as Watson was last season, his Texans won four games.
How many more wins do the Cardinals have with Watson than with an ascending Murray?
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