What Would It Take for Vikings to Land Deshaun Watson?

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There isn’t an unhappier quarterback in the NFL today than Deshaun Watson, who’s made it abundantly clear that he wants out of Houston and far away from anyone associated with the Texans franchise, including owner Cal McNair himself.

Well, everybody has been on the internet over the last week trying to figure out what it would take to get Deshaun Watson into their favorite team’s uniform. As of now, the most popular teams being discussed are the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

But from what we know right now, the Texans organization hadn’t even held internal discussions on what type of trade packages they’d want for Watson, until today. Cal McNair has been determined to change Deshaun’s mind.

As you can see from the reports above, that isn’t happening. So the way I see it, if the Minnesota Vikings want to make a move for the 25-year-old franchise QB out of Clemson, they have just as good a chance as any at this early juncture.

What would a competitive Vikings trade offer look like?

Whatever trade package lands Watson is going to be a blockbuster. Unfortunately for Rick Spielman and the Minnesota Vikings, they do not have the 2021 draft capital that other suiters do.

That doesn’t mean they can’t build a legitimate offer that makes sense. But it will have to include a player that perks the ears of the Texans front office. And out of all the hypothetical trade packages I have seen involving Minnesota, this one from Nick Olson (ZoneCoverage.com) intrigues me the most.

Why? Because the Texans would have to at least answer the phone for it.

Gotta give to get

There isn’t a Vikings fan in the world who wants to see Danielle Hunter go but this is the type of trade offer it would take for the Vikings’ to be competitive with others.

For example, rumors are flying about a package that the 49ers are putting together, for Watson, and it revolves around Joey Bosa. Miami, which is Watson’s preferred destination according to his own camp, has Tua and the this year’s 3rd and 18th overall picks in the draft.

But the NFL team with the most to offer the Texans by far, is the New York Jets. Look at this draft capital… If Spielman really wants to make Deshaun Watson a Viking, it’ll take a haul that can beat the Jets.

Cap situation

The Houston Texans are going to take on a pretty massive cap hit for 2021 by trading Watson but that won’t be enough to kill the deal. And if Rick Spielman really does want to get out from under Kirk Cousins’ contract, this is his chance.

Minnesota will take a massive cap hit if they trade Kirk Cousins… AFTER 6/1/2021. If they were to trade Cousins right now, it’d cost them $20 million in dead cap for 2021 (save $10M). If they wait until after June 1, it would cost $45 million of dead cap for 2021 (save -$14M) and another $10 million against the 2022 cap.

So I guess it depends on what Rick and Mike want. Do they trust Kirk Cousins, in what is a make or break year for their careers? If not, this is their chance to upgrade.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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