The rumors surrounding Deshaun Watson and where he might get traded by the Houston Texans seem to evolve every few hours.
At first, it sounded like there were four NFL teams that were likely landing spots for the controversial quarterback who recently learned he won’t face criminal charges over allegations from 22 women for sexual assault and harassment, amongst other things. The Cleveland Browns became an interested party soon after. Then came the news that Watson had personally rejected all but two potential destinations, the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers.
Almost as soon as that news broke, Adam Schefter reported that there was a sleeper team in the mix as well, the Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons have emerged as a sleeper team to acquire Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, league sources tell @mortreport and me. The Falcons join the Panthers, Saints and Browns as teams that have met with, or are interested in, trading for Watson. More to come on ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 15, 2022
Turns out, they might be a sleeping giant in this process as Dianna Russini followed up Schefter’s report by saying that Watson “reached out to the franchise personally.”
I’m told QB Deshaun Watson has interest in the Atlanta Falcons and has even reached out to the franchise personally, per source. https://t.co/wdQfgaXGjR
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 15, 2022
A lot of people started wondering why Watson would even want to go to Atlanta right now considering the state of their wide receiver corps. The Falcons lost wide receiver Russell Gage in free agency and will be without Calvin Ridley for the entire season due to his gambling suspension. Perhaps the only reason that Deshaun would want to consider going to the Falcons is that he’s from Georgia and would like to play closer to home. Regardless, it could end up being a very costly move for Atlanta if they were interested.
The wheels will keep turning on the Deshaun Watson rumor train for now but we have to imagine that the decision will be made soon enough and the Texans will trade him. And then he’ll be someone else’s problem.
