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Why Deshaun Watson is unhappy with Texans, and what comes next
Jan 12, 2021
Sarah Barshop
ESPN Staff Writer

HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans took a step toward moving past their 4-12 season and previous regime when they hired former Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio as their general manager on Thursday.

But instead of getting to celebrate the hire, Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair reportedly upset his franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson with the hiring process.



According to Adam Schefter, McNair paid search firm Korn Ferry hundreds of thousands of dollars, but ignored their recommendation of hiring Pittsburgh Steelers vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan or ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Louis Riddick -- both minority candidates -- and instead went with Caserio, a close tie to Texans executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby.

Now, as McNair and Caserio focus on finding the right head coach, they have to worry about mending fences with their franchise quarterback because he did not have a say in the general manager search.

How did we get here?
Watson’s frustration with the Texans’ organization started in March when the team traded wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson without letting the quarterback know about the deal before it happened.

While many feel the Texans did not get adequate value for the All-Pro receiver -- the Texans also received a 2020 second-rounder (which became DL Ross Blacklock) and a 2021 fourth-round pick and sent a 2020 fourth-round pick to Arizona (which became DL Rashard Lawrence) -- former head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien was right about one thing: Watson didn’t need Hopkins to put up big numbers.

Will Fuller V set career highs in receptions (53), receiving yards (879) and touchdowns (eight) in 11 games before he was suspended, and the addition of Brandin Cooks (team-high 81 catches and 1,150 yards, along with six TDs) helped Watson finish with an NFL-best 4,823 passing yards, as well as a career-high 33 passing touchdowns and career-low seven interceptions.

The frustration came back -- and increased -- after the Texans hired Caserio last week.


Even without DeAndre Hopkins, Deshaun Watson had his best statistical season, posting career highs in every major passing category in 2020. Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
In November, the month after the Texans fired O’Brien, McNair had dinner with Watson. They discussed the direction of the franchise, McNair told ESPN, and he wanted to hear Watson's opinion on who should be the next head coach. In November, McNair told ESPN “that he welcomes Watson's input, respects his opinion and wants the star quarterback to be happy.”

Watson and his agent David Mulugheta later spoke to McNair again over Zoom to discuss potential candidates.

However, on Thursday, the day the Texans announced the hiring of Caserio, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Watson was not happy with the process because, according to league sources, “Watson offered input on potential general manager candidates, but the Texans neither considered nor consulted with those endorsed by their franchise quarterback.”

Regardless of whether there was a miscommunication or McNair misled Watson about what the quarterback’s involvement would be in the hiring process, now Watson is not returning McNair’s calls.

“I've come to understand that it's been reported that Deshaun feels left out of the process, but he and I had several visits and I understood his point of view before meeting with candidates," McNair said Friday. "I've reached out to Deshaun about Nick's hire, and I look forward to him getting back to me when he returns from his vacation."

How bad is it?
On Sunday, Schefter reported that after the Texans traded Hopkins, Watson’s anger level was "a 2. ... This time, it's a 10."

According to Schefter, Watson found out on social media that the Texans intended to hire Caserio. While there have been several reports about his unhappiness, Watson’s lone reaction about the general manager hire came in the form of a since-deleted tweet that stated, "some things never change ...”

Super Bowl LV: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers



Watson said after the season that the organization needs “a whole culture shift.” By hiring Caserio, who spent 20 seasons in New England, it may be that Watson believes the Texans went back to the same well that brought them O’Brien, who was with the Patriots for five years before becoming the head coach at Penn State. O’Brien stayed with the Nittany Lions for two seasons before moving on to the Texans.

The Texans also have Easterby, who spent six seasons in New England. Easterby was part of the Texans’ traveling party that went to pick Caserio up before his interview and McNair said he “sought out Jack [Easterby]'s feedback on Nick [Caserio] as a leader” during the process of hiring a general manager.

Easterby was given responsibility over personnel after O’Brien was fired, but McNair made it clear Friday that Easterby will not be in charge of the roster or free agency going forward.

“Those are the GM jobs that Nick [Caserio] is doing, and he will look to Jack [Easterby] to do some of these other things that Jack has done really well in the past,” McNair said.

What happens next?
According to multiple sources, Watson has not responded to texts and calls from McNair and others in the organization, but he is on vacation. The team is hopeful, a source says, that Watson will return calls as they continue their search for the franchise’s next head coach.



According to a league source, Watson has been assured by the organization his opinion will be taken into account during the search for a head coach.

Watson hasn’t publicly listed head coaches he wants considered, but did mention them to McNair during the Zoom call. In his end-of-season news conference, Watson said he spoke to McNair about keeping offensive coordinator Tim Kelly around for “as long as possible.” Watson has credited Kelly with taking his game to another level “over the past two years.”

“His knowledge of just the game of football is very, very bright and he really helped me take my game [there], especially this year, the best football I’ve played in my career,” Watson said in early January.

Watson has publicly stated his admiration for Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who got a ringing endorsement to Watson from Patrick Mahomes. According to multiple sources, the Texans have not requested an interview with Bieniemy.

What options does Watson have going forward?
Play for the Texans: This seems like the most likely scenario for Watson, who signed a five-year, $156 million contract extension in September, making him the second-highest-paid quarterback (with an AAV of $39 million) behind Mahomes.

The new NFL league year begins March 17 and not a lot will happen before then. The best-case scenario for the Texans is McNair and Caserio can talk to Watson and get on the same page. The Texans want Watson’s input into the head coaching hire because McNair knows how important it is to get this move right, so as to not waste any more of Watson’s NFL career.


Following the Texans' season finale, NFL Films captured J.J. Watt (left) telling Deshaun Watson, "I'm sorry. We wasted one of your years." AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith
Force a trade: A team source says the Texans will not trade Watson, although there is certainly a chance the quarterback refuses to show up to optional organized team activities and mandatory minicamp this spring (if those even happen in person due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic).

If they do trade him, how does that work? Watson has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he would have final say on any deal. According to Schefter, if the Texans did trade Watson, they would have to absorb a salary-cap charge of $22 million. For a team already projected to be more than $17 million over the cap in 2021, that is a large amount of money for a player who isn’t on the roster. Even if the Texans got significant draft capital for Watson, the team would still have to make several money-saving cuts and would have a hard time building via free agency.

Of course, if the Texans made it known they are taking calls for Watson, there will be a long list around the league of interested teams. It’s hard to even estimate a price for Watson because this is such an unusual situation.


Sit out: Ultimately, because Watson is under contract, the Texans don’t have to do anything about this situation. If he sits out, the team could choose to fine him up to $40,000 per day for every day he skips during training camp. He would also be subject to additional loss of money if he does not report for the start of the season and misses games.

Retire: In an extreme circumstance, the 25-year-old Watson could choose to retire instead of playing for the Texans if they refuse to trade him.

Generally, when a player retires, it works in a similar way to him being released. The guaranteed money in Watson’s salary would count against the cap, but Houston could also choose to go after the money. For example, when quarterback Andrew Luck retired in 2019, he and the Indianapolis Colts reached a settlement, where the team chose not to recoup $24.8 million from its former quarterback.

If Watson retires, his rights are maintained by the Texans. He could not un-retire and sign with another team (unless Houston cut him while he is retired), because contracts are counted in seasons accrued, not in years.

https://www.espn.com/blog/houston-t...-unhappy-with-texans-and-what-comes-next

Deshaun Watson Wants Out Of Houston: Texans Must Blame Themselves


By Devon POV Mason -January 31, 2021

The Houston Texans drafted Derrick “Deshaun” Watson with the 12th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Watson was the third quarterback drafted overall after Mitchell Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes.

Watson was fresh off leading the Clemson Tigers to their first National Championship in 37 years and he’d done so by going toe-to-toe with the juggernaut known as Alabama football in back-to-back title games, winning one and losing one in close fashion.




The Texans drafted Watson, whose college coach described him as The “Michael Jordan” of football, to be their franchise quarterback under the head coach Bill O’Brien. That description makes sense considering that growing up, Watson played basketball more than football and dreamed of being like former Duke and NBA sharpshooter J.J. Redick.

Houston’s GOAT QB Arrives
Watson promised to make the NFL pay for drafting an inferior quarterback ahead of him and hit the ground running in his rookie season, throwing a rookie-record 16 touchdown passes in the month of October. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL during the first November game ending his very solid rookie campaign.



Following successful knee surgery, he was disrespectfully-ranked as the 50th best player coming into the 2018 season. All he did for an encore was lead the Texans to a division title, with over 4,000 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes and just 9 interceptions.

He also rushed for over 550 yards and 5 touchdowns, showing his true dual-threat ability in Bill O’Brien’s offensive scheme. Although the Texans came up short in the playoffs, the talent of this franchise signal-caller was undeniable.




The one knock was his holding the football too long in the pocket. His release of the football ranked second to last in the league, which led to him being pressured (281 times) and sacked (62 times) which is still the fifth-most ever in a single season.

What’s crazy is this didn’t seem to happen much when O’Brien had other quarterbacks that were not “Melanated”, so a lot of this was more about scheme than Watson being late on reads and ball delivery.

Things in Houston never seemed settled. The roster pieces never fully complemented his incredible talents, but Watson did such a great job of masking things that weren’t right by being a leader and carrying a franchise.


Systemic Racism Plagues the Texans
Late Texans owner Bob McNair was a huge reason for the unsettled feeling, as he was at the forefront of owners raging against Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling for racial inequality, social injustice, and against police brutality.

His comments and actions created a stir and raucous in Houston and around the league.

During a three-hour confidential meeting between NFL owners in October 2017, McNair stated “you fellas need to ask your compadres to stop that other business (kneeling) and let’s go out and do something that really produces positive results, and we’ll help you.”


He refused to say “kneel”, but McNair was vocal about his stance concerning the national anthem for the better part of a year. He also compared NFL players to “inmates running the prisons” for their protests.

He later apologized for the comments but on the other hand, says he “regretted giving the apology” as he felt he had nothing to apologize for.

The damage was already done with his comments. That same month the aforementioned Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL for blackballing (COLLUSION) Kaep out of the league.




Commissioner Roger Goodell and McNair were deposed in the case. In September of that year, President Trump even took it as far as to recommend in one of his many legendary Tweets during his four-year Presidential run, that any player who kneels should be fired from their job.

The Threat Of Being Blackballed Like Kaepernick
When McNair’s comments were made, Watson, as a Black quarterback, didn’t have the leverage or job security to speak out against his owner’s racist comments. That’s the kind of suppression the owners were aiming for when they tried to make an example out of Colin Kaepernick.


Since then, however, we are increasingly seeing more teams being led by brothers and that is a byproduct of a significant social movement that’s leaked into the sports world. Athletes are using their platforms to speak against the injustices that plague our nation.

Because of this movement, the NFL & its owners can’t as easily use players as examples to flex their oppressive powers. Now social justice and sports are joined at the hip.

READ MORE: Roger Goodell Admits NFL Was “Wrong” For Not Listening to Players’ Race Concerns

Watson felt severe pressure about the ramifications of speaking out against his team’s owner. He mentioned the hardships of playing for an owner who made those types of comments, especially when he compared his players’ social justice stance to “inmates” running the prison.”


Watson said these exact words as it pertained to speaking up:

“TO KEEP IT REAL WITH YOU, I FEEL LIKE WHENEVER A BLACK QUARTERBACK SPEAKS UP, THE OUTSIDE WORLD SOMETIMES DOESN’T THINK THEY’RE EDUCATED ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON. SO IN REALITY THEY’RE LIKE, ‘HEY Y’ALL BLACK QUARTERBACKS ….. SHUT UP AND PLAY. Y’ALL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. “

New Day. Watson Wants Out
With Watson no longer afraid to speak his mind, Watson is willing to take the criticism that comes with being a new outspoken athlete. He also has some guaranteed money in his pocket, which often frees up the lips a bit as well. The good thing is, he’s not alone in this movement. Sports hasn’t had a social movement like this since the 60’s and athletes are learning the power of their voices.


Texans fans want him back, but the organization and Cal McNair will have to work hard to fix the relationship. Watson feels irreparably disrespected.




CBS Sports analyst and former Raiders CEO Amy Trask joined Payne and Pendergast to discuss the situation with Watson and the Texans’ front office.

“It must start, in my view, with Cal McNair,” Trask said. “When you own a business, and have full total control of that business, and have full authority and full responsibility, you must be the leader. Even owners who delegate authority and responsibilities have the ability to take back that delegation. …
“I believe this rests on Cal McNair to try and repair this damage.”

Bill O’Brien’s Shortsightedness Drops The Ball & The Bag
In 2019 the Texans, behind the exceptional play of Watson, once again won the AFC South and hosted a home playoff game.


They won that game over the Bills and actually led the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs (24-0) at Arrowhead, before Mahomes & Company scored an absurd 41 straight points behind the playcalling wizardry of offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy for a 51-31 comeback win.

2020 brought many obstacles unlike any ever seen for most of us, and that pertains to sports as well.

In March the Texans, led by Bill O’Brien, who became the GM and head coach after the team fired their Black GM and Executive Vice President Of Football Operations Rick Smith, inexplicably traded all-world wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals — much to the dismay of Watson.


In September 2020 Watson was awarded a 4-year ($156M) extension, but still feeling the sting of the trade of fellow Clemson Tigers alumnus Hopkins.

With the bag secured, however, Watson decided to look forward. The excuse O’Brien gave for trading away his QB’s best offensive weapon, was total bologna, saying he thought there was a power struggle within the locker room and Hopkins was too well liked per reports.

READ MORE: DeAndre Hopkins’ Arrival Means Elevation For Kyler Murray: Bill O’Brien’s ego just made the Arizona Cardinals franchise QB a superstar.

Another leaked report stated an issue concerning Hopkins having his children’s mothers around the team too much. Watson was never consulted on the move and that’s just wrong.

Consider this: Do you think his white counterparts wouldn’t be consulted if their franchises were thinking of trading their No.1 option in the passing game?

I seriously doubt it .

The Last Straw
The team began 0-4 in the 2020 season and O’Brien was fired. Houston didn’t finish with a great record (4-12) but Watson had his best season as a pro and they played with a looseness and freeness they’d been missing under O’Brien.

Star defensive end JJ Watt was elated to see O’Brien finally fired and he basically stated this following the team winning its first game.

As the 2020 season came to an end, there was talk about the head coaching vacancy in Houston being a great fit for current Chiefs offensive mastermind Eric Bieniemy.

Watson had even consulted Patrick Mahomes about Bieniemy. Mahomes said he’d be a great hire for the franchise and especially for Watson who possesses a similar skillset.

Heir owner Cal McNair hired a firm to help with his team’s GM search and they told him the two best candidates were Omar Khan (Steelers) and Louis Riddick (MNF Color Analyst and Former NFL Front Office Exec).

At the last minute, he deviated and hired Nick Caserio (Patriots). This upset many in the organization as the Koran Ferry firm had done the work and ended up with two minority candidates and he completely ignored them.

Via Yahoo.com

“The Texans invited Watson to give input for both the G.M. hire and the head-coaching hire. He did, and the team disregarded his input. The Texans initially ignored his recommendation that Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy be interviewed for the head-coaching job. (Also) the Texans completely ignored Watson’s recommendation that former 49ers defensive coordinator (and now Jets head coach) Robert Saleh be interviewed for the job.

To those who point out that quarterbacks aren’t supposed to play that kind of a role in the management of a team, two points: (1) the Texans asked him to play that role; and (2) since quarterbacks are expected to be quasi-members of management, why shouldn’t they play that kind of a role in the management of a team?”

Watson was fuming and began to question the direction of the franchise, as he was assured he’d be kept in the loop of the hiring process of both the GM and head coach.

Following his comments, they all of a sudden wanna do a zoom interview with the guy who’s helped create this “Mahomes Mania” as we know it.

One has to begin to wonder, if not traded, will Watson withhold his services this coming season?

https://theshadowleague.com/deshaun-watson-wants-out-of-houston-texans-must-blame-themselves/

Wasn't it because Houston was a complete ish-show? They were trading away anyone worth a damn for peanuts. BoB was running the roster into the ground, and the President of football ops (IIRC), the guy that was pretty much universally hated, overruled the results of an executive search to hire his buddy as the GM. Then they hired the most underwhelming guy in NFL history to be their HC.

The team was a dumpster fire. Now you can argue the merits of requesting a trade under these circumstances, but it's counterproductive to the convo to pretend they aren't there.

No. Where was the personal attack?

I do think some people might not like Watson due to the race angle, but I also believe the Browns have been very progressive when it comes to hiring minorities and females.

You could put me on ignore if you like. I did that to Pit today and the day has been so much more enjoyable.

No, I didn't mean it that way. Although, I see now that it could be perceived that way. I meant that some people not like that Watson was upset about racial issues going on in the country and the organization and the Kaep situation. Some might say that has no place in sports.

On topic. As always.

arch, while that is in Pit's sig........Watson did not leave because he wanted to pick the coach. I posted numerous articles on the real reasons that led him to sit out.

Baker sounded more mature there. Good move on his part. However, he's not coming back. The reporter was trying to get him to say he would, but Baker shut him down twice. Politely and maturely, but he shut him down.

Baker sounded more mature there. Good move on his part. However, he's not coming back. The reporter was trying to get him to say he would, but Baker shut him down twice. Politely and maturely, but he shut him down.

What?

The guy asked him twice about could Baker Mayfield ever play again for the Browns and Baker said that it was it was obvious that it was a mutual decision on both sides to move on.

What's confusing about that?

That left me feeling somewhat optimistic.

I'm really interested in learning the clear definition of Card-Carrying-Baker-Mayfield-Fanboy.


Does it include anyone who ponders the possibility of 19M QB on the roster playing in a back-up role?

Does it include anyone who ponders the difference in talent between Baker and Tyrod Lite?


Hurry up. I need to get my spreadsheet done, Encyclopedia Brown has hired me to fact check all fanboy posts.

But I do not want a biscuit without a baker.

Sorry but it is not nearly that clear cut. And I will say this. If deshaun is suspended and we do not reach out to baker, and instead go with an inferior qb , whoever makes that decision should be fired. Maybe we reach out and he says no. Ok then we move on. But I do not want a brissett if we could have a baker.

Why would we not want the best qb we can have. No one is saying baker over deshaun. But we should all see baker as our next best option.