Photo Credit: Henry Frieman
For the last ten years, the narrative has been why the Jets are the laughing in the NFL and rightfully so. The team every year always finds a way that has people scratching their heads as to why they are making the moves that they did. However, the Houston Texans as of recently told the Jets to hold my beer after allowing their coach to be the general manager and him making some bone head moves. Like trading the team’s future to bring in a left tackle and another receiver, to which only one has panned out. Then they trade one of the best receivers in the game for a sack of potatoes, now the team has no future and they are $15 million over the cap. Now their franchise quarterback isn’t happy and could want out. The Jets who are looking for a new coach and a new quarterback could attempt to make a run at Watson.
In 2017 the Jets had the opportunity to take Watson but instead took Jamal Adams which wasn’t a bad pick at the time, however both Watson and Mahomes have become top ten quarterbacks in the NFL while Jamal was traded to the Seahawks. Watson in particular has been spectacular given the weapons he had, sure they had Hopkins at the time but this year he threw for 4800 yards and 33 touchdowns with only seven interceptions without Hopkins. Not to mention he is playing with one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Now that Jamal Adams is gone and the Jets have two first round picks this year as well as next year, it’s not crazy to think that the Jets will at least do their due diligence and ask about Watson.
The Jets will be looking for a new quarterback in the 2021 season and will be moving on from Sam Darnold. It’s the right move from both sides, Darnold needs a restart while the Jets with a new head coach would want his own guy under center. The only quarterback that I like coming into the NFL draft that's not Trevor Lawrence would be Zach Wilson from BYU but even he would be a project as well as Justin Fields from Ohio State. However if they were to make a trade with Watson, they would already have a proven quarterback who is in the prime of his career and the Jets could build around him.
The Texans would be starting fresh with a brand new general manager and a new coach, but would have no first round pick this year and only a handful of picks this year. To make matters worse, they are currently $15 million dollars over the cap so the team is going to have their hands full with trying to build the team. I expect them to make some cuts on their roster to try and get them under the cap space. If they were to move on from Watson, they would be in a much better position with the cap and the Jets could offer them the second pick so they can take a quarterback.
The Jets on the other hand would have to take on a pretty hefty contract if they were to get Watson, his current contract has four years and $156 million with $73.7 of it fully guaranteed. The bright side of it is that there is an opt out option in 2024 but ultimately would be locked in until 2026 if the team chooses not to cut ties, however his contract will take a big hit around that time where he would be making $35 million. I’m sure Joe Douglas will look to have the Texans eat some of that money to balance it out.
This is the type of move that would be considered as a pipe dream or something that you would do only in Madden, but given the state of the Texans right now with having no draft picks and no money as well as an unhappy quarterback this is sounding more realistic by the minute. This is a once in lifetime opportunity for the Jets to make, that could potentially turn this franchise around. Not to mention that it could make the Jets a competitor much sooner.