It appears as though the New Orleans Saints are in the midst of an all-out push to acquire Houston Texans star quarterback Deshaun Watson.
According to NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, the Saints held a second meeting with the All-Pro passer on Wednesday night while he’s received interest from other teams such as the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers.
On Thursday morning, ESPN’s Field Yates reported that the Saints continue to shift salaries around to open up more space for a potential significant add-on such as Watson.
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Within the last day, New Orleans has restructured the contracts of quarterback Taysom Hill, cornerback Bradley Roby, linebacker DeMario Davis, and safety Malcolm Jenkins, which now has the franchise with roughly $30 million in cap space.
It appears as though the Texans are letting Watson choose his trade destination as long as the potential suitor has what the team is looking for. The price is believed to be set at three first-round picks — at least — with no players coming back in return.
Due to legal issues that included 22 civil complaints of sexual assault — which a Harris County Court deemed there was not enough evidence to press criminal charges last week — and his steady trade requests, Watson did not play a single snap last season.
Regardless, the 26-year-old is one of the top playmaking passers in the entire league that would provide a legitimate successor to Drew Brees, who retired following the 2020 season. Watson led the NFL with 4,823 passing yards two years ago despite playing for a non-contending Texans team that went 4-12 while posting a career-best 70.2% completion rating.
