Will the Miami Dolphins trade for Deshaun Watson in the next week?
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins remain one of the top prospective teams to land quarterback Deshaun Watson and we could see a move this coming week. The NFL’s new year begins on March 17th and while that doesn’t mean a trade will happen, there is more of an opportunity for it.
Watson is the biggest name on the tongues of just about every journalist covering the NFL. John McClain of the Houston Chronicle believes that Miami and the New York Jets are the best options for the Texans but he says that the Jets make the most sense.
Boomer Esiason spoke during a panel on ESPN that he sees Watson landing with the Dolphins. While all of this is being speculated on, the Dolphins are making moves with coaching hires and coachspeak that Tua Tagovailoa is their guy and the Texans are denying any interest in trading the disgruntled quarterback.
In other words, what has changed since the end of the season when all of this began to look more and more likely? The answer is nothing. We know nothing more in reality than we did two months ago but the difference now is that free agency will begin next week.
Trades that would have happened previously or have happened will become official on the 17th and while that won’t immediately make Watson available, a trade happening before the draft and at the start of free agency makes more sense for any team acquiring Watson and the Texans.
The reason is simple. The team that trades for Watson will need to add support for him in free agency because they won’t have a lot of draft capital left. For the Texans, it will be helpful because they will need to add to their roster after spending much of the off-season and last season gutting it.
This is why if a trade for Watson is going to happen it should, in my opinion, happen within the next week, well ahead of the draft in April. Will it happen? I can’t speculate on that but I do believe that the Dolphins will not be making this move. In the end, I think the Dolphins will stick with Tua and continue to build. Other teams may be willing to throw more at the Texans for Watson. If I were predicting, and I guess I am, I think he lands in New York with the Jets but I could also see him landing with the Panthers or Broncos as well.