By: Joe Pohoryles
The LA Rams went big when acquiring longtime Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, sending away two first-round picks, a third-rounder and former first overall pick Jared Goff in return for Stafford, who turns 33 on Sunday.
The Washington Football Team was reportedly in the mix to gain his services, apparently offering the 19th overall pick and a third-rounder to Detroit. It didn’t come to pass, continuing the Football Team’s quarterback search.
The team swung big and missed on Amari Cooper last offseason, offering him a five-year/$100+ million deal only for the receiver to re-sign in Dallas. The team moved on without bringing in a comparable receiver as a “Plan B.”
That can’t be the case this year, and Washington cannot settle for less.
There are a handful of quarterbacks on the trade block, but barely any are worth giving up valuable assets for:
Matt Ryan is a former MVP and has been to a Super Bowl, but he’s 36 and will be owed over $40 million next year. It’s also uncertain the Falcons will actually trade him. Still, hard pass.
Derek Carr is a proven NFL starter, but he won’t take any team over the top. I wouldn’t want to part ways with any Day 1 or 2 draft pick to land him, and that’s probably what it would it take, if not more.
Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Mitchell Trubisky, Jimmy Garoppolo and Sam Darnold are all generally unappealing options as a longterm fix. Darnold could maybe find a second life elsewhere given how hard it is to play for the Jets, but I don’t trust him to develop any better in Washington. (Trubisky will be a free agent, so it wouldn’t require a trade, but I still wouldn’t want him, despite his NVP resume).
Cam Newton can’t reliably pass the football anymore. To pay him $50 million, which Adam Schefter suggested Washington might do, would without a doubt be the worst signing since Albert Haynesworth in 2009.
Any other lower-tier quarterback I missed here probably isn’t worth mentioning. So who does that leave?
In free agency: Dak Prescott. On the trade market: Deshaun Watson.
Is either quarterback a realistic target for this team? The Cowboys could make things simple and re-sign Prescott from the jump, and there are other teams with more assets than Washington to give for Watson.
We won’t know until moves are actually made, but until then, we can speculate.
Awhile back, I called a trade for Watson a “pipe dream.” After all, how could any team trade a bona fide franchise superstar quarterback, a requisite for any team that wants to contend for a championship? Now, it is seeming more realistic.
Houston has five years of control, so they don’t necessarily have to give in to Watson’s demands, but if they do, Washington should take their best shot. I am admittedly scared to see what it would require to land Watson, but the value Watson brings would likely be worth whatever it takes.
One tweet piqued my interest when it came to what bringing in Watson could take:
I don’t know how reputable this person is, but the news is coming from Rotoworld and The Houston Chronicle, so there’s some significance there. Going by this hypothetical, there are some packages that would be feasible for Washington.
One thing to get out of the way is Chase Young should not be going anywhere. Even though a franchise quarterback is more valuable than a defensive lineman, you need to support the offense with great defense, and taking Young out of the equation would set the team back.
He’s the Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite with DPOY potential down the line. You build your defense around a guy like him. He’s a non-starter in any trade talks.
Anyone else on the defensive side of the ball can be on the table. It would stink to move one of the other defensive linemen, but when you consider the fact that one will likely move on in free agency at the end of his rookie deal, it may make sense to incorporate them in a deal so Washington could at least net a player like Watson.
I would hate to lose Montez Sweat, Daron Payne or Jonathan Allen. Even Matthew Ioannidis would be tough to part with; prior to his injury early in 2020, there was an argument that he was the team’s best interior lineman.
If two firsts, two seconds and two defensive starters are the starting bar, then it should be worth mentioning that Sweat, and perhaps even Payne are themselves worth the equivalent of a first-rounder; they’re more than just starters. Any package that would include them means taking out at least one of the picks from the deal.
Looking away from the defensive line, Landon Collins would be an interesting piece to throw in. The former All-Pro has a huge contract, which may lower his overall value, but he is still a talented player. His fit in Washington hasn’t been tremendous, and it’s possible that the emergence of 2020 seventh-rounder Kamren Curl has made Collins more expendable.
It all depends on which players Houston values, but a package of two firsts, two seconds, Allen and Collins seems like a good offer that wouldn’t completely waste away the roster. It still leaves Young, Sweat, Payne, Ioannidis and also Tim Settle on the defensive line, and the defense has already proven it can play well without Collins.
It would be difficult to see both guys leave, but if that is all it would take to get Watson, I would be able to stomach it. It appears coach Ron Rivera and new front office brain trust Martin Mayhew and Marty Hurney will look for an upgrade but (understandably) won’t decimate the rest of the roster for one. Getting Watson may require that.
So if not Watson, and if not another trade target/free agent, it’ll come down to some mix of Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke and a rookie. As of now, it seems five quarterbacks could be gone by the time Washington picks at 19, so trading up would probably be necessary. I wouldn’t sell the farm for any of these prospects outside of Trevor Lawrence, but that won’t be an option.
With Stafford off the market, Watson remains the only attractive quarterback option (in my eyes, anyway), and we still don’t know how likely a trade is at this point. The team has to take advantage of all the impact players on rookie contracts over these next few years, but it’s looking more and more like 2021 won’t be the season to capitalize.
Cover Photo Credit: Eric Christian Smith/Associated Press
The Wildcard 