According to sources on ESPN, the Atlanta Falcons have emerged as a team in hot pursuit of Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, as Matt Ryan’s potential replacement. The reason they want Watson is that he is ranked No. 4 quarterback in the league.
The Falcons join a line of other teams, such as the Carolina Panthers, the New Orleans Saints and the Cleveland Browns as teams that have either met with Watson or are interested in trading other players for Watson.
“All options are open, but it’s not going to be easy,” a Falcons source said regarding a potential Watson trade.
Another source described the Falcons as having a “long shot” to land Watson. However, the team still has not yet met with Watson. With that being said, they still have the potential to meet with Watson in person and try to persuade him to join the Falcons.
The Falcons, up to this point in time, have been committed to veteran quarterback Matt Ryan. Falcons owner Arthur Blank has talked about finding Ryan’s successor and resetting the franchise’s future. That task has been given to second-year general manager Terry Fontenot and Falcons head coach Arthur Smith.
The Falcons were said to have restructured Ryan’s contract, trimming his salary cap hit this year from $48.7 million to $36.7 million. However, there still is no official agreement and nothing has been turned in to the NFL. If the Falcons trade Ryan after June 1, they could free up about $8.75 million worth of salary-cap space. If Atlanta acquires Watson, they could begin to use Watson as Ryan’s replacement.
Watson already has met with several other teams and is said to be impressed with the Panthers, Saints and Browns. Every team that has been in discussions with Watson also has been in simultaneous discussions with the Houston Texans. Trade compensation is not expected to hold up any potential trade, as parameters of any trade that would involve the quarterback are already in place.
The last piece of any potential trade would be Watson agreeing to waive his no-trade clause so that he could be dealt to another team and resume his NFL career.
