QB Musical Chairs

Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson’s trade demand this past week could potentially open the flood gates to an NBA-style off-season for QBs in the NFL. Watson has a no-trade clause in his $156 million contract, meaning he can basically pick where he gets traded, if he were to be traded.

According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, there’s potentially (18!!) QBs that could be under a new center for the 2021 season.

Is this potential QB musical chairs good for the NFL?

In the NBA, league-wide movement is common place. In fact, it’s damn near encouraged. These moves keep the NBA headlines at the top of the sports world essentially keeping eyes on the league year round.

In the NFL however, really good to elite QBs can be the face of a franchise for 10+ years. No matter how good or bad a team is, the organization always has the upper hand, and the QB change usually happens on the franchise’s terms.

Watson forcing his way out of Houston will put teams on notice. You can’t make bad decision after bad decision and expect the star QB just stand by ok with it all. You are asking them to put their health on the line for your organization after all.

You can’t have as terrible a year and a half as Houston has had and not expect repercussions. It all started in August of 2019 when they traded away two first round picks and a second to Miami for pro bowl Left Tackle Laremy Tunsil and Wide Receiver Kenny Stills, who they’d later end up cutting. After losing a 24 point lead to Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, their first inclination was to…trade Deandre Hopkins to Arizona. Ok? Well at least they replenished the first round picks they got in the Miami trade right?! Nope, got a washed up running back and no first rounders in return. Ok?

So after his best playmaker gets traded, Watson goes 4–12 and the Texans can’t even properly replenish the talent around him because they don’t have a pick until the 3rd round in the draft. Mind you this all happens before the Texans’ ownership hires a GM without Watson’s input and then pass over Watson’s preferred head coaching candidate (endorsed by Mahomes) for a coach none of us had ever heard of.

And people like Brett Favre really expect Watson to shut up and play.

If Watson gets his way, this will be a notice for all franchises that have been consistent QB graveyards over the years. Teams are going to have a shorter timeline to get their shit together. That means you, Detroit, NYJ, Cleveland, Washington, etc. Can you imagine if Matthew Stafford forced his way out of Detroit years ago? The discourse around his career would be way different.

Not everybody agrees that more movement in the NFL is a good thing, however. Some say that more player movement would water down some of the NFLs most heated rivalries. Part of the reason why Steelers/Ravens, Falcons/Saints or Cowboys/Eagles have such intense rivalries is because certain players are synonymous with their respective teams.

Big Ben, Tony Romo, Donovan Mcnabb, Matt Ryan ,Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, and others were the face of their franchises for years, and the prime nemesis of rival fan bases. These QBs played in some of the most intense rivalry games over the past decade or two, and admittedly the games would not have hit the same if these QBs didn’t spend countless years on the same team.

But let’s face it, many younger fans are latching on to specific players opposed to specific teams. Whether it’s because of social media, fantasy football, or video games, the youth is gravitating towards player stanning. If this trend continues over the years, maybe the concept of football rivalries simmer down like they have in the NBA.

In the NBA universe, we live in a world where fans and media talk about upcoming free agents and possible trade destinations during the season. It takes attention off the actual on-court play. We’ve seen how distracting it can be with Kyrie, KD and Giannis in recent years. There’s concern that that aspect of player movement could impact the NFL in a similar way.

But the difference in football is the length of the season. The regular season goes from September to December, and after the Super Bowl in February, the chatter and interest steadily declines until the season starts to pick back up again in the summer. More player movement could be good for increased interest post April when things start to slow down in the NFL calendar. We would be getting consistent year-round football content. Who wouldn’t want that?

This off-season is sure to present an unprecedented amount of QB movement. We should be excited for the potential of a new era of player empowerment in the league. Talented QBs shouldn’t be forced to take a beating, on and off the field, to supplement a terrible franchise. Star QBs breaking the shackles of restraint from their franchises will level the playing field for all parties involved. It forces organizations to be more on point with their decisions and it allows players to not waste their careers for franchises that can’t figure it out.

As we wait for the first QB domino to fall, there’s only one thing left to say:

Let the games begin!