NY Jets: 3 trade packages to consider for Deshaun Watson

NY Jets, Deshaun Watson Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The NY Jets are one of the 25+ NFL teams that should be interested in trading for disgruntled Houston Texans quarterback, Deshaun Watson.

While it may have seemed like a ridiculous notion just a few weeks ago, the possibility that Watson is traded grows more likely by the day with recent reports indicating that he has no intentions of playing for the Texans ever again.

Plenty of teams will be interested, but few will be able to realistically afford what it takes to land a player of Watson’s caliber. You could make the argument that Kansas City Chiefs’ superstar Patrick Mahomes is the only player in the entire NFL who holds more value.

It’s going to take an absurd amount of capital to land Watson — if he’s actually traded. But no matter what it takes, a potential trade would be 100 percent worth it.

The Jets are one of the few teams that have stockpiled enough draft capital and cap space to pull off such a franchise-altering move. After all, this is the very reason you stockpile assets in the first place.

To take advantage of once-in-a-generation opportunities like this.

There are a few avenues the Jets could explore when proposing trade packages. And while it’s still a longshot that general manager Joe Douglas actually pulls the move off, best believe he’ll be making some calls.

Let’s take a look at three potential trade packages the Jets could realistically offer for Deshaun Watson.

Next: 1. Evenly distributed first-round picks

NY Jets, Deshaun Watson Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

1. First potential NY Jets trade package for Deshaun Watson:

This might be the most preferential from the Jets’ perspective of all three trade offers — at least in terms of the ones that only feature draft picks.

The Jets have the luxury of possessing four first-round picks over the next two years thanks to the Jamal Adams trade that send them Seattle’s next two first-rounders. In this scenario, they manage to retain two of those four picks.

Houston receives this year’s No. 2 overall pick and the Jets’ first-rounder in 2022 while Gang Green also parts with their 2023 first-round pick. But the Jets still manage to maintain a first-round pick in both 2021 and 2022 to help with the rebuild.

The starting price for Watson should probably be somewhere around three first-round picks, and that price could rise if a bidding war ensues. Of course, this also depends on how desperate the Texans are to move him and a host of other factors as well.

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This is a similar package to the one proposed by NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, except we added in an exchange of mid-round selections. This was simply because the value of a draft pick depreciates the farther into the future you go.

A 2023 first-round pick isn’t nearly as valuable as a 2021 or 2022 first-round pick. As such, the Jets throw in the 2021 third-round pick they received from Seattle in the Adams deal and receive a 2022 fifth-rounder in return.

Would Houston take this deal? Perhaps, it will all depend on how Watson’s market develops. But this is about as fair of a deal as you’re going to get all things considered.

Next: 2. The Sam Darnold package

NY Jets, Deshaun Watson Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

2. Second potential NY Jets trade package for Deshaun Watson:

The odds are that if the Texans agree to send Watson to New York, they’ll use the No. 2 overall pick they receive in return to select their next quarterback. But that isn’t the only way this needs to go down.

What if the Texans aren’t in love with any of the QB prospects in this year’s class? After all, you’d have to imagine they didn’t do as much work on the likes of Justin Fields and Zach Wilson as many other teams might have.

And what if they see Jets quarterback Sam Darnold as a possible replacement for Watson? It would be a gamble, for sure, but it’s a scenario worth exploring.

If we value Darnold at roughly a 2021 second-round pick (his rumored market value), we could project a fair trade using the former USC star as an additional asset.

In this case, the Jets send their 2021 first along with their 2022 first-round pick as well as Darnold and their 2021 second-round pick. That’s no ordinary second-round pick, however, as it’s slotted No. 34 overall in the entire draft.

Essentially, the Texans would be receiving picks 2 and 34 in 2021, Darnold, and the Jets’ first-round pick the following year. We could equate the price of Darnold and the 34th overall pick roughly to a first-round selection.

In turn, the value roughly translates to Watson in exchange for three first-round picks, which is the basis for all three of these trade packages.

For the Jets, this is a no brainer. You essentially trade Watson for two first-round picks and a high second-round pick seeing as though Darnold would be an afterthought from the Jets’ point of view.

This only works if Houston still believes in Darnold, but it’s definitely a deal the Jets should consider exploring if the opportunity presents itself.

Next: 3. Backloading the draft capital

NY Jets, Deshaun Watson Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

3. Third potential NY Jets trade package for Deshaun Watson:

There’s nothing fancy about this deal. Just Deshaun Watson for three first-round picks.

The Jets will give up three of their four first-round picks over the next two years, but they retain not only the 23rd selection in this year’s draft, but the 34th. That would still leave them with four picks inside the top-90 in 2021.

Their 2022 draft capital will be decimated, but they won’t mortgage away any additional 2023 draft capital and, most importantly, they’ll have a superstar quarterback at age 25.

This trade package likely makes the most sense for the Texans. This will give them the No. 2 overall pick in 2021 which they could use to replace Watson or even use to trade down and stockpile some much-needed draft capital.

And in 2022, they’ll now be owners of three first-round picks which they could use to fully rebuild their franchise. Obviously, this isn’t something they’d want to do. You don’t willingly trade away the best thing to ever happen to your franchise.

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But Watson might force their hand. Or more realistically speaking, they will have forced their own hand.

And for the Jets, it’s simple. Draft picks are lottery tickets. The higher the pick, the better your odds of winning, but even the “winners” rarely get a player like Watson.

The Jets have been searching for a “Deshaun Watson” for close to half a century. It doesn’t matter the price, you pay it.

This is a package that makes sense for both parties involved and might just be the likeliest of the three. At the very least, it’s certainly the most straight-forward.

Will Deshaun Watson end up playing for the Jets in 2021? It remains unlikely.

But the NFL is a crazy world. And sometimes, it takes a crazy mind to live in a crazy world.