Earlier this week a report linking the Eagles as a potential serious suitor to land Deshaun Watson in a trade was met with plenty of skepticism by the fanbase.
Now, another report is linking the Eagles to the 25-year old franchise quarterback.
In an article explaining the Eagles options at quarterback, Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reports that “two independent NFL sources” confirmed what CBS Sports’ Jason LaCanfora reported earlier in the week. McLane says specifically that the Eagles :”recently inquired” with Texans about trading for Watson.
Where there is smoke there is fire, and after not being linked to Watson at all previously, the smoke is starting to build.
Speaking Thursday to reporters, neither Eagles general manager Howie Roseman or head coach Nick Sirianni would say that Jalen Hurts is their starting quarterback.
Roseman also said the team would be exploring all options when it came to adding another quarterback to the roster.
“We want to have a really strong quarterback room. We feel like we have incredible coaches on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball who can maximize quarterback play,” Roseman said. “We’re going to look at the free agent market, the trade market, and we're certainly going to look at the draft to try to strengthen that position.”
Whether they land Watson or not, the fact they are checking in on Watson can certainly be viewed as not having a super-strong belief in Hurts. If they really felt that Hurts can be their starter, why trade away a large set of assets and pay Watson big money?
Assuming the reports are true, the Eagles exploring the trade of Watson also seems to make the chances they trade a quarterback at No. 6 go up, as it indicates they are looking to make a big move at the position.
So is trading for Watson, and not going with Hurts, an actual possibility?
Financially a deal for Watson would be tough to pull off, but is possible. Watson has a base salary of $10.5 million in 2021. The Eagles don’t have much cap space as of right now, but could very easily open the money needed to acquire Watson in a few different ways. They could trade Derek Barnett to open the $10 million. They could trade Zach Ertz to open around $5 million. They could restructure the contracts of Lane Johnson or Fletcher Cox to open up a huge amount of space, potentially as much has $15-20 million combined if they wanted.
The Eagles have plenty of cap space in the 2022 season and beyond, when Watson’s salary jumps to $35 million in 2022 and then back down to $20 million in 2023. They could also re-do Watson’s deal in a trade, something the quarterback would likely welcome considering he is trying to get out of Houston.
Any potential trade would also require the Eagles to look into the recent sexual assault allegations against Watson, something it appears the NFL has now decided to look into. Watson has strongly denied the allegations. The Eagles would have to feel comfortable trading for Watson if they were going to trade the assets it would take to him their new franchise quarterback.
Would Jalen Hurts stop them from doing a deal? A report emerged earlier this offseason that Lurie wanted to build around Hurts, but that would seem to conflict with this report, which states ownership might be the driving force behind making a deal happen. It is pretty simple — if the Eagles believe in Hurts, they will not trade for Watson. If they don’t, then they have a massive need at quarterback, and Watson is obviously a great solution if they can pull it off.
The possibility of Hurts being Watson’s backup also shouldn’t be ruled out. The Eagles drafted Hurts last year to be Wentz’s backup. It is unlikely they would get much more than the 2nd-round pick they used to draft him last season. If they are able to trade for Watson, and the Texans don’t want Hurts, Hurts staying on the roster and being the backup is possible — as crazy as it would be.
The bottom line is if Lurie wants Watson, chances are the Eagles will try everything they can to pull off the deal — they have the money, they would have the need (if they don’t believe in Hurts) and they have the draft capital with the No. 6 overall pick in this year’s draft and potentially two first-round picks in 2022.
Watson is just 25-years old, and if the Eagles can trade for him while only missing first-round picks in the 2021 and 2022 draft, trading away three first-round picks for Watson can certainly be justified.
So will a deal get done?
The chances have to be considered not very high — but the more reports emerge, the chances seem to go up.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!