The Eagles offseason has already been aa crazy one with former franchise quarterback Carson Wentz shipped off to the Indianapolis Colts.
Is it about to get a whole lot crazier when the new league year kicks off Wednesday at 4 p.m.?
According to CBS Sports’ NFL Insider Jason LaCanfora, the Eagles should be viewed as a ‘strong suitor’ to make a deal for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, and it sounds like owner Jeffrey Lurie’s desire to make it happen might be the main reason why.
LaCanfora writes:
The Eagles are always among the most aggressive exploring trades, and general manager Howie Roseman is as willing a dealmaker as there is in the NFL. Blockbuster trades are a particular specialty, including unconventional deals (i.e. the Carson Wentz trades they have pulled off). Some in the Eagles brass would try to poo-poo the idea of their interest by noting there must be about 30 teams paying close attention to this situation, but my sense is this is much more than an idea on the periphery; I get the sense this is something ownership and management would very much like to make happen.
"I hear that it is very much at the ownership level," as one league source put it.
"No action for the Eagles," one GM said. "It has to be killing them."
Another GM said: "Would Howie trading for Watson surprise me? No. Now that you mention it.
So is a Watson-to-Eagles deal actually possible?
Financially it 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.
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.
If Lurie wants Watson, chances are the Eagles will pull off the deal to make it happen — 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 2022 and 2023 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 they also might not be as crazy as you think.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!