After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Texans, Deshaun Watson has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to return to Houston for a fifth. If the Texans were hoping that new coach David Culley might be able to change his mind, that hope has now been thrown out the window.
According to ESPN.com, Watson finally met with Culley remotely last Friday and in that meeting, the 25-year-old quarterback apparently made two things clear: He still wants to be traded and he doesn't plan on playing for the Texans again. In news that may or may not be related, Watson shot out this tweet on Thursday.
Loyalty is everything. Don't you EVER forget it.
— Deshaun Watson (@deshaunwatson) February 25, 2021
There was a report in January that suggested Watson was going to want out of Houston no matter who got hired as the team's coach and that appears to be the case.
Culley was hired by the Texans on Jan. 27 and then waited nearly three weeks before he met with Watson for the first time, so there's a chance he was hoping that things would have simmered down by then, but clearly, that's not the case, which means Watson and the team are now headed for a Texas-sized standoff.
Despite the fact that Watson's trade demands have been known for more than a month, the Texans have been insisting that a trade isn't going to happen. New general manager Nick Caserio said in early February that the team has "zero interest" in trading Watson.
According to NFL.com, Houston won't even return calls about a potential Watson deal and because of that, other teams have now resorted to leaving voice mails for the Texans in hopes that their trade offer gets through to someone in the organization.
The Texans probably should think about answering those calls soon, because the fact of the matter is that they might not have a choice when it comes to making a trade. If Watson refuses to play this season -- and it doesn't sound like he's planning to wear a Texans uniform ever again -- then it makes sense for Houston to trade him and get whatever compensation they can in return.
Of course, even with a trade, the Texans are kind of limited in what they can do and that's because Watson has a no-trade clause, which means they're going to have to send him somewhere that he wants to go.
So where does Watson want to land? According to one recent report, Watson is intrigued by the 49ers and Broncos (Watson's former teammate Kareem Jackson has been trying to get the quarterback to Denver). Watson would also potentially be interested in a trade to either the Dolphins or Jets.
Even if Watson doesn't end up with one of those four teams, he's still likely going to get traded and if you want to check out a list of 13 possible landing spots for the Texans quarterback, be sure to click here.
