Instead of the stars being big and bright in Texas, they all appear to want out of the city. On the heels of the dramatic departure of Houston Rockets star player James Harden forcing his way out of Houston, it appears that a storm is brewing in the Texans camp that might result in Deshaun Watson wanting out of the city too. The relationship between Watson and the Texans seemed to have splintered during the season and has become fully fractured as reports are surfacing that he is out of communication with the team. The root of Watson’s displeasure appears to be Cal McNair falling short on his promise to include him in the moves they are making so real change can occur. The Texans have a history of not treating their star players with the appropriate consideration as well as some deep rooted issues of insensitivity towards the plight of black players as they become more vocal about the injustices they face off of the field.
It was four short months ago when Watson signed an extension that kept him with the Texans for four years valued at $156 million dollars. After having arguably one of his best seasons on a losing team, Watson was frustrated. Watson is one of four QBs that completed 70% of passes over the course of the season. That is such a rare stat that the other QBs who share that statistic have all won a Superbowls with that passing average. Sadly, Watson didn’t get a superbowl win. Instead, he got a 4-12 record, and an apology from defensive player JJ Watt after the last game of the season. The owner of the team, Cal McNair, quelled Watson’s frustrations by promising him a voice in the team’s search for new personnel.
That promise quickly fell through as Watson’s input was not considered as the General Manager position was filled while he was out of town. Beyond excluding Watson from the GM decision-making in the hiring of Nick Caserio, the franchise also bypassed certain processes. This caused further speculation as to whether McNair’s promise of transparency with Watson was simply for show. Jack Easterby, the VP of football operations and former team chaplain appears to have accompanied McNair to meet with Caserio. This directly countered the denial of Easterby being involved in the hiring process. McNair put out a statement saying, “…that Jack is not on our internal search committee for the next GM or Head Coach.”
When former Texans Star Andre Johnson got wind of Easterby’s involvement he tweeted out, “If I’m @deshaunwatson I will stand my ground. The Texans organization is known for wasting players careers. Since Jack Easterby has walked into the building nothing good has happened in/for the organization and for some reason someone can’t seem to see what’s going on. Pathetic!!!”
Watson has been active on social media and on Friday the 15th he tweeted out, “I was on 2 then I took it to 10.” This cryptic tweet was in reference to his anger level as described by Adam Schefter who previously cited Watson’s anger level post DeAndre Hopkins off-season trade.
Things are continuing to heat up as Watson had to intervene with what appeared to be a protest that was being planned in his name. He took to Twitter on Monday saying, “I’m hearing there is a march planned on my behalf in Houston today. Although I am humbled I ask that whoever is organizing the march cancel for the sake of public safety. COVID is spreading at a high rate & I don’t want any fans to unnecessarily expose themselves to infection.”
A small group still showed up in support for Watson anyway.
While he hasn’t come out and said publicly that he wants a trade, according to sources things may already be beyond repair. Communication appears to be down and sources are claiming that things are much worse than what is being reported.