Should Panthers try to trade for Deshaun Watson? Former Carolina GM weighs in
If Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson really did become available via trade — and there are reports that he’s upset with team management — the Carolina Panthers should absolutely go get him.
That would be my opinion anyway.
How often does a healthy, 25-year-old franchise quarterback come available? You trade for the former Clemson star, no matter the cost in players, draft picks and salary cap, and suddenly your QB problem is solved. Then you rebuild the rest of the team around him.
But I wanted a much more informed opinion than mine. So I called Bill Polian, the Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager who was a six-time NFL Executive of the Year — including for the first two years of the Carolina Panthers’ existence, in 1995 and 1996.
Polian, 78, lives in the Lake Norman area and remains active in all sorts of football business. He recently launched an excellent new podcast — Inside Football with Bill Polian — and also appears regularly on Sirius XM.
Long one of the smartest men in football and an executive who took both Buffalo and Indianapolis to the Super Bowl, Polian gave answers to my Watson questions that were a lot more nuanced than the hot takes voiced by all the sports media screamers.
Polian also evaluated Teddy Bridgewater for me. And he spoke about the trade the Panthers tried to execute with him in 1998, when Polian had just started running the Indianapolis Colts.
Carolina offered quarterback Kerry Collins, wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad and a bushel of draft picks to Polian in return for the No. 1 overall pick in that draft. The Panthers wanted to pick Peyton Manning, and how differently would the Panthers’ history have been if Polian had taken that deal in ‘98?
Here are excerpts from our conversation. (Questions and answers are edited for clarity and brevity.)
Scott Fowler: Should the Panthers look at trading for Deshaun Watson, if he were available?
Bill Polian: Let me answer it generically, because I don’t want to farm another man’s land. In a generic situation, if you need a quarterback, your position is: ‘I’m turning over every rock I possibly can and looking at every scenario I possibly can to make sure that I’ve done everything I possibly can to find a quarterback.’
SF: So if you’re the new Panthers GM, whomever that turns out to be, you would have to at least explore the possibility?
BP: You have to determine who’s out there. And if there’s a guy who might be able to get you to the promised land, you have to say, ‘OK, what do I have to do?’ And that means you determine what it is you’re willing to pay, knowing full well as you talk to your owner — because the owner has to be involved in a marquee player deal like this would be — that it is going to be a stupendous price. (Watson signed a four-year, $156-million contract extension in September. He had 33 TDs and only seven interceptions for the Texans in 2020, but the team was terrible otherwise and went 4-12).
If you are a team that’s looking for a QB, though, you look hard — every single minute of every single day. And you can’t afford to say, ‘Well, no, the price will be too high’ or ‘No, they won’t trade him’ or ‘No, this guy’s not available.’ You’ve got to turn over every rock, because you never know.
SF: What would be your guess as to whether Watson is actually traded anywhere?
BP: I suspect there is no willingness (on Houston’s part). My first guess — and it’s only a guess — is that they’re going to sit down and talk with (Watson) and see if they can’t get it straight. If I were a betting man, and you know that I’m not, I’d take ‘No trade.’
SF: If this goes further down the road though, Watson reportedly would have to consent to any trade, meaning he would have a big say in where he went.
BP: Again, speaking generically about any high-level player, that changes the whole process completely. The agent will say: ‘Here’s a list of teams that we want to go to.’ And my response would be: ‘OK. You’ve got to consent to the trade, but we’ve got to agree to trade you. So we’re not going to trade you.’
Then, having established some leverage, we could have a discussion about a very small number of teams you’re adamantly opposed to going to and why. If you want to be traded, you give us the widest possible number of teams that we can talk to. That’s the professional way.
Should Teddy Bridgewater be replaced?
SF: To even consider getting involved in this hypothetical deal, the Panthers would first have to decide how badly they want to replace Teddy Bridgewater. What was your evaluation of Bridgewater’s first year as Panthers QB in 2020?
BP: First of all, I’m a Teddy fan. Think he’s tremendously tough. I think he’s a good leader. I think his arm is good enough. He sees things well. Pretty unflappable.
The worry for me is that he’s not a transcendent talent. He can’t beat you on his ability alone. He has to have really good people around him to do that. So he’s one level down from (Patrick) Mahomes and Josh Allen and Drew (Brees) and those kinds of people.
SF: Would you put Deshaun Watson in that top-tier ‘transcendent talent’ category?
BP: Oh, yes. He can beat you with his own ability. His legs. His arms. All of that.
SF: Any other concerns about Bridgewater?
BP: My only real reservation is, ‘Can he stay healthy?’ Because the most important ability is availability. Teddy can win at the highest level — he proved that in New Orleans and Minnesota.
He can win for you in the National Football League, with a good team around him. My only reservation is injury. I feel terrible for what he went through in Minnesota. And he got nicked up a little bit this year. But he is a good quarterback.
SF: So you would rate the Panthers more or less in the middle of all NFL teams at the QB position?
BP: They’re sort of in the middle. That’s exactly right.
A Panthers trade for Peyton Manning?
SF: Speaking of trades, in 1998 you had left Carolina and were holding the first pick with the Indianapolis Colts.
Jerry Richardson, who then owned the Panthers, told The Charlotte Observer years ago that the team offered quarterback Kerry Collins, wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad and a bushel of high draft picks to get that pick from you. The Panthers had in mind drafting Peyton Manning at No. 1, which you did instead.
Is it true that the Panthers tried hard to get that pick?
BP: Yes. They offered a lot for it, that’s true. I don’t remember exactly, but that sounds close. We had a lot of offers. But we decided that we weren’t trading the pick.
SF: Lastly, we haven’t spoken since the death of your fellow Hall of Famer Kevin Greene in December, at age 58. You brought Greene to Charlotte as a free agent in 1996 to play outside linebacker. What are your memories of Kevin as a player?
BP: Dom (Capers, the Panthers’ coach at the time) loved him, as did I. So trying to acquire him as our No. 1 free agent target was a no-brainer.
Kevin was critical to making our defense as good as it was. And when he left (in 1997, in a contract dispute), we never replaced it.
The example Kevin showed, because he was so undersized — it just lifted everyone. People often talk about quarterbacks this way, but there are defenders that can also fit the mold. They make everybody around them better because of their talent, and most importantly because of their competitiveness, and work ethic, and leadership and indomitable spirit. And that’s what he was.
And when he left, we lost all of that. What was a great defense became mediocre. Immediately.
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 3:14 PM.
