Trades we'd like to see: Texans send J.J. Watt to Packers
As the NFL's trading deadline -- Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. ET -- approaches, we propose five explosive, albeit unlikely, possible deals.
Proposed trade No. 2:
Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt to Green Bay Packers for No. 1 draft choices in 2016, 2017 and a provisional 2018 pick
If J.J. Watt chopped down a tree in the forest, would it make a sound?
It sure would in Green Bay, where the Texans' defensive end could put the Packers over the top for the foreseeable future. If that hard-working Verizon 4G network were a man, the commercial goes, it would be Watt, a world-class whacker of quarterbacks.
OK, we know this is patently ridiculous but, hey, you clicked on it -- so here's the scenario:
Packers general manager Ted Thompson, it's true, loves draft choices the way kids love sugar. But ... what if the opportunity arose to place the game's best defensive player in the vicinity of linebacker Clay Matthews? Well, it just did.
The immortal Brett Favre won one Super Bowl in Green Bay, a number equaled five years ago by Aaron Rodgers. With all due respect to Tom Brady, Rodgers might be the best quarterback in the league. He turns 32 in December and the Packers feel as if they can help him deliver a few more titles while he's still in the thick of his prime.
In Watt's four-plus seasons, the Texans have gone from a playoff team to the league's worst. The record over the past three years is a soggy 13-26. Watt, an exceedingly proud Wisconsin native, jumps at the chance to return home and win a championship or two or three. You have to admit, he would be a perfect, old-school, blood-and-guts Packer.
Houston is 2-5, one game behind the Indianapolis Colts in the dicey AFC South. The Texans understand the Packers' three first-rounders will not be of the highest order, but we would remind you that Rodgers himself was a No. 24 overall pick. With some shrewd scouting, they can cobble some combination of those picks together and secure the elite quarterback the franchise has been missing. As great as Watt is, he's worth only a middle-of-the-pack quarterback. If you're a baseball fan, you know WAR. Well, a QB is like calculating WAR for a pitcher -- except that QB starts every day. Rodgers is Clayton Kershaw ... if Kershaw started every day.
"Hmm," said one NFL general manager confronted with the trade. "If I could somehow turn those picks into the No. 1 overall pick and I had a [college quarterback] I liked, I'd roll the dice."
Here, then, is an opportunity for Houston to completely start over and rid itself of what will become an increasingly prohibitive contract. Watt signed a six-year deal in 2014 worth $100 million, nearly $52 million of it guaranteed. The hit this year: almost $14 million.
The Packers currently are $12.6 million under the cap, which puts them in good position to make this deal. Going forward, Rodgers -- who, like Brady, can afford to place his legacy ahead of salary -- takes a page from Brady and signs a team-friendly, long-term deal. He knows a nasty defense is his best chance for securing more jewelry.
Don't laugh. In 1993, the Packers signed Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White as a free agent, and he proved to be the piece that eventually helped bring home another championship.
