New Orleans Saints should do whatever it takes to get Deshaun Watson

The New Orleans Saints could replace Drew Brees with Deshaun Watson and be set for the next decade.

While the New Orleans Saints have their sights set on the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card round this weekend, the news of Deshaun Watson potentially wanting out of Houston had to have piqued their interest. The Texans are looking to rebuild and if Watson is serious about wanting to be traded, there might not be a better option for him than the Saints.

The Saints would clearly be interested in Watson too, as Drew Brees might be playing his final game(s) in the playoffs. Brees is 41 and after back-to-back seasons where he’s gotten hurt and had to miss games, retirement makes sense. Sean Payton has been vocal about believing in Taysom Hill as the team’s next quarterback, but even he’d have to recognize how good Watson could be for this team moving forward.

Trading for Watson would mean that the Saints would go from having a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Brees to another potential Hall of Fame quarterback in Watson. It’s still early in Watson’s career, but the Texans have certainly held him back to this point. The Saints have a lot more to offer him, but trading for him wouldn’t be an easy feat.

The New Orleans Saints are in salary-cap hell, making a trade for Deshaun Watson very difficult.

The Saints have big contracts tied up with Demario Davis, Alvin Kamara, and Michael Thomas and also need to look to see if they can keep Trey Hendrickson and Marcus Williams this offseason as well. The lack of draft picks this year also makes negotiating pretty tough too, as the Texans are going to want draft compensation in exchange for their franchise signal-caller.

If New Orleans did decide to throw their hat into the ring when it comes to landing Watson, they’ll be looking at a similar deal to what former Saints coach Mike Ditka pulled off prior to the 1999 NFL Draft. Ditka surrendered all of the Saints’ draft picks to Washington in order to draft running back Ricky Williams. Even that might not be enough for New Orleans to land Watson due to their lack of draft picks.

Watson would give the Saints their next franchise quarterback and they’d be an instant Super Bowl contender with him in the Big Easy. Pairing him with Sean Payton would be unfair to the rest of the league and it’d be a match made in heaven. The Saints would be set-up to succeed for a very long time with Watson at the helm.

At the end of the day, though, it’s fun to envision Deshaun Watson in a Saints uniform throwing passes to Thomas and handing the ball off to Kamara, but if New Orleans wants this to be a reality, it’d take a LOT to get it done.