If Woody Johnson craved a 38-year-old Brett Favre, as he did when Chad Pennington was abandoned before the 2008 season, you better think he’d want to shine with Deshaun Watson now that Johnson is coming back.
Watson is a top five-year-old defender who is only 25 years old and is an instant box office for anytime the day comes with pity, on which MetLife Stadium can be packed again with those long-suffering fans. And suffering Jets fans, too.
Jets General Joe Douglas has the capital project and the attraction of New York City Bleeping City to seduce Watson now that he has found out he wants to leave Houston.
It’s a two-way sales attack for Douglas and the Jets:
Make an offer to the Texans that I can’t refuse.
Sell Watson why the Jets are the most desirable landing point for the early years of his career.
Here’s how:
The Jets did not make the playoffs in the 2010 season. The franchise was a real graveyard for the franchise’s defenders. Douglas doesn’t need to refer to that.
But it may remind Watson that there is no better place to win than New York City, even if the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center is in Florham Park. NJ And, by the way, it’s a wonderful facility.
Watson is not one to shy away from expectations that he will be the Savior of the Jets.
Watson’s championship days at Clemson tell us in uncertain terms that he loves bright lights and the big stage, as Michael Jordan once did. The Jets were one of the teams that didn’t listen to Clemson’s coach, Dabo Swinney, when he likened Watson to MJ, while drafting Jamal Adams because then-GM Mike Maccagnan thought Christian Hackenberg would in Jordan. But Douglas can take a clue from Mark McGwire – he’s not here to talk about the past.
Instead, he’ll talk about Robert Saleh. Watson would like Saleh; all he has to do is ask Richard Sherman if he hasn’t already. If anyone is a guy without gas, without brakes, it’s Deshaun Watson.
Saleh also has an important branch of the Kyle Shanahan tree in offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur. Watson would flourish in his offense.
Douglas has $ 63,475,814 in space, according to overthecap.com, and will be a free agent for a No. 1 receiver (Allen Robinson, Chris Godwin) teamed with Denzel Mims and Jamison Crowder. Playmakers and Protectors will find it.
Watson’s blindfold would be protected by Man Mountain Mekhi Becton, who could remind Watson of Laremy Tunsil, his left attack in Houston.
Douglas can promote the culture he started building – not IK Enemkpali, so no reason for Watson to be afraid of someone breaking his jaw in the locker room.
If Joe Namath could appear once in a sticky commercial, the sky would be the limit for Watson in the field of approval.
Douglas should call Namath and ask him to send the team and the city to Watson.
And now for the other side of Texans in two steps:
Douglas must be willing to deal with at least three draft picks in the first round: the second general election and the 23rd pick in 2021 and the Jets pick in 2022, which will almost certainly be a more appreciated pick than the one he they received it from the Seahawks in the Adams agreement. Douglas can sweeten the pot of autographed copies of Namath’s latest book: “All the Way: My Life in Four Quarters.”
Nick Caserio, the new Texan manager, could then recruit Zach Wilson, Justin Fields or Trey Lance with the second general election.
Douglas can recover some draft capital – no less than a second-round pick – by trading Sam Darnold to one of the defender’s many desperate teams: Bears, Lions, Panthers, Colts, Washington Football Team, Steelers, Saints, maybe Rams , maybe even Jon Gruden Raiders, but not the Patriots, thank you very much.
“He’s an incredible talent,” Saleh said of Darnold on the Huddle and Flow podcast.
A win-win statement from Saleh. Darnold would obviously benefit from the change of coach, but he could also benefit from a change of scenery. Saleh talks to him if the Jets plan to trade him is a smart deal. It is a smart business to express faith in him and build trust at the same time.
Any transaction would leave Douglas with a second and second rounders in 2021, a first rounder in 2022 and a second and a third, plus anything he could bring to Darnold.
Douglas may have to avoid the Dolphins if he decides to cross the Tua Tagovailoa, and Watson would like the fact that there are no state taxes in Florida.
In 1997, the Jets traded the first, second, third, and fourth-round picks to the Patriots for what turned out to be three years of Bill Parcells on the sidelines.
Watson, Sept. 26, would give the Jets the best player from Curtis Martin, the best Broadway defender Joe.
If the push comes to push and he is forced to hand over that fourth first round – probably in the 20s – Douglas should swallow hard and do it, while insisting on a second or third rounder as part of transaction. Deshaun Watson makes everyone around him better and changes the perception of the organization. And it would be an invaluable recruitment tool for Saleh, because players across the league will want to play with him.
For besieged planes, it would be the dawn of a new day. Or Deshaun of a new day. It’s elementary, my dear Douglas.