3 reasons to be careful about changing Deshaun Watson

The 2020 NFL season has ended and the NY Jets have one of, if not The The most open defender is empty to fill the off-season for any team in the league. And to this day it is not clear who will be the defender of the Jets in 2021.

Will he remain like Sam Darnold? Darnold is my guy, because those of you who know me already learned this season on my first spell with Jet Press.

After they won their first game against the Los Angeles Rams and indirectly lost choice # 1 to Jacksonville, I came here and asked a question about what to do in the future with alleged choice # 2, instead of the main account.

Now that they were out of the Trevor Lawrence race, it would be a Darnold battle against Justin Fields from Ohio or for which I warned that Fields was far from a finished product, and perhaps keeping Darnold was not the worst thing in the world. .

Then the Sugar Bowl took place and Justin Fields went beyond brilliant, and even more importantly, “resilient” by defeating a Clemson team that defeated him the previous year in a similar position.

The same Clemson team with general consensus No. 1 chose Trevor Lawrence as captain, who also had a coach indifferently calling the Buckeyes.

From then on, without a new coach yet, the Jets ‘job seemed to be Fields’ and I didn’t blame the Jets at all for potentially following this 100% enthusiastic route.

Fields is a project, but if they were to put it together with an excellent experienced / offensive defender coach like Brian Daboll or even his own Ohio Day Ryan Day, Fields would be in great shape, just like the Jets moving forward .

Then the Jets signed Robert Saleh, going in the opposite direction that they had been doing for the past few seasons with Adam Gase.

And suddenly, the tone began to change from a potentially reconstructive team that would almost certainly start again as a defender to a defensive-oriented team that a veteran defender could fit in well.

At the same time, avenues started to open up, with Deshaun Watson not being happy with the Texans. Zach Wilson, outside BYU, also started to gain momentum in his draft stock.

Trevor Lawrence underwent shoulder surgery. Detroit Lions were buying heavily at Matthew Stafford. And even the Seahawks suggested the idea of ​​negotiating with Russell Wilson.

With the exception of Stafford, who is now in Los Angeles with the Rams, at this very moment, the board is open as to who exactly will be the Jets defender next year.

They can go back to Sam Darnold. They can take Justin Fields or Zach Wilson in the draft. Watson or Wilson could find themselves on the cut-off block as complete trade cards.

I wouldn’t even put it aside for Urban Meyer to try to outthink the room and spend it on Trevor Lawrence after his lackluster display at Sugar Bowl and shoulder surgery – presenting him with the Jets, of course, which would be fantastic for this franchise.

For some strange reason, I feel like Meyer is going to do something crazy with choice # 1.

But regardless, the biggest name on the market right now is Deshaun Watson and it is rumored that the Jets are a team that the 25-year-old considers very desirable. He likes Robert Saleh and is looking forward to leaving a very dysfunctional Houston Texans organization.

Now, this is where I can miss you so much.

I think the Jets need to be very careful when entering into a relationship with Deshaun Watson and I am not feeling that he is a Jet.

Here is my initial position on Deshaun Watson. The guy is absolutely fantastic. He brings to the table something that only some defenders of this league are endowed with: the ability to make plays from scratch and always keep your team competitive.

This is the way Aaron Rodgers used to play before Matt LaFleur came to Green Bay and resurrected his career, making him more of a cog than a highlight.

That’s how Drew Brees used to play with the Saints before they started to acquire some real talent and start their NFC South title race.

They were historically bad, so Brees beat them in the Super Bowl against Peyton Manning, so they were bad again and Brees accumulated numbers at the time of trash, now they are an eternal NFC contender.

That’s how Russell Wilson continues to play. From terrible offensive lines to fraudulent defenses, Wilson has consistently been the heart of the pre and post-Boom Seattle Seahawks.

And without it, Seattle would never have a playoff appearance, let alone a Super Bowl title. I will return to Wilson at the end of this article.

Watson clearly falls into the category of these defenders with his ability to create pieces from nothing with mere garden furniture around him as a supporting cast. The way he orchestrates an attack in a kind of “backyard football” style of play is to be amazed.

This year was an excellent example. Texans were one of the worst teams in football, but Watson remained one of the best defenders and presented some of the most impressive statistics.

Yes, yes, yes – Patrick Mahomes that. Aaron Rodgers that. Josh Allen was great and Tom Brady won the Super Bowl. But look where Watson stacked up:

• Pass yards? 1st with 4,823.
• Completion percentage? 3rd with 70 percent behind Rodgers and Drew.
• Passer evaluation? Second among the qualified, with 112.4, behind Rodgers only.

How Watson didn’t make it into the top two in the QBR this year is a mystery, but at this point in his career, there is no doubt that the former Clemson standout is one of the top five NFL quarterbacks.

So, what’s my problem with it?

1. Deshaun Watson’s health should be a concern for New York Jets

The first is probably the weakest argument of the three, but Watson’s health needs to be taken seriously.

Yes, he is an elite quarterback, but so was Andrew Luck and we saw how the strikes he received thanks to a failure to put a decent offensive line around him affected his future in this league.

Up to this point, Watson has taken 174 sacks in 54 games – three sacks per game and almost 50 per season (Watson has played 3.5 seasons technically).

The Texans drew with the second highest number of sacks allowed this year, with 50 and continue to lead the league in that category, with no signs of improvement in sight.

Successes pile up, folks. I know that football is an increasingly friendly game for defenders and attacking players, but there is a reason why the life expectancy (in terms of career) of an NFL running back is about 2.5 years.

You can’t take too many hits and taking so many at just 25 years old is alarming, to say the least, for a star quarterback who, I’m sure, is looking forward to at least another 10 years of service.

Do the Jets really want this? How will the future of your franchise? All that money that comes with it and you have no idea what his last hit will be?

But perhaps that is not a sufficient reason.