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Interestingly, JJ Watt’s departure from the Texans did not include a press conference. Watt probably didn’t want one.
Instead, owner Cal McNair called several members of the media and apparently read discussion points or note cards about the decision to release Watt – and the decision (for now) to keep Deshaun Watson.
Reporters, as far as we can tell, who received a call from Cal include Peter King of NBC Sports, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, Ian Rapoport of NFL, Albert Breer of SI.com, John McClain of Houston Chronicle and Aaron Reiss of TheAthletic .with.
McNair’s message to most, if not all, reporters included that “there was a lot of misinformation” about Watson, and that McNair expects Watson to be a member of the Texans.
What is the misinformation? All we know for the time being is that Watson asked to be negotiated, that Watson made all efforts to contact him, that GM Nick Caserio did not draw a line in the sand when addressing the situation during the press conference introducing Coach David Culley, and that Texans have been trying to create the impression that there is a line in the sand.
Again, what is the misinformation? Why not say that? Why not correct the record instead of painting awkwardly with a wide brush that someone misunderstood?
The fact that McNair essentially had a loose script for his various phone calls reminded me of McNair’s radio interview in July 2019, which led a host of the Texans’ main station to criticize McNair for reading business cliches of a prepared text.
“Did anyone understand a word that Cal McNair just said?” Matt Jareck said at the time. “I had to hear it 20 times in a row to find out what he meant. . . And by the way, you can tell that he is reading this on a card. . . . It is a classic RP. . . Add a statement that means nothing. “
It appears there were even more public relations on display three days ago, when McNair tried to bow to the Watt era while following the party line with Watson.
To sum up, there is a lot of misinformation out there, Texans don’t tell anyone what it is and expect Watson to remain a member of Texans.
Here’s what I hope: Texans will continue to exhibit, in the future, the same dysfunction that brought them to the point where their franchise quarterback wants to leave. If I’m wrong about this, call me, Cal.