Initially, I was against the idea of the 49ers negotiating with Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The deal would cost 49ers at least three choices in the first round and probably six in total, not to mention all the money Watson would cost 49ers. He signed a four-year extension, $ 160 million in September. It is extremely expensive.
But technically, that extension won’t be applied until 2022. Which means Watson won’t technically make much money by 2021 by NFL superstar quarterback standards. So if 49ers were to trade for him, they would have to pay him “only” $ 10.94 million in 2021, or about 6% of his salary cap.
A great bargain.
So I changed my mind. Here’s what I would do if I were the general manager of 49ers:
I would cut Jimmy Garoppolo and create $ 24 million in cap space. So I would trade whatever it takes to get Watson to be able to pay him $ 10.94 million next season. And with the money I saved, it would improve the offensive line. And maybe the 49ers would win the Super Bowl. They had an incredible chance.
And then, in 2022, when Watson would be scheduled to earn $ 35 million and occupy more than 15% of the 49ers limit, I would trade it in and recover all the draft capital I gave up to get it.
Watson would be a one-year lease.
Seems crazy?
What is crazier would be to pay him 15 percent of the space on the 49ers cap. Because no quarterback in the history of the free agency won a Super Bowl while occupying more than 13.1 percent of his team’s limit.
A player should never occupy 15 percent of a team’s maximum space, no matter how good that player is. And Watson is not even the best defender in the league. He’s at the limit of the top five.
So, rent your services for a season and then send them out of town. He would be a phenomenal one-year solution as a defender.