According to sources on ESPN, the Atlanta Falcons emerged as a team in pursuit of Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, as Matt Ryan’s potential replacement. The reason why they want Watson is that he is ranked No. 4 quarterback in the league.
The Falcons come with a line of other teams, such as the Carolina Panthers, the New Orleans Saints and the Cleveland Browns as teams that have either met Watson or are interested in dealing with other players for Watson.
“All options are open, but it will not be easy,” a Falcons source said of a potential Watson trade.
Another source described the Falcons as a “long shot” for landing Watson. However, the team still has not met with Watson. With that said, they still have the potential to meet Watson in person and try to persuade him to join the Falcons.
The Falcons, up to this point, are committed to veteran quarterback Matt Ryan. Falcons owner Arthur Blank talked about finding Ryan’s successor and putting the future of the franchise back. This task was given to second-year general manager Terry Fontenot and Falcons head coach Arthur Smith.
The Falcons were told that Ryan had restructured his contract, cutting his salary limit this year from $ 48.7 million to $ 36.7 million. However, there is still no official agreement and nothing has been submitted to the NFL. If the Falcons trade Ryan after June 1, they could free up about $ 8.75 million worth of salary cap space. If Atlanta gets Watson, they can start using Watson as Ryan’s replacement.
Watson has already met with several other teams and is said to have impressed with the Panthers, Saints and Browns. Each team that was in discussions with Watson was also in simultaneous talks with the Houston Texans. Trade compensation is not expected to stop potential trading because parameters of each trade involving the quarterback are already in place.
The last piece of any potential trade would be Watson agreeing to waive his no-trade clause so he could be transferred to another team and resume his NFL career.
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