Houston Texans May Be Seeking Deshaun Watson Insurance
By Erik Lambert
The Houston Texans have had some rotten luck at quarterback. Every time it seems they finally have their guy, something ends up going wrong.
Then again this is the typical history of Houston quarterbacks. Dan Pastorini and Warren Moon came up short in the playoffs. Matt Schaub wasted his best years before the team was Super Bowl-ready. Now Deshaun Watson tears his ACL right as things are starting to take off. What does this franchise have to do to catch a break? Maybe it’s simply to overload the position until its stacked. That might be their best course of action.
At least that’s the way they’re making it seem based on new information surfacing out of the pre-draft festivities. It turns out the Texans quietly held a private workout with Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson. That might seem a bit unusual given that the Texans don’t hold a pick in the first two rounds, but the draft stock of Jackson remains in flux. There is always the possibility he drops, and the Texans seem poised to take advantage if he does.
The #Texans worked out #Louisville QB Lamar Jackson... but why is this weird? The team wants to prepare for everything, Jackson has no reason to turn it down. No predicting where he'll fall or if they'll trade up. pic.twitter.com/Xid3b8gJEn
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 22, 2018
Jackson is a perfect fit for the new Watson offense
When one looks at it from an objective standpoint, the interest in Jackson makes a ton of sense for Houston. Who in this draft class is better suited to run an offense built around Watson’s talents than him? They both dominated college football running virtually identical offenses. If the Texans were able to get him, they’d have the perfect backup for Watson and likely a valuable trade chip down the road. Essentially they’ll be better prepared for injury setbacks than they were in 2017.
The question is can they get him? As of now, that seems unlikely. Current projections have him going somewhere in the late 1st to 2nd round range. Then again projections aren’t good for much. Last year DeShone Kizer was supposed to be a 1st round lock. He didn’t go until the late 2nd. C.J. Beathard was supposed to be a late rounder. San Francisco took him in the 3rd. So there is definitely a chance that Jackson could slip to a point where Houston could get him.