Bears' Reported Offer For Russell Wilson Highlights How Insane A Winning Bid For Deshaun Watson Would Have To Be
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- If you have an elite quarterback in the NFL, you're in business. If you don't ... you're not.
Everybody knows this, but the reported offer made by the Bears to pry Russell Wilson from Seattle provided a reminder of just how valuable it is to be all set at the most important position in team sports.
Dan Patrick cited a source "close to the Bears" during his show on Tuesday, and according to that source, the Bears offered up a ton to try to land Wilson.
Per the report, the Bears offered:
--Three first-round picks
--A third-round pick
--Two starters
That is rather significant. Yet still, the Seahawks said no.
That may be because Pete Carroll and John Schneider are confident that they can do what's necessary to make Wilson happy and smooth over any issues. But it also just might be an indication that established quarterbacks are not for sale, no matter what the offer might be.
That's likely also a reality check for anyone around the country who's dreaming of having the not-at-all-gruntled Deshaun Watson join their local football team. Watson is seven years younger than Wilson, and he's signed through 2025. Watson is arguably more valuable than Wilson, so theoretically he is worth much more than the package that wasn't even enough to land Wilson.
The one variable, of course, is the reality that it seems as though Watson has zero intention of ever playing for the Houston Texans, who -- to put it mildly -- are a dysfunctional mess. They traded DeAndre Hopkins for a running back, then fired the man who made that trade, all while continuing to give more power to Jack Easterby. They started the year with a four-game losing streak and ended it with a five-game losing streak. The promises the organization made to Watson last year to get him to sign that deal clearly haven't been delivered, and so Watson has had enough.
Watson -- like Wilson -- also has a no-trade clause, thereby limiting the Texans' leverage in the event that they actually do begin to field offers.
So maybe -- maybe -- that unique circumstance in Houston means that the Texans will have to settle for a lesser offer to move Watson, rather than forcing him to stay in Houston, when he might just sit out the year anyway. Maybe.
Probably not, though. Teams that have franchise quarterbacks entering their primes typically don't go about getting rid of those franchise quarterbacks. The fact that three firsts and two starters didn't get the Seahawks to budge on the 32-year-old Wilson shows just how silly a winning offer for Watson might have to be.
