NFL Trade rumors: Peter King thinks 49ers should be all-in on Deshaun Watson trading

NBC Sports’ Peter King gave his idea of ​​what it would take for a team to trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. King mentioned what everyone has: The Texans have received team offers, but Houston is not committing. King said at least two teams made offers in Houston and received no feedback.

How long will Houston be on his heels? There is no real reason for Texans to move. Watson is under contract, and that doesn’t change no matter what he thinks about the state of the franchise. The NFL draft is just over two months away. A lot could happen by then.

The poker face of Texans general manager Nick Caserio could change as the draft draws closer and he realizes that his 25-year-old franchise, QB, wasn’t bluffing to return to the pitch as a member of the Texans, this which brings us to King’s business proposals.

King mentioned the Carolina Panthers, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers … twice.

One of his crazy proposals included a three-team trade where the Minnesota Vikings send Kirk Cousins ​​to the Niners. In this scenario, San Francisco also sends No. 12 to Houston and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. This is the only part that concerns the 49ers. I doubt anyone feels convinced that San Francisco has come out on top in this business proposition.

Here’s King’s first business proposition, where the 49ers land Watson:

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS. San Francisco would agree to enter 2021 with Jimmy garoppolo like its starter. But no matter what Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch say, they can’t be totally comfortable with it. Garoppolo has missed 23 of the last 48 regular season games due to injury. (Tom Brady missed 15 games due to injury 20 seasons.) And I’ll always wonder if the 49ers have any buyer’s remorse for not triggering a deal with Brady back in March. We’ll know when Brady (or Lynch or Shanahan) writes a book in 15 years how close that got. But if the Niners could convince Garoppolo to give up his no-trade clause, I could see San Francisco being everything here, even if the Niners would clearly have to part ways with some major assets, including perhaps their young nerve center. defense. Linebacker Fred warner is such a rising star, however, that his re-signing to San Francisco over the next 12 months could affect the franchise’s ability to keep other great young players (Nick bosa?) internally.

Proposal by Peter King: Seven for 1. Garoppolo, linebacker Fred Warner (it really hurts), tackle Mike McGlinchey, first-round pick in 2021 (12th overall) and 2022, plus a second-round pick in 2021 and third-round pick in 2022 for Watson. That’s a lot to pay for the Niners; Of all the players in all of the deals I offer, Warner would be the most coveted in my book. But he’s here because he’s entering the final year of his rookie deal and would like a new deal. (McGlinchey is in exactly the same position.) Houston might see them as the cornerstones of the rebuild.

The way King frames Warner in this profession is akin to the team’s thought process to move DeForest Buckner over the last offseason. He is also fair about the value of Warner. Seeing the Niners part ways with the NFL’s top linebacker would be hard for many fans to swallow. Seeing Watson under center in exchange would make those same fans forget about Warner in the first month of the season.

I love Warner and think he’s always underrated. We’re talking about linebacker versus quarterback, however. In Watson’s case, he’s objectively a top 5 quarterback, at worst, in the NFL. There is no comparison here.

So Houston gets Warner and McGlinchey on a rookie deal, two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick in 22. The downside is that you are creating two major holes on both sides of the ball and that you no longer have three premium draft picks over the next two years to fill those holes.

Another problem is to assume that this trade will not occur until the end of the first wave of free will. That means San Francisco is missing out on an opportunity to sign unrestricted free agents on linebacker or tackle and head into this year’s NFL Draft trying to find a Day 3 starter at both positions.

Daniel Brunskill back on the right tackle? Colton McKivitz? The reshuffle would continue ahead for the Niners, but you bet Watson will be able to get over the loss of McGlinchey. We’ve seen the 49ers operate without the two offensive tackles in 19 for several games.

If you’re in the camp that wants Watson, you don’t get it on the cheap. These are the types of trades it would take to land the superstar quarterback. In King’s scenario, would you accept this trade?