Is the Inclusion of Quinnen Williams a Deal Breaker in any Trade for Deshaun Watson?

The first domino in the expected QB carousel has fallen. Matthew Stafford traded to the Rams for picks and Jared Goff. It’s one hell of a way to start an off-season before the 2020-21 season has even been concluded.

It was an interesting trade because the immediate reaction among Jets fans centred around what it means for Watson. If Stafford gets you a QB who has two Pro Bowls to his name, 107 passing touchdowns and 18,000 yards in 5 years, what will it take to get Watson, a much better player?

There are a lot of aspects to that Lions/Rams deal. The Goff contract which is rough short-term but can be exited quite easily by the Lions down the road, and the fact that the two firsts that are heading to Detroit will likely be between picks 25-32.

After a cooling-off period, several analysts including Houston beat writers said that the Stafford deal didn’t really move the needle in terms of Deshaun Watson’s cost.

John McClain of the Houston chronicle reiterated that the cost for Watson would be two firsts, two seconds and two defensive starters at least, which got me thinking about Quinnen Williams.

I asked my Twitter followers if they would make a trade that consisted of two firsts, one second and Quinnen Williams.

As of this morning, 58% said yes, reluctantly they would make that trade. However, 42% said they wouldn’t make that trade. Meaning that in essence, the inclusion of Quinnen Williams was a deal-breaker for many.

I waited to give my opinion on this to try and avoid swaying people one way or the other. However, I found it quite interesting that a large portion of the base would not part with a defensive tackle and three selections for a 25-year-old franchise QB who’s coming off a superb season on a horrible team.

Let me preface this by saying that if I were GM, I’d do everything in my power to make sure that Quinnen Williams was not included in this deal. It would be a last resort, where Houston said it’s either Williams or we trade him elsewhere.

Williams is a superb talent, with the potential to be a regular All-Pro. In 2020 he had 40 tackles, 8 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 23 QB hurries, 8 QB hits and 38 stops. He is 23 years old and the expectation is he’s only going to get better and better. In Saleh’s defense the expectation is he’ll be a force inside at DT.

However, as good of a DT as he is, are you going to let that stop you from acquiring a QB who’s 25, is coming of a season where he threw 4823 yards for 33 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, while also rushing for 444 yards and 3 more scores?

In my mind, it comes down to a simple question, is it easier to find a very good replacement defensive tackle or a franchise QB? Consider the defensive lineman the Jets have had over the last 10 years, and then consider how many playoff appearances we’ve made.

Ideally, you have both. You manage to get Watson without giving up Williams, that’s the perfect scenario. However, with this hypothetical, I found it interesting that a lot of people were ready to give up Watson for Williams (and the first-round picks of course).

If you’re Houston, you need all the help you can get. You don’t have cap space, you don’t have draft picks and you don’t have a defense. I mean, their defense was historically bad last year. So Quinnen Williams and a couple of firsts could be very appealing to them.

I wanted to get your views on this GGN members, would you move Williams, two firsts (let's say #2 and Seattle’s first next year) and a 2nd round pick for Watson? There’s no guarantee that Houston would take that deal, but let's just say for the sake of discussion they would. You’ve tried to get them to take Seattle’s first this year to keep the valuable #2, but they’re not budging. You’ve tried to include other players, but again they’re insistent on Williams, do you make that deal?