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Deshaun Watson can single-handedly remodel an NFL franchise’s hopes and goals, however ought to the Pittsburgh Steelers make a transfer for him?
In contrast to many of the groups concretely linked with Houston Texans celebrity quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Pittsburgh Steelers made it to the postseason. And on the floor, long-time quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a stable season with over 250 passing yards per recreation, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Roethlisberger, nonetheless, was nineteenth within the NFL in QB Score. Worse but, only six quarterbacks out of 35 qualifiers had a decrease yards per try common than Roethlisberger’s 6.3.
The Texans are publicly saying they will not trade Watson, however they will say no matter they need. Everybody across the league is aware of that Watson isn’t going to stay with a group that has didn’t assist him and has serious leadership questions. However as a result of Watson is a franchise quarterback who was second within the NFL in QB Score final season, he’ll nonetheless command high greenback regardless of clearly having no future in Houston.
So Pittsburgh must mortgage their future on Watson. They must commerce a number of first-round picks for Watson, and that’s simply the start line. The Texans might simply play all of the events in opposition to one another and get a star participant – or two – out of the deal on high of the picks. It’s a steep value, but it surely’s a value different groups shall be prepared to pay.
The Steelers needs to be extra prepared to commerce their future for Deshaun Watson than most
Curiously sufficient, the Steelers, on paper, needs to be one of many groups most prepared to surrender the picks essential to pry Watson away from the Texans. Watson is a sure-fire star who carried the Texans group over the previous couple of years. He put up elite numbers final season with practically 5,000 passing yards, a completion share of 70.3, a league-leading 8.9 yards per cross try and a meager seven interceptions.
If the Steelers have been to commerce for him, they most likely wouldn’t be capable to make a first-round choice within the subsequent three years. To begin with, they’re already a playoff group, so they might have a late decide anyway. With Watson, they wouldn’t want to fret about drafting a quarterback, and so they’d be a greater group with Watson upgrading on Roethlisberger, who may retire. Due to this fact, they may very nicely have a bottom-five first-round decide in every of these three years.
The Steelers offense has a whole lot of potential. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and Eric Ebron are all very proficient pass-catchers who surpassed the 500-yard mark in 2020. But out of these 4 main receivers, solely Chase Claypool averaged 8.0 yards per goal. Everybody else was at or underneath the 6.5-yard mark.
Watson represents an improve of two.6 yards per cross try. If the Steelers try 40 passes per recreation (they averaged 41 per recreation final season), then that’s a distinction of over 100 yards per recreation in productiveness from the offense.
All three of the above broad receivers are underneath the age of 25, and so they all had not less than 60 receptions for the Steelers. With an debatable top-five quarterback in Watson on the helm, they may explode as playmakers and develop into one of many league’s most efficient broad receiver trios. Throw in James Washington as a fourth choice, and the Steelers may very well be in enterprise with a star-studded protection behind them.
Pittsburgh must commerce a key participant on the defensive facet of the ball to make this transfer occur, however so long as they maintain onto their true franchise gamers Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt, they need to nonetheless be in ok form defensively to win a Tremendous Bowl.
The Steelers can’t win all of it with Roethlisberger at quarterback, since he was one of many league’s least-efficient passers in 2020. His time as a Tremendous Bowl-winning quarterback is over, and the Steelers most likely perceive this harsh fact. If they’ve an opportunity to accumulate Watson with out considerably hurting their protection, they should take it, as a result of Pittsburgh already has sufficient younger stars on each side of the ball to “win now” with Watson, and, at 25, he might assist elevate the notoriously-stable Steelers group for the following decade as their new chief.
In fact, as a lot because the Steelers can dream of a gift and future with Watson main them to deep playoff runs, a commerce could by no means materialize if Roethlisberger’s plans stand in the way in which. That’s the larger query mark right here than draft capital or commerce chips. But when the celebs align, this franchise must make a severe push for one of many league’s most effective passers.
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