NFL Rumors: ESPN Smith claims Rams working to deal Goff for Watson

What would it take?

Blockbuster trades of quarterbacks do not happen that often in the NFL. But if and when they do, they saturate the NFL headlines for days, as there is plenty of room to discuss what led to the trade, what makes up the trade, what will be the impact of the trade, and the winners and losers of the trade. That takes days to write, edit, publish, and absorb.  When did a quarterback trade last occur?

The Chicago Bears traded for then Denver Broncos starting quarterback Jay Cutler for the price of two first round picks and a third rounder. Also included in that deal was QB Kyle Orton to the Broncos for a fifth round pick. Right now, the Houston Texans are in sharp need of 2021 NFL Draft picks. The only problem? The Rams are the only one of two NFL teams with fewer draft picks.  So let’s park that to the side and discuss salary cap considerations

Salary Cap considerations

Both Deshaun Watson and Jared Goff have multi year deals for a sizeable amount of money, including guaranteed dollars and signing bonus money. So swapping Goff and Watson will create dollar impacts to both the Rams and Texans, some of which may be unexpected. To determine what the contracts for Jared Goff and for Deshaun Watson look like, I turned to the bean counter analysts at Over the Cap.com.

Year        Goff Cap           Watson Cap    Rams trade impact      Texans trade impact
2021      $34,625,000    $15,940,000    adds  $3,575,000        adds    $44,000,000
2022      $25,825,000    $35,000,000    saves $3,475,000       saves  $20,000,000
2023      $25,825,000    $37,000,000    saves $3,475,000       saves  $11,725,000
2024      $26,325,000   $32,000,000     adds   $2,074,936       saves  $10,725,936

Trading both player accelerates the bonus payments, but creates additional savings in future years.  All in all, the contract swap results in a balloon hit to the Texans salary cap in 2021, but significant future savings. The Rams will see minimal savings or cap hits from the overall net effect. And it goes without saying that the participating teams will make all necessary roster moves or contract renegotiations to ensure that any cap impacts fit in 2021 and future years.