Timelining: LA Rams trade Goff + Picks for Stafford now reality

Well, what about Watson?

The LA Rams acquisition of Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was always going to require a lot of time. The reason was simple: It was a forced-trade scenario, caused by an unhappy quarterback. As such, the Texans will have no urgency to move Watson just yet. In fact, they will have no pressure whatsoever until training camp starts, without Watson. In the meantime, they will answer phone calls and listen to offers ‘just in case’.

The Rams had been linked to Watson because they wanted a new quarterback and Watson wanted a new team. There are no links to the two teams and no compelling reasons for the Texans to have valued any Rams potential trade offer any higher than that of any other NFL team. The key to the Rams package hinged entirely upon whether the Rams find a trade partner to accept Goff. But value is perception, and the Rams had created an image of ‘Goff will compete for his job with an undrafted quarterback’.  That’s just bad marketing.

Of course, a wise and savvy general manager could see the LA Rams quarterback Jared Goff as a low-risk high-reward scenario. But newly hired Texans GM Nick Caserio had no interest in defining his legacy by trading away quarterback Deshaun Watson so quickly out of the gates. Who would? So any deal for Watson would require time, and the Texans needed for the situation to become much much uglier in Houston before the Texans make a move.

Of course, the Texans will only be forced into a trade if the team struggles in the 2021 NFL Season. Losses will need to pile up, so aiming for Watson to save the Rams would have taken time, and that is most certainly something that the Rams did not have right now. After all, Goff, for all of his perceived faults, had led the team to uncanny success. He has loyal friends on the offense, loyalty that the Rams would be wise to avoid putting to the test.  That left Stafford, and that is why that option rapidly picked up steam.