The 49ers have something no other team can offer Deshaun Watson

Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers

In the end, it can be reduced to what the San Francisco 49ers (or any other interested NFL team) can offer the Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson. Yes, Watson has a non-exchange clause in the contract. If he pushed the jeans to change it, the quarterback would at least have the power to approve his fate.

The split between Watson and the Texans has meant an interesting low season so far, at least for teams not participating in the postseason game. The young quarterback would be considered an improvement for most teams watching the playoffs from home. San Francisco 49ers fans have to wonder what kind of magic Kyle Shanahan could do with Watson at the head of his offense.

This is also what could make the 49ers such an attractive destination for Watson: the presence of Shanahan. Yes, the head coach’s influence is starting to spread throughout the league as more teams seek to recreate the same kind of creative play that Shanahan players constantly praise and opposing defenses work to stop. Other teams may be a tempting claim, but the 49ers have something no one else can offer.

Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated recently ranked Watson’s top 10 landing sites (h / ta Patrick Tulini), taking on the den of the jeans and entertaining offers for the quarterback. While the New York Jets, armed with a lot of draft capital, reach No. 1 on the list, the 49ers are surprisingly No. 2. Many of these have to do with the head coach and caller. .

“As he writes this offseason, there’s no greater luck for quarterbacks wanting to win than Kyle Shanahan himself,” Orr wrote. “While his system is now responsible for coaches and coordinators throughout the NFL (Arthur Smith in Atlanta, Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, Sean McVay in Los Angeles, etc., etc.), the man himself can make the most of it. of quarterbacks and game design with incredible YAC potential.

“Because Watson has a non-trade clause, he can direct the direction of possible trade talks, and if he wants to be serious about a stable culture and a formidable set of weapons, San Francisco has to be up there.”

Of course, the 49ers don’t have the same stock of draft picks as some other teams, and Watson’s indiscrimination from the Texans would likely require years of high picks. Orr erroneously points out that the 49ers lack a third-round pick, but that he recently switched with the Jets who hired Robert Saleh as head coach. San Francisco will get a third-round compensatory selection during each of the following two drafts as part of the NFL’s minority hiring program.

However, this selection will be at the end of the round, after other compensatory selections of the third round have been distributed. The 49ers could also offer a temporary (or perhaps permanent) replacement for Watson – Jimmy Garoppolo. Like Watson, Garoppolo has a trade clause in the contract, and yet he should approve any move.

“Jimmy Garoppolo is an interesting piece of this equation, as the staff executive who helped head his newsroom in New England is now in charge of Houston,” Orr adds. “This could help alleviate the sting of any swap, as Garoppolo could enter a family environment and immediately remain one of the best quarterbacks in the division.”