Deshaun Watson sure doesn’t sound like a happy camper these days, and it’s tough to blame him.
The Texans made arguably the most head-scratching move of the NFL offseason thus far, sending four-time Pro Bowl selection DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for a mediocre-at-best return. Days later, Watson fired off a cryptic tweet that caused quite a stir throughout the football world, including in New England.
Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky doesn’t believe Watson’s tweet was a heat-of-the-moment reaction to losing his favorite target. The ESPN analyst thinks the star quarterback truly is evaluating whether he wants to be in Houston long term.
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” … Deshaun Watson is saying, ‘I’m alone,’ ” Orlovsky said Tuesday on “Get Up.” “I need everyone to understand this is the 21st century, and if we think athletes don’t use social media to tell us exactly how they feel, we’re kidding ourselves. This is a guy that for the last 10 years of his life has had everybody tell him, ‘Listen, make sure that you’re aware of what you’re saying because everyone is going to hang on to every single word that you say whether publicly and/or via social media.’ This is not a mistake by Deshaun Watson. He’s telling us, ‘I’m alone. I feel alone out here right now.’ ”
Orlovsky continued: “If I’m a quarterback, I’m going, ‘Wait, you just traded away our best player because you didn’t like him? Because you couldn’t get along with him?’ I’m going, ‘I have to look at my future.’ I have to look at my future if I’m Deshaun Watson and going, ‘What would make me want to stay here?’ Take the fans away because that’s emotions, I get all that, and he loves the city, I’m sure. But what would make me think that I’m going to be supported the right way here? You just traded away my best player, not because he can’t play, but because you don’t like him. I promise you Deshaun Watson has sat there when he was sending out that tweet going, ‘I don’t think I can be here.’ His agent, David Mulugheta, is one of the best and most powerful in the game and if I’m Deshaun Watson there’s no chance I’m signing an extension at any point in Houston right now.”
It seems the oddsmakers already were skeptical about Watson signing a new deal with the Texans. The 24-year-old currently is the odds-on favorite to be the Patriots’ starting quarterback for the 2021 season.
