Why Chris Simms Believes Jets Should ‘Think Twice’ About Deshaun Watson Trade

The Jets should make a serious run at Deshaun Watson, right?

Not so fast, says Chris Simms.

New York has been identified as one of more realistic potential landing spots for Watson, who appears to be on his way out of Houston. The Jets have the draft capital necessary to facilitate a blockbuster trade, and Watson himself reportedly likes the idea of playing in the Meadowlands.

That said, trading for Watson only would address one of the Jets’ slew of issues. Simms seems to believe going all in for the star-signal caller could jeopardize New York’s rebuild, which goes well beyond the QB position.

“It’s not a slam dunk to me, no,” Simms said Monday on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “I would have two things going through my mind. Wow, I have so many holes on my team. How am I going to fill these? We need offensive linemen, running backs, receivers. We have no pass rushers, our secondary’s average as hell. So, they have a lot of work to do there. Now you’re going to trade away all these assets to fill those holes? I would think twice about that. Certainly, a Joe Douglas — who comes from Philadelphia and Baltimore — he wants to build through the draft. That’s how those teams were built.

“Here’s the second thing that pops into my mind in this scenario: Ryan Tannehill with the Miami Dolphins would pop into my mind. Wait, what if the Dolphins had kept Tannehill and used the top-five pick on trading down to get more players or a top receiver or whatever in last year’s draft? Those things would jump out to me. I would honestly be scared a little if I’m Deshaun Watson to go to a place like New York. Even though I might like the head coach, to go there and go, ‘Man, we have a lot of work to do with this roster,’ I don’t think that’s necessarily appealing either.”

Simms’ line of thinking isn’t ridiculous by any means, as the jury still is out on Sam Darnold. Darnold only is 23 years old, and he was not set up to succeed upon being drafted by the Jets with the third pick in 2018. The USC product had two head coaches over his first two seasons in New York, and his supporting cast in each of those campaigns was below-average. In other words, it’s far too early to write off Darnold.

This isn’t to say the Jets shouldn’t kick the tires on Watson. It would be foolish for any team not to do its due diligence on an elite talent playing the most important position in sports. But if Gang Green doesn’t end up winning the Watson sweepstakes, it might not be the end of the world for the franchise.