Texans: Five reasons why there could be a Deshaun Watson standoff
By Neal Sharma
Reason #3: The situation needs to be handled quickly
In the era under Bill O’Brien, for the most part, the problem with keeping top talent seems to occur due to a lack of communication between the player and the organization. It also leads to a low value in return for that top talent because other teams are likely aware of the dysfunction that exists.
Don’t believe me? Well for starters, the Houston Texans and Jadeveon Clowney were not on the same page when it came to deciding whether Clowney was a defensive end or a linebacker. It leads to contract complications. The Houston Texans had basically implied that they had to trade Clowney because they couldn’t agree on a contract and they had to trade him because the Houston Texans knew they couldn’t improve the roster by paying him a contract he desires.
It makes sense, but I feel like it was much more than that. A lack of communication must’ve played a huge part in this because it seems like O’Brien and Clowney were never on the same page. Hell, they couldn’t even decide which position he was playing. Then Clowney, once he was on the Seahawks, reported his side of the story. By the way, the Texans did not mention any of this before he was traded.
The story that was in the link above proved that there was a lack of communication. Tunsil obviously became the priority for the Texans, for the right reasons, but the situation with Clowney was handled poorly due to the lack of communication along with desperation. Or there was just frustration by Bill O’Brien because he didn’t have a “worker bee” attitude?
The dysfunction then results in teams low balling the Texans because they know the Texans have no leverage since the Texans are just trying to get the player out of the team. Other teams are aware of the dysfunction that occurs between Bill O’Brien and the Texans players when it comes to the offseason.
The Hopkins trade only further emphasizes this.
The same lack of communication was shown with DeAndre Hopkins. I address the Hopkins situation in the following article.