A New Team Has Entered the Mix for Deshaun Watson

Carolina and New Orleans now have some competition to land the Houston quarterback.

Monday evening, the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints each met with Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson in hopes of the 26-year-old agreeing to waive his no-trade clause. Before any deal is made, Watson has made it clear that he wants to meet with any team that is interested in trading for him. 

Well, now, the Panthers and Saints have some competition. It's not the Seattle Seahawks. It's not the Philadelphia Eagles. It's the Cleveland Browns, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. 

UPDATE: The Atlanta Falcons are now interested in Watson and plan to meet with him on Wednesday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

The front office in Cleveland has not shown much trust in current starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has led the franchise back to the playoffs but really struggled this past season tossing for only 3,010 yards and 17 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.

With the Browns striking a deal with the Dallas Cowboys for WR Amari Cooper, that alone could intrigue Watson. The Browns are in a much better position to succeed in comparison to the Panthers who are still in rebuild mode. Cleveland's roster is ready to win now. Not to mention, if the Panthers have to deal several pieces of its young core just to land Watson, that could set Carolina back even further in terms of building a complete team.

One team that attempted to meet with Watson this week is the Indianapolis Colts. However, the Texans shut that down immediately, declining to trade the quarterback anywhere within the division. Last week, the Colts made the decision to move off of Carson Wentz after just one season with the team. Indianapolis has approximately $62 million in cap space, so although they have more than enough room to add Watson, it won't be happening. They will likely target a trade with San Francisco for Jimmy Garoppolo or free agent Jameis Winston could be an option as well. 

Many around the situation in Houston believe that Watson could be traded within the next few days and is likely to happen at some point this week. With Tom Brady coming back out of retirement to rejoin the Bucs, both the Panthers and Saints feel the pressure of needing to find a solution at quarterback in order to compete in the NFC South. 

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