Why the Vikings (probably) won’t be trading for Deshaun Watson

Minnesota can’t submit the best offer

When the report recently came out that Deshaun Watson has officially requested the Texans to trade him, almost every fan base around the NFL began to think of how their favorite team could land the talented quarterback.

Realistically, however, there only a handful of teams that could actually land Watson in a trade this year, and the Vikings aren’t one of them.

Minnesota only has one selection in the first two rounds of the 2021 NFL draft and the pick is not even in the top 10. A team like the Miami Dolphins, which has four selections in the first two rounds of this year’s draft (including the No. 3 pick) could easily make a better offer to Houston to acquire Watson than the Vikings could.

A team like the New York Jets is in a similar position to the Dolphins with three selections in the first two rounds of the 2021 draft, including two picks in the first round.

Some might say Minnesota can just offer future first-round picks from 2022 and 2023 to Texans to acquire Watson. But why would Houston accept an offer like this where the draft selections could end up being in the late first round if the Vikings are successful instead of an offer from the Jets or Dolphins that would likely include a top-three pick in this year’s draft?