Five Reasons the Miami Dolphins Should Absolutely Trade for Deshaun Watson

It's Monday. We should be talking about a Miami Dolphins playoff game that happened in the last 48 hours. Instead, we've got some spicy offseason-rumor-mill content to discuss. To be more specific, the Miami Dolphins are at the center of the NFL's biggest off-the-field storyline in some time.

The word on the street is that Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is unhappy with his current team. He was not consulted before the Texans hired a new general manager, and he's pissed off about it. He's reportedly considering asking for a trade this offseason.

Should the Miami Dolphins — a team that just drafted Tua Tagovailoa fifth overall in last season's draft — make a play to acquire Watson? Uh-huh. Yup. Yes. Definitely. We love Tua, but if Watson is available, it's a no-brainer deal to make.

Why should the Dolphins trade in Tua for Watson if the trade is possible? Let's count the reasons.
Deshaun Watson is Tua Tagovailoa's ceiling. After witnessing Tua's up-and-down rookie season, it doesn't feel like we're acting like rats off a sinking ship if we say the hope is for Tua to one day become Deshaun Watson. Leading the league in passing, like Watson did this season, would be great for him.

Getting Watson's 33 touchdowns and 4,800 yards — numbers that remind us of a season Dan Marino may have had — would be nice.

But instead of hoping Tua can do that one day, the Dolphins could just acquire Watson and worry about something else. Watson is a top-five quarterback in football right now. Tua could be that one day, or he could be out of the league in five seasons. Both outcomes are equally probable at this point.
The Texans would be paying most of the price. Thanks to a trade that sent Laremy Tunsil to the Texans and this year's first- and second-round picks to Miami, the Texans would likely just be asking for their own picks back as a large part of a deal. The Dolphins having the third overall pick is a huge bargaining chip, and it's likely the highest pick any team trying to trade for Watson can offer.

Only having to give the Texans back their own picks and a quarterback the Dolphins would be instantly replacing with someone better is a dream trade scenario that will never present itself again. 
Watson's contract is actually a bargain. Many Dolphins fans have pointed to Watson's contract as an issue if the team wanted to make a trade. But the fact is that having a franchise quarterback locked up until 2025, which Watson is, is actually a positive thing. The market will continue to soar and the cost of a quarterback of his caliber will be $50 million soon, not the $30-million-plus he's signed for.

Patrick Mahomes just signed for $450 million. You get what you pay for when it comes to quarterbacks in the NFL. You don't worry about what LeBron James makes when you sign him. Don't worry about how much Watson would make. Be cheap elsewhere on the team.
Watson is only 25 years old. It might seem like he's been in the NFL for a decade, but did you know that Deshaun Watson is only three years older than Tua Tagovailoa? There's basically no difference in their career paths. Age is not a factor in this deal.

Watson is younger than Aaron Rodgers was when he first saw the field for the Green Bay Packers. He's 18 years younger than Tom Brady. If the Dolphins signed Watson, they could realistically expect to have him under center for the next ten seasons. This is a long-term move, not a quick fix.
It would end the Miami Dolphins' quarterback search and debate once and for all. Since 1999, when Dan Marino retired, the question of who would be taking snaps in Miami has been a constant discussion. Debates over who should be the quarterback have split the fanbase. It's a tradition at this point. The Ryan Tannehill years have turned into the "Tua or Fitzpatrick" years. It's never-ending.

End it. Trade for a bona-fide star. Pay the price for an All-Pro quarterback and move on to filling out the rest of the team around him. That's what great teams do. That's what the Miami Dolphins haven't been able to do since Marino retired.