Peter King views Eagles, Panthers as top spots for Deshaun Watson originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson's NFL future continues to make headlines, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers the latest teams to be connected with Watson.
Peter King believes that Watson’s days are numbered in Houston, and handicapped Watson’s next team in his Football Morning in America column for NBC’s Pro Football Talk. He names the Eagles and Panthers as co-favorites to land Watson -- at 3-1 odds.
While King says that a prediction like this is “impossible,” he cites the Eagles' 2022 draft capital as the biggest reason for being at the top. In addition to their own first-round pick next year, they picked up the Dolphins’ first-round pick when they traded from No. 6 to 12, a few weeks before the 2021 draft. They also acquired a pick from the Colts, which will be a first-rounder if Carson Wentz plays 75 percent of Indy’s offensive snaps, or 70 percent of the team’s snaps and the Colts make the postseason.
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At the very least, the Eagles will have four picks among the top 64 in the 2022 draft to work with.
It’s intriguing to think about from a football perspective, but there is a much larger issue clouding Watson’s future than his desire to get out of Houston. Watson is facing nearly two dozen lawsuits from women who are accusing him of various degrees of sexually inappropriate behavior. Watson maintains that he did not engage in any inappropriate conduct, and the NFL has launched its own investigation into the accusations.
Despite all of that, a number of reports have emerged linking the Eagles to Watson in recent months.
"It’s impossible to predict the future with so many legal issues involved," King noted. "And depending on the outcome of the cases, several teams might not want to even think about Watson, and rightfully so."
