Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio said that Friday's trade of Deshaun Watson brought "clarity" for both the team and its former quarterback.
Caserio met with reporters Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after he traded Watson to the Cleveland Browns for three first-round picks in addition to a 2023 third-rounder and a 2024 fourth-rounder. Cleveland also received a 2024 fifth-round pick as part of the trade package.
"The biggest thing yesterday provides everybody is clarity in terms of direction," Caserio said. "I think Deshaun has clarity on his end relative to what his future holds from a football standpoint. I think there's some things still on a legal front, I don't really want to get into that, but that will have to take place. Just clarity for him individually, clarity for our organization in terms of what the expectation is moving forward and what we have in place. Really what we're trying to do is put together a consistent winner, put together a foundation and put together a team that a lot of people can be proud of."
Caserio added: "We're excited about moving forward. That's the big thing to take from this is to look forward, to think about what's ahead of us. There's a lot of work that we need to get done, no question about it. We're a long way from where we need to be."
Trade discussions for Watson quickly materialized after a Harris County (Texas) grand jury on March 11 determined there was not enough evidence to charge Watson with a crime following allegations of sexual misconduct stemming from massage therapy sessions. Watson also faces 22 civil lawsuits. The 26-year-old remains under NFL investigation and is subject to potential discipline under the league's personal-conduct policy.
Watson requested a trade from Houston before the allegations. He was inactive for all 17 games during the 2021 NFL season. Caserio, who stepped into his current role with the Texans just prior to Watson's request last year, said he didn't know definitively whether Watson would play for the team last season.
"I don't think there was any particular point in time," Caserio said. "Like I've said from the beginning, kind of one day at a time. What the future holds, to a certain extent, out of my control, out of anybody's control. Control the things that we can control. I don't want to speak for him about what his intentions were or whether or not those were going to change."
Caserio said it's been his intention to trade Watson this offseason once serious offers were made.
"I would say there was a fair amount of teams, but what we tried to do was bring the teams that had a legitimate interest, and that was based off the compensation that was presented," he said. "Going back to the earlier questions, I think there was a certain threshold that I had established in order to make it a legitimate discussion, and if we got to that point then we could engage further. I don't want to get into the exact number, but there was a few more, however many teams than what everybody was reporting towards the end."
Next on Caserio's agenda is to rebuild the roster. The 2022 NFL Draft, in which Houston now holds 10 picks overall and five of the top 80, is a prime opportunity. As it pertains to the quarterback position, the Texans GM said he's still determining what the best course of action is for the club between the draft and veterans on the market. He commended the play of 2021 rookie Davis Mills while making it clear the starting job remains open.
"We're going to start from scratch a little bit," he said. "I would say when you get into the draft, you really don't want to necessarily eliminate any position or particular player. You just want to look at it with the mentality and just figure out what makes the most sense for the organization. It's about picking good players, it's about picking the right players that you think fit what you're trying to do. We'll look at everything, we're knee deep in that right now and we'll have another five or six weeks left until we get to the draft to work through that process. But Davis has certainly earned an opportunity here, and that's kind of the extent of what he's earned. ...
"We're certainly cognizant of what's going on in the league. We've done a lot of work and we'll look at every option, and ultimately we'll do what we feel is best for our situation."
