As QB Market Dries Up, Deshaun Watson Reportedly Has Eyes on Broncos

Unless a quarterback like Alex Smith or Mitchell Trubisky is your flavor, there isn't much to write home about on the NFL free agency market. With the legal tampering window all but closed, the quarterback-desperate teams made short work of signing those veterans available.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston, and Jacoby Brissett — all names that have been tied to the Denver Broncos in one speculative form or another since the offseason began — have all signed. The implication?

Either Broncos GM George Paton didn't like the free-agent QB class, or, he really, really likes Drew Lock a heck of a lot more than fans might think — or, and this is where we go down the rabbit hole, he might still be holding out for the possibility of a proverbial mountain getting moved so that Deshaun Watson can land in Denver.

It would still be a longshot to see Watson end up with the Broncos but Paton has certainly cleared some cap space by letting Kareem Jackson go and structuring the deals of Shelby Harris and Ronald Darby for a grand total of just $8 million counting against the cap this year. But if Watson truly wants out and he's serious about holding out on the Houston Texans if the team doesn't trade him, perhaps now is when Paton makes his move.

Michael Lombardi, ex-NFL executive and current media guy with The Athletic, made some waves not long ago by reporting that the Broncos came close to acquiring a QB via trade in the first week of February. Lombardi wasn't offering up any names but not long after, Carson Wentz was dealt to Indianapolis.

Now, Lombardi is invoking the Broncos name yet again, saying that Watson only has two NFL destinations in mind as the QB market settles. Watson has eyes only for the Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers.

"The problem is, he controls where he wants to go," Lombardi told The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday. "The rumor is, he doesn't want to play in New York. The rumor is, he doesn't want to play in Miami. He wants to play in Denver and San Francisco. So now you're Nick Caserio and now your trade options are limited especially when you know he controls where he says wants to go. So let's say he wants to I only want to go to San Francisco, I'll only go to San Francisco, we'll now San Francisco has all the leverage in the trade."

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It's more smoke. And the only thing making this worthy of sitting down and writing up an article about it is the fact that the landscape has now shifted.

The Texans, if indeed Watson is going to strong-arm them, are rapidly losing leverage and potential suitors. Meanwhile, Paton still has some serious cap space to play with.

If Watson wants to force his way to Denver or San Francisco, he might have to wait until the NFL draft rolls around. For now, the Texans seem perfectly willing to play the long game.

But when Caserio, a brand-new, first-year GM, sees his opportunity to command at least a couple premium-round picks in this year's draft (plus whatever Houston gleans for next season), it might finally spark some action. If Paton is willing to wait that long, perhaps he can exploit what'll surely be Texans' desperation.

However, the longer this goes on, the more GMs like Paton will go about their business of building the roster. For now, it would appear Paton is intent on either running it back with Lock one more year or using that No. 9 overall draft pick to take a quarterback.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

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