DeShaun Watson - Should we trade for him?

Let me ask you:
What did Cousins do that made the 13-3 Vikings an 8-7-1 team the next year? Actual,tangible things HE did, that made them worse?
Or did the ready-made 2017 Vikings that won 13 games have a better defense (#1 Points allowed to #9)?
A better, more balanced scheme?
A season not disrupted by a mental health breakdown by one of your star DEs that causes him to miss 5 games?
A season in which your Head Coach is not bickering in the media about the fact the OC he hired wouldn't run the type of offense he wanted?

The 2018 Vikings were dysfunctional. Top to bottom, and I will grant you, I hated the way Kirk Cousins played in that last game against Chicago. He played scared and disinterested and the Vikings should have won that game. But, if Daniel Carlson makes one field goal against Green Bay and nothing else changes, the Vikings make the playoffs.

The 2019 Vikings weren't, but they weren't a great team. Cousins got them to the Divisional Round by going into New Orleans and winning. Then they got mauled by SF, who was just plain better.

And the 2020 Vikings DEFENSE was a mess, top to bottom, they gave up 20 points in 15 games. The Vikings offense under Kirk Cousins and Dalvin Cook was 4 in yards, 11 in scoring and would have been too 10 if Dan Bailey makes half the kicks he misses down the stretch. And, if Alexander Mattison gains one more yard, and nothing else changes, the Vikings make the playoffs.

That's a lot of ifs, ands, and buts...a whole lot of coulda, shoulda, woulda. But if you made a list of the top 10 issues for this team, how far down do you have to go to get to the PLAY of Kirk Cousins? Even before now, the contract has not actually kept the Vikings from signing or retaining any one they wanted to keep. That'll change now, but more because of the circumstances of the cap then the contract itself. If the cap were going to be $215 million, Cousins contract still allows the Vikings to make moves and get better. But, it isn't going to be, and guys like Rudolph, Reiff, Barr and Smith are going to be potential casualties of Kirk Cousins contract...even Kirk Cousins could be a casualty of Kirk Cousins contract.

Is Deshaun Watson better than Kirk Cousins? Yes. One is a Top 5ish guy.
Mahomes,Wilson, and Allen are the only guys I can say I would definitely take ahead of him if you take age into consideration. Then I would probably add Rodgers and Brady if you didn't care about age.

But how many more guys would I take before Cousins?
You could make an argument for guys like Prescott, Murray, Jackson, Herbert, Burrow...maybe one or two more, but I wouldn't for sure taking any of them long term other than a HEALTHY Prescott or Herbert

Roethlisberger and Brees are done.

Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff,Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo? You're just talking variations of the same guy. Bridgewater? No. Lock? No. Trubisky and/or Foles? No. Hurts and/or Wentz, Newton and/or Stidham? No.

So Cousins is what? A Top 10-12 guy depending on which flavor of limited in some way, shape or form you prefer?

Do I want to trade my franchises future for an upgrade like Watson? One who has one more year of affordability before he starts breaking the bank too? No. And when you have argued, wouldn't you trade Hughes, Bradbury and Gladney (leaving Jefferson out us BS by the way)? No, I wouldn't because then our first round picks are Nobody, Nobody, and Nobody and any decent pick you make in any other round, or any free agent signings you make is dictated by what you have already given away. And, Houston also wants two defensive players? Well, they can have anybody but Hunter and Kendricks, but I doubt they'd bite for that.

So, after a@Reignman processing is live for Sloter like post:

Watson is better than Cousins, pretty much based only on mobility and age, because their passing stats are virtually identical and their contracts are both bad going forward (and Watson will only get more expensive). So, the only trade I make his Watson for Cousins and Houston gets a couple thirds, maybe a second next year. Do you think they take it?