We Are IN on Watson

This trade could work and not necessarily for draft picks.  The Vikes would probably have to give up the 12th but could also substitute players for picks. If you look up Houston's rankings last year, they were 30th on Defense and 32 on Offense. Their roster has holes at OC, RB, WR, and 13 defensive players all currently in FA.  Doubtful they bring back many.  The Oling was the worst according to PFF, so they could cut RT Marcus Cannon and save $5M on top of their current $11m UNDER.  Trading Watson will also give them another $24.2M, giving them a total cap space of $30,2M.  Lovie Smith is a defensive guy so I'm thinking he would target that way at the 3rd overall and then grab RT or WR at 12. The Vikings are rebuilding the defense so purging some old and newer players to the Texans before the draft might just work.  Think in terms of this line up but not necessarily these guys in particular (plug in guys who may struggle finding a position in a 3-4 flex scheme) but they fit the current needs for the Texans. 

Texans trade Watson (no trade clause but he wants to play for the Vikings) = $24.2M, maybe swap 2nds or get a 3rd or 4th in return

Vikings trade the following players with the 12th pick.
DE D. Hunter = $14.6M - big name for big name, Texans can restructure his contract and gives Lovie a premier 4-3 edge rusher
DE DJ Wonnum = $0.7M - will be used as a 3rd pass rusher for Texans, he is young and had 8 sacks last year
DT M Pierce = $6.5M - clog the middle, a 2 down run stopper 
DT A. Watts = $2.26M - need to trade someone who can pass rush in lieu of Pierce
CB C Dantzler = $0.7M - hurts a little but they need someone serviceable at CB
C G Bradburry = $2.251 - they need a OC and he's no worse than what they had 
RB A Mattison = $0.96M - going to lose him next year anyway, might as well give him a shot with a team that only has basically Rex Burkhead left
WR Bisi Johnson or KJ Osborne = $0.8-0.9M - a 3rd WR to go with a rookie and B. Cooks

This would save the Vikings roughly $28.82M if it was done before March 16 and gives them a little cap space ($13M) to target an OL or DL. Then KAM & KOC can trade Kirk at leisure before or even after the draft to create even more cap space. Or what I'd like to see KAM & KOC do is keep both Watson and Cousins on the roster, it does allow them to save face with all the Cousin's talk. Anyway, the real reason is because I think Watson will have some league suspension coming so the Vikings could start Kirk till about week 8, since Kirk is a slow starter we are looking at a 4-4 probably at best. Then they plug in Watson for the rest of the season.  The bonus is that Watson is signed to a manageable contract thru 2025. My favorite past is this idea would BENCH Cousins for the rest of the season, tanking his stats and sticking it to him come next year in FA. PAYBACK -  what else you call it. It's crazy but it would be a big splash and it's fun to play armchair GM. Go ahead, flame away.