Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon spent the bulk of his NFL career in Houston. He played for the Oilers from 1984 to 1993 and was an All-Pro, a six-time Pro Bowler, and led the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns, among other accolades.
But as he reflects on Houston’s current quarterback situation with Deshaun Watson – and the drama that owner Cal McNair has caused – one word comes to mind: “disappointing.”
“This guy quietly had a year where he could have been an MVP candidate, but nobody knows about it because they haven’t won enough games,” Moon said on The Zach Gelb Show. “He’s had an outstanding season, and you just wouldn’t know about it.”
Watson led the NFL with 4,823 passing yards and accounted for 36 touchdowns (33 pass, three rush) to just seven interceptions. Houston, however, went 4-12, matching its worst finish since 2017.
McNair told Watson that he would help determine Houston’s next general manager and head coach, but so far, that hasn’t happened.
“This is a guy who’s been a winner ever since he’s come into the league, and that’s all he wants to do is have a team that he can win with,” Moon said. “He wants the organization to be committed to that, and he wants to be involved in the process of making that happen. Hopefully they can get things worked out because this is a great young kid, he’s a young quarterback who still has his best years ahead of him, he’s great in the community there as well – he’s a guy that you want to have leading your football team, so hopefully they can work this out.”
McNair plans to meet with Watson to hopefully clear the air. There could be a lot riding on that meeting, as Watson could reportedly request a trade.
Moon’s advice to the Texans? Don’t trade Watson.
“There’s probably three or four guys that are as good or better than him in the league right now,” Moon said. “He’s right up there with the best quarterbacks in the league, so you don’t let one of those get away because he can be with your franchise for the next 10 or 12 years. You want to make sure you have that type of guy in your organization.”
Moon said that McNair needs to be honest with Watson and transparent about what has happened – and what will happen – as it relates to the hiring process and the product on the field.
The mysterious Jack Easterby, meanwhile, should probably be part of this discussion.
“From what I understand, he really has the owner’s ear and he makes a lot of the decisions around there,” Moon said. “So he’s somebody that I think should be in that room, in that meeting, to make sure that they’re all on the same page because of how much influence he has over Mr. McNair. He’s somebody you definitely have to worry about because he has a lot more power than you think.”