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Five trades the Redskins could explore making before the NFL season

By Jacob Camenker

LANDOVER, MD - JANUARY 10: Tight end Jordan Reed #86 of the Washington Redskins celebrates with teammate tackle Trent Williams #71 after scoring a second-quarter touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at FedExField on January 10, 2016 in Landover, Maryland.(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - JANUARY 10: Tight end Jordan Reed #86 of the Washington Redskins celebrates with teammate tackle Trent Williams #71 after scoring a second-quarter touchdown against the Green Bay Packers during the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at FedExField on January 10, 2016 in Landover, Maryland.(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – OCTOBER 04: Trent Williams #71 of the Washington Redskins celebrates after beating the Philadelphia Eagles 23-20 at FedExField on October 4, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Evan Habeeb/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – OCTOBER 04: Trent Williams #71 of the Washington Redskins celebrates after beating the Philadelphia Eagles 23-20 at FedExField on October 4, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Evan Habeeb/Getty Images) /

OT Trent Williams to Houston Texans for a 2020 first-round pick

Let’s start with the obvious one. Trent Williams has been holding out from Redskins camp all season. He says he doesn’t want to play here anymore, but the team hasn’t budged. But if he truly isn’t going to report, then the team needs to salvage his value and trade him to a tackle-needy team.

The Texans would certainly qualify. The Texans have one of the worst offensive lines in the league, and they have done very little to fix it in recent seasons. They did draft a couple of players in the first two rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft in Tytus Howard and Max Scharping, but Howard was largely considered to be a reach and will need time to develop. Scharping, meanwhile, may be a better fit on the inside for the NFL level.

Currently, the left tackle position options in Houston are Matt Kalil, Howard, former 2017 fourth-round pick Julie’n Davenport, and former Cleveland Browns 2017 fifth-round pick Roderick Johnson. This seems to be the human embodiment of this GIF, barring a surprise.

Oh, and did I mention Deshaun Watson was sacked a league-high 62 times last year? The Texans really can’t afford to let Watson get crushed like that again, especially after seeing what just happened with Andrew Luck, who had poor protection for years which led to many of his injury woes.

One would think that the Texans would have learned from the David Carr debacle that having a quality offensive line would be important. But, I digress.

In any case, Williams would be a massive upgrade for the Texans. He would solidify the left side of the line for two years while affording Howard the time to develop. And even though he’s already 31 and has missed time recently with nagging injuries, he would be a boost to the team immediately. And that would be huge for the squad, as they have a big window to contend with the Colts weakened by Luck’s departure and the excellent talent they have surrounding Watson and on defense.

The Texans could potentially be convinced to give up a first-round pick for Williams and a little bit more. This framework is similar to the Duane Brown deal that the Seahawks pulled off with the Texans a couple of years ago. The Texans would be giving up a first-round pick as opposed to the two Day 2 picks the Seahawks got, but Williams is a superior player and Houston can afford to give up their pick if it makes them more of a contender in 2019.

Also, it’s possible that the teams could execute a late-round pick swap as a part of this deal. Or, the Redskins could throw in an extra player to the deal that the Texans may have interest in and the Texans could throw in a late-round pick. But either way, this basic framework of this deal would make sense for both sides, though a deal involving two second-round picks could also be intriguing.

One more note: The Redskins don’t seem likely to trade for Jadeveon Clowney if the Texans do part with him. He’s due to get a big contract and the team just drafted Montez Sweat to complement Ryan Kerrigan. They’re better served to try to get draft capital that they can use to add low-cost rookies, though the idea of pairing Clowney with Kerrigan, Sweat, Jonathan Allen, and Daron Payne is certainly a fun one.

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