If The Pats Lose, Should They Trade Gronk For JJ Watt?

[dotcomceo]

Everybody talks about JJ Watt getting traded for romo which is ridiculous, but how about Gronk for Watt, those are pretty much the most dominant offensive and defensive players around. The pats made the super bowl without gronk and the texans had the best D without watt. If the pats lose bc matt ryan torches them, which scares me bc they have 0 sacks in 2 of the last 3 games, then would the pats be wise to trade gronk for jj watt?

Would new england do it?

Would Houston do it?

Why has nobody even considered this trade as a possibility, both guys are hurt and their teams didn't miss a beat on either side of the ball and shockingly enough both fill a need for the other team. Granted Houston's need is more of a decent QB need, but still a healthy gronk is a welcome addition to any offense as he's nearly unstoppable.

 

[Ubuksi]

Played for player trades rarely happen in the NFL... GMs covet draft picks so much that they very seldomly make player for player trades. It also comes down to $$$ as I'm sure Watts contract is worth way more than gronks. Not saying the trade doesn't make sense, just saying the likelihood of it happening is slim to none.

 

[wizard1183]

Nope. Never happen. Patriots pay players on the cheap. That's how you keep success. They won't trade Gronk yet. They need his replacement soon tho

 

[dotcomceo]

agree bill traded away chandler jones and jamie collins for picks but here they have gronk under contract and obviously aren't letting go of the most dominant offensive force in the NFL for picks. Watt and Gronk both have their injury issues and both fill a huge need for the other team, just curious why no beat writer has ever thought of it, im sure salary wise it works bc i imagine both make ridiculous money

 

[chonce]

With signing bonuses and dead cap hits I think it is impossible -- the Texans would have a huge dead cap hit.

The Pat's wouldn't want to trade Gronk now. His value is at its lowest in some time. They would need to wait until he shows he can recover.

Even still, the Texans say no because of Gronk's health. But the Pat's have Gronk at bargain numbers so even with his injury history I expect them to keep him.

 

[chonce]

agree bill traded away chandler jones and jamie collins for picks but here they have gronk under contract and obviously aren't letting go of the most dominant offensive force in the NFL for picks. Watt and Gronk both have their injury issues and both fill a huge need for the other team, just curious why no beat writer has ever thought of it, im sure salary wise it works bc i imagine both make ridiculous money

The Texans would have 20 m in dead money if they traded or cut Watt next year. So it doesn't work even if they wanted to for football reasons. The signing bonus structure is one of several reasons player for player trades are rare and when they happen it tends to be guys on small contracts or little dead money (Jones, Collins both on last year of rookie deals)

 

[PeePee]

No chance Houston will go for that trade. Watt is the building block for our Defense and in his prime.
Gronk maybe good but not all that without a great QB giving him the ball.
possibly a trade for good QB but dont see a TE or even WR that even worth

 

[cgarn]

I personally would not want Watt. Back surgery scares the heck out of me especially 2 back surgeries.

 

[Bruins4Life]

Gronk has 10 games left in him.

 

[mrwho]

so you'll be left without your most defensive player and a dead offensive player bc you got no qb to throw to him..houston we def have a problem

 

[chonce]

Gronk has 10 games left in him.

Maybe... even if he has, say, two healthy seasons left, that would make him 29. I think a trade would only make sense in the following scenario: he comes back, plays great for 6 weeks and a team like LA who needs to make a marketing attendance splash does it as much for business reasons than anything else.

But the Pat's are in a good spot because 1) they are proving they can win without Gronk; 2) his contract is dirt cheap and they have little liability even if he does go down/gets IRd etc....

His cap hit is only 7 m next season and the dead money if he is cut or traded in 2018 or 19 is a manageable 4 and 2 m respectively. If they waited until he hit free agency he would have some crazy deal. But because they locked him up in 2012 they have him at an absurd discount. The Pat's handle contracts better than any other team. They can do this because BB has the job security to let guys walk, without worrying about losing his job. He has the power to walk away from anyone. The Collins trade is a great example, as was the Moss trade (they went 14-2 the year they traded Moss, and Brady won MVP, throwing 4 picks to 36 TDs).

Most coaches are too anxious about job security to be willing to bail on stars. The exception is Rivera, I suppose with Josh Norman.