Bears safety Tashaun Gipson sounds off on Deshaun Watson, Texans culture
The Deshaun Watson saga has intrigued the football world for the last couple of weeks. There’s been enough internal drama to spurn Watson and lead to him requesting a trade, which would put a franchise quarterback in his prime on the market.
Not much has been known about what’s happened on the inside of the Texans organization that led to Watson’s disapproval, aside from the fact that he wasn’t consulted on the hiring of the Texans’ new general manager, Nick Caserio.
But just how bad are things in Houston?
Someone that knows a little something about that culture inside the Texans organization is Bears safety Tashaun Gipson, who was released by Houston last offseason and picked up by Chicago.
“Listen, man, I can tell you, honestly, not just from the outside, but speaking from the inside, it’s just different. It’s different,” Gipson said on The Hoge & Jahns Podcast.
“That’s no shade to anybody involved, but when you see an organization that loses a guy like DeAndre Hopkins and some of the moves and the things that they’ve made, it’s hard to (understand how you can’t) keep your franchise player who, in my opinion, he’s a top three quarterback in the National Football League. So when you lose a guy like that, it tells you a lot about what’s happening at the top.”
At the center of the Texans controversy is executive vice president Jack Easterby, who isn’t exactly a proven football exec, as evidenced by everything that has transpired over the last couple of seasons.
Houston’s toxic football culture has been a hot topic of conversation, specifically what’s had to transpire for Watson to want out just one year after signing a four-year, $156 million extension.
It started with trading arguably the best receiver in football, DeAndre Hopkins, to the Arizona Cardinals and has culminated with Easterby hiring the Texans’ new general manager without consulting Watson — after they told him they would.
“My situation was completely different that Hops’ and completely different than (Watson’s) but it just shows the way that things are run there, it’s crazy when you think about it,” Gipson said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I thought that a quarterback in his prime – I mean, he hasn’t even hit his prime – for him to want out after he signed for a life changing contract, it’s on par with everything that everyone has been hearing. Let’s just say that.”
While the Texans have been fielding calls about Watson, it’s still unclear whether they’re actually going to trade him or see how things play out this offseason. Houston insists that Watson is their quarterback of the future, but that quarterback wants nothing to do with them.
But if Watson were to hit the open market, there’s no doubt that he’d accrue quite the haul in compensation from many interested teams. Obviously, the Bears are one of those teams.
“He’s a good friend of mine and I have nothing but respect for him as a player and as a leader and where he ends up, he’s going to make that team a super contender,” Gipson said. “I can tell you that.”
Assuming Gipson signs an extension this offseason, perhaps he could help recruit Watson to the Bears.
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