MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - The Miami Dolphins are reportedly in trade talks.
Thursday’s practice for the team was business as usual, but the buzz off the field is that negotiations have reportedly intensified between the Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The Dolphins play against the Atlanta Falcons Sunday at the Hard Rock Stadium and Tua Tagovailoa remains the starting quarterback, for now.
Watson is considered by many to be a top five quarterback in the league.
He’s already a three-time Pro Bowler at 26 years old.
“We’ve been saying for months that the Dolphins are the favored to get Watson, they’ve wanted him. He’s a franchise quarterback that they haven’t had since Dan Marino,” said NFL insider Drew Rosenhaus. “The Texans are motivated to trade him. They’ve been waiting to get a good offer but they’re running out of time.”
However, if Watson does land in Miami, he’ll bring with him a murky legal situation.
He is facing 22 civil lawsuits alleging sexual harassment from multiple massage therapists.
“I got into massage therapy to heal people,” said alleged victim Ashley Solis in an April 6 media conference. “Deshaun Watson has robbed me of that.”
Watson has not been suspended by the NFL but remains under investigation.
“Because he has legal uncertainty, I don’t think another team is going to give up first-round picks,” said Rosenhaus. “I think it’s going to have to be conditional, based on his availability. If he’s able to avoid a long-term suspension, I think these conditional picks will become very high.”
The rumors of Watson to Miami go back months.
Dolphins head coach Brian Flores touched on the subject during training camp, saying, “There’s always rumors, there’s always speculation, there’s always some form of distractions and I think as a team we have to block that stuff out.”
The NFL trade deadline is Nov. 2.
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