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Gipson on Deshaun Watson, Texans' culture: ‘It's just different'

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If it seems bizarre that a 25-year old franchise quarterback just entering his prime would want out of a franchise just months after signing a $156 million contract extension, it’s because it is bizarre.

But the more we learn about the situation in Houston, the more it becomes clear that Deshaun Watson’s request isn’t all that crazy.

“Listen, man, I can tell you, honestly, not just from the outside, but speaking from the inside, it’s just different. It’s different,” Bears safety Tashaun Gipson said on The Hoge & Jahns Podcast Thursday.

Gipson would know. He was a starting safety for the Houston Texans in 2019, the same year in which a dramatic power shift occurred in the organization.

“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 top of the Texans organization is owner Cal McNair, who has empowered Jack Easterby as his executive vice president of football operations. But Easterby isn’t a proven football executive who has built winning football teams -- he’s a team chaplain/character coach who earned the trust of Bill Belichick in New England before being overpromoted in Houston. This is a video of Easterby at a public speaking event in 2017 that was making the rounds on Twitter Thursday:

The Texans’ web site says Easterby “manages all football operations and directs the overall culture of the organization.”

That “culture” has deteriorated to the point that one of the best quarterbacks in football wants out of the organization just five months after signing a four-year extension that doesn’t even kick in until 2022. Perhaps Watson should have known better after the inexplicable Hopkins trade that occurred under the watch of Easterby and former head coach Bill O’Brien, but good luck finding a human willing to turn down $156 million, especially when he was still under team control for two more seasons anyway.

Shortly after the Watson extension, the Texans fired O’Brien and managed to damage the trust with Watson when Easterby hand-picked Nick Caserio as the team’s general manager from the Patriots. It was the Texans’ second run at Caserio since Easterby arrived in Houston – the first of which briefly resulted in tampering charges before the Texans backed off. That led to Houston operating without a general manager for two seasons, firing the head coach that supposedly was the acting GM, losing two first round draft picks and a second round pick in the Laremy Tunsil trade, and trading away one of the best receivers in football (Hopkins) for running back David Johnson, who came with a bad contract.

“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.”

It’s unclear whether or not the Texans will actually be willing to trade Watson, but when you hear sources close to Watson – and in this case, a source willing to put his name on it – talk with such finality on the situation, you realize that the quarterback has dug his heels in.

“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. I can tell you that,” Gipson said.

The safety is set to be a free agent, but Gipson voiced his desire to return to the Bears in the same interview, and perhaps he can serve as a recruiter for Watson, who has a no-trade clause.

“Absolutely. That is definitely the plan,” he said.

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