A Deshaun Watson Angle On The Blaine Gabbert Sell
February 24th, 2022
Crafty.
Now this is why this dude is often thought of as the best in his field.
BSPN’s Chris Mortensen is the ultimate NFL insider. He doesn’t Twitter much, so that may be why he’s not as well known as Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport or Mike Florio. Like the rest of us, Mortensen heard how Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians was selling the talents of Blaine Gabbert as the possible successor to Tom Brady.
Joe wanted to think that maybe, just maybe, Arians has an educated hunch that Brady may return to the Bucs since he’s under contract. Given that awful-sounding movie that Brady is scheduled to produce and star in, maybe Brady will realize watching Arians cuss out a teammate is more fun than dealing with an old bat like Lily Tomlin or Hanoi Jane.
(Who the hell does Brady expect to pay to watch a movie about 80-year old hags? It’s gross just thinking about it.)
With Gabbert as the “starting” quarterback, if/when Brady returns Arians can just say to Gabbert, “Recede!” and in slips Brady like nothing happened.
Well, Mortensen is thinking the very same thing.
He believes Arians is very much using that angle while propping up Gabbert. Only difference is, Mort doesn’t believe Brady is the guy who will step over Gabbert.
That Bruce Arians professed his belief in Blaine Gabbert again is no surprise, especially with the @Bucs roster.
Now, here’s your hypothetical to ponder: The Bucs take a shot at Deshaun Watson and believe Gabbert can keep them competitive if Watson has to serve any suspension.— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) February 23, 2022
Now that is why Mort is Mort!
Joe has to ask: Is Mort getting reliable scuttlebutt that moved him to Twitter this “hypothetical?” Or did Mort just think of this lying awake at night? Given Mort’s contacts, Joe can’t help but think Mort is onto a scent here.
And here is something to add to your caffeine intake this morning: Reading prior Mort reports on Watson, it seems Mort has a pipeline inside Deshaun Watson’s camp.
Intrigue!
February 24th, 2022 at 2:35 am
Even if any bit true, and I question that, this cuteness isn’t fooling anyone. There is nothing surprising or creative about having contingency plans. If these plans involve the Captain Obvious options of DeCrime or Blaine, it’s even more ho-hum. Neither is a good answer.
As for Brady, the more I think about it, the more I doubt he comes back. Nobody wants to believe or accept it. Why would he quit unless he had strong reasons to do so, and he doesn’t see a feasible solution for how he wants a final run to go, and he really made up his mind that there isn’t an answer, here or anywhere?
“Never saying never” isn’t a promise. All it says is that he’ll watch to see if a perfect scenario emerges, if it ever does. He would not be leaving now if such a scenario were possible for at least this season. Which is all that any team can plan for.
February 24th, 2022 at 2:50 am
“80 for Brady” does sound awful. Worse, you already know what it is, down to the ending. Predictable rom-com. Just film of Patriots season and beating the Falcons in the SB, interspersed with shots of Hollywood female royalty following him all season, cheering him on in the stands, interspersed with Brady fake-reliving the game(s) and inserting the movie story (his relating to the ladies) into the “flashbacks”. Brady playing himself. Chuckle-chuckle, dontcha love these crazy fans of mine.
Yeah. Okay. This kind of film will take some months to shoot. Which means he won’t be learning a new playbook with a new team, or attending a training camp this season.
February 24th, 2022 at 2:54 am
Is it telling (or not) that he chose 2016-7 Patriots for this movie of his, rather than the 2020-21 Bucs? He could easily have had Jane Fonda and Sally Field chase him through a season with Tampa, but no.
February 24th, 2022 at 5:02 am
Brady quit because he believes the Bucs can’t compete for a league championship. Build a team that makes him reconsider that thought. Fill the holes. Get Godwin and Gronk signed. Mortgaging the future for Watson or Carr is not the way to go. Build the team around Trask. The team has to move on with or without Brady. We have had some great draft classes in recent years. Keep it up. That’s what lured Brady here. Build the team and lure some other great players.
February 24th, 2022 at 5:47 am
Just when I thought Joe had accepted the reallity, Gabbert will be our starting QB, he comes up with some more what if’s. O.K., I’ll play along. Say we make a trade for Watson. They get a boat load of draft picks, probably throw in Trask, we get Watson’s huge contract, Brady’s cap hit, and still have to sign, and pay Gabbert. Joe’s logic we have to keep Gabbert in case Brady wants back, or Watson get’s suspended. The money we have invested in QB’s would mean we won’t be able to pay many other FA’s. Let’s not forget we have 24! of them. Great plan, pay Watson watch him sit for half a season, and still have to play Gabbert with a team gutted of talent. Well at least we’ll draft high in 2023. No wait, we gave up first round picks in 22, 23, 24, for Watson. That’s not good. That’s why Joe isn’t a G.M..
February 24th, 2022 at 6:11 am
Are we really all seriously talking about the bucs trying to sell their fanbase on Blaine Gabbert at QB!? Sad!
February 24th, 2022 at 6:12 am
Intrigue? Nah, just more speculation to keep the manufactured drama rolling.
February 24th, 2022 at 6:43 am
I always remember Lilly Tomlin’s line in the Laugh-In skit where she was a telephone company operator, “We don’t care…..We don’t have to”. Sure seems appropriate for a lot of organizations nowadays.
February 24th, 2022 at 6:43 am
All these talking heads & writers have to have something to write about….his take on this is as valid or invalid as anyone else’s.
Of course you go with Gabbert if you expect Brady to return. And, if Brady wants to play, he’d step over his own Mother to play….he WGAS about Gabbert.
February 24th, 2022 at 7:42 am
Is this for real? Brady to make movies with Hanoi Jane? If it is he is suffering from concussions.
February 24th, 2022 at 7:43 am
The only reasonable pickups for us at QB would be Watson or Carr, and they both seem improbable at best. I really can’t think of anyone we’re LIKELY to be able to acquire who’s gonna be an improvement over Gabbert
February 24th, 2022 at 7:46 am
80 for Brady…it appears true. Gag me with a spoon.
February 24th, 2022 at 7:48 am
I wish they would just let Trask go if you ain’t going to give him a chance to be or have a legitimate competition then let the young man go somewhere so he can have a real opportunity!! They need to stop wasting his time when you know you ain’t never going to give him a chance. I think they drafted him to keep him from going to another team and becoming a good quarterback potential becoming a quarterback in the division!! BA suck as a coach he’s a fraud who can’t develop a quarterback and who has never developed a quarterback and now everyone is seeing it now. If you can’t see it now than you either blind or baisa towards BA !!
February 24th, 2022 at 7:52 am
Hmm. Read a thing that said the Watson grand jury should decide by April 1 whether he’ll be facing criminal charges or not. After that, just civil stuff, which will be remedied by mailing checks with lots of zeros to these ladies. That’s two weeks into FA period, dicey
February 24th, 2022 at 8:01 am
I just saw SI’s top 50 NFL QB’s 2022 . Gabbert was number 49. Forty effin nine. Haha.
February 24th, 2022 at 8:15 am
Many of you shatting on the 80 for Brady movie, yet out of curiosity you’re all going to watch it. It doesn’t take place while he was in Tampa simply because it is based on a true story. I got to believe Gronk has a cameo in this and I hope and pray Camille does the nude scenes not Lily Tomlin. Brady is 44, he has to put in a tremendous amount of physical training to be able to compete at the NFL level, how does anyone expect him to have time if he’s producing a movie? He’ll probably be sitting in a director’s chair eating cinnamon buns and scones with his aging groupies.
February 24th, 2022 at 8:18 am
“old bat like Lily Tomlin or Hanoi Jane”..D@MN it Joe !! Don’t make me come down there!
February 24th, 2022 at 8:34 am
I love all of this qb speculation even if most of it seems far fetched.
February 24th, 2022 at 8:44 am
Listnfrmafar,
I know you’ll be camped out at the theater waiting for your ticket so you can sit in the front row watching what is sure to be a truly classic feel good octogenarian-wrinkle fest.
You seem like the type who probably has friends over a couple times a year for needle point, tea and watching Fried Green Tomatoes for the 500th time.
You’re a winner.
February 24th, 2022 at 9:01 am
Show must go on!
Speculation and more speculation…..
Tabloid media all over!!!
February 24th, 2022 at 9:07 am
Dooshbg, just the fact that you brought up the movie Fried Green Tomatoes tells me YOU spend quite a bit of time in front of the TV screaming at the Fox News anchors, rocking in your chair, sporting a cardigan and dirty diaper, drooling in your soup, wishing you had a way to watch your old cassettes of the Little Rascals, Laural & Hardy, Bowery Boys, Three Stooges and Jackie Gleason. Fight it all you want, 80 for Brady has your name written all over it.
February 24th, 2022 at 9:09 am
I’m not that old.
What color is your Prius?
February 24th, 2022 at 9:14 am
2020 Denali, I carry the Prius in the bed.
February 24th, 2022 at 9:49 am
So Arians is really selling Gabbert to Watson. LOL.
February 24th, 2022 at 10:14 am
Maybe BA can find a QB in the USFL!
February 24th, 2022 at 10:23 am
We won’t know what is going on with D. Watson’s legal cases until April 1st.
Nothing will happen until then.
The “social justice warriors” that run One Buc Place will not allow Watson (a serial sexual assaulter) to be the face of the franchise.
No way Watson comes to Tampa…
February 24th, 2022 at 10:36 am
A report this morning suggests otherwise.
Besides, Lovie wants to get rid of him.
February 24th, 2022 at 10:49 am
@ Joe
Trading several first round picks for Watson without knowing if he is facing criminal charges would be very foolish…
In order to make this move the Texans will need to lower their asking price.
Before April 1st – I would take a chance on Watson for a first and third round pick.
After April 1st – if no criminal charges exist then he is worth three first round picks may be more…
If a team has inside info and already knows what will happen then perhaps this gets done sooner.
Either way – he is not coming to Tampa Bay.
Can you imagine the outrage and public relations nightmare this would cause?
February 24th, 2022 at 11:02 am
Cchead..50 top QB’s? When did the league expand to 50? Last time I checked there were only 32 starting QB’s in the NFL. If you want to include back ups, than you can’t be calling them top QB’s. Your numbers don’t add up.
February 24th, 2022 at 11:03 am
@ Joe
“Besides, Lovie wants to get rid of him”
This may be true but Lovie is not in control of the Watson situation. Watson is in control of this process because he has a “no trade clause” in his contract.
Watson can refuse a trade if he does not approve.
Rumors are he already rejected a trade to Carolina…
February 24th, 2022 at 11:20 am
“Marine Buc Says:
The ‘social justice warriors that run One Buc Place will not allow Watson (a serial sexual assaulter) to be the face of the franchise.”
SJWs live by double standards. They will love that he’s black and heavily tattoeed. It’s the image all the NFL loves (see Super Bowl halftime show).
February 24th, 2022 at 11:32 am
Joe:
Ummm, that’s a little mean and unnecessary, don’t ya think?
February 24th, 2022 at 12:03 pm
@ Niles
True. Hypocrisy flows thick within the SJW culture…
February 24th, 2022 at 12:32 pm
Marine Buc Says:
February 24th, 2022 at 10:23 am
Not sure what not wanting a serial sexual assaulter has to do with being a SJW. There are plenty of people who wouldn’t consider themselves SJWs (myself included) who think that having someone like Watson as your QB would be a source of shame… unless he’s shown to be innocent of all the charges (not just negotiate a settlement).
Most of us don’t want to brush sexual assault under the rug and root for the perpetrator.
February 24th, 2022 at 4:48 pm
I would definitely try to get Watson. I mean we had Jaymiss for 5 years. What’s the difference?
February 24th, 2022 at 5:10 pm
Jameis had the Uber incident, and it was definitely a mistake. Not good.
It was not…. 24 incidents.